Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 14 years 6 months 28 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
Verizon Wireless just missed a golden opportunity to speak to a group of 25+ computer consultants about why their network, and why their handheld devices were the best choice for clients.
They also managed to tick off and alienate that same influential group, by completely blowing them off after giving them the runaround for the bast few weeks, and finally leaving them hanging.
I’m on the board of directors for the Oregon Computer Consultants Association, and each month we have speakers give presentations, in an area that we think the members would be interested.
This month, we had scheduled the “battle of the handhelds” in an effort to get experts from AT&T and Verizon Wireless to not only show their wares and try to sell us on their service, but to talk about their network, and bring data specialists to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each type of smart phone, from Droids and Blackberries, to Windows Mobile and iPhones.
It took me no less than eight e-mails and text messages, and four separate phone calls with my rep at Verizon to get them to agree to show up. I should have seen that as a red flag, because AT&T was more than willing from the very beginning, and they agreed immediately.
Last week, out of nowhere, Verizon threw a monkey wrench into the gears, by telling me that they weren’t going to be able to speak unless I could get AT&T to agree to leave the room while they gave their presentation. Seriously.
I thought it was ridiculous, but I acquiesced, and I called AT&T, who also thought it was ridiculous, but they did agree to leave the room while Verizon gave their presentation, and then both of them were going to come back in for the Q&A.
It promised to be an informative session, filled with lots of technical questions and answers that only data specialists could answer, and not some crappy sales pitch.
We had a pretty good RSVP count, we put out press releases that included biographies of the speakers, and we were looking forward to an informative meeting.
I coach my kid’s Little League team, and was unfortunately not able to attend , but at exactly 5 minutes before the start of the meeting, I received a text message from one of the other board members that “your Verizon rep hasn’t shown up – can you call him”? Luckily, I had his number in my Blackberry, so I did.
It turned out that he had “forgotten” to get back to me after he found out just last night that the data specialist wasn’t going to be able to make it! Somehow this ALSO turned into him not being able to come either, and so basically, Verizon just blew us off, and left an entire room of consultants stranded.
Jeremy from Verizon DID offer to come speak to us next month – which was right before I said “Are you kidding me?” and hung up in disgust,
Remember this wasn’t just 25 customers they screwed over, which I’m sure would be a drop in the bucket. It was 25 computer consultants that all provide recommendations to their clients on a regular basis about what technology to use in their offices, ranging from small mom and pops, to some of Portland’s largest businesses.
Way to go Verizon… Nice job alienating not only me, but 25+ other local consultants. How many of them do you think are likely to recommend Verizon to their clients going forward after this?
Unfortunately I own some stock in Verizon too, and I’m off to dump it, then I’m going to research some other phone options. What a massive #FAIL.?
