Now that Corporate David has been sent on vacation, there’s something that I’ve wanted to discuss recently…and I think I’m going to do so now.

Why my panties are in a wad

There is a trend in part of the online business market that disgusts me! Yes, DISGUSTS! I’m continually seeing people BLATANTLY giving the middle finger to the concept of serving their customers (i.e. customer service).

I’m passionate about the online business and marketing niches! I love them! I also love people and become furious whenever I think they are being taken advantage of.

Not only that, but people FROM other markets look to the online business and marketing ones for guidance and instruction. Because of that, I think there is a higher responsibility to act more ethically…and to not be a bunch of D-bags!

It’s one thing when I get an auto-responder sending me a “Thank you for following me on Twitter. Click on my link!” I still think those are spammy and usually UN-follow the person sending them. However, those are often nothing more than someone getting it wrong and are NOT someone saying “eff you” in the same way that this trend I’m seeing does.

So what is it that disgusts me? What am I ranting about?

Engagement

No, I’m not talking about that time between “will you marry me” and “I do”, which personally I was not a huge fan of. Rather I’m talking about the kind of engagement that all of us in business need to be taking seriously.

I believe this:

If you are attempting to make money in any way at all, then you are also in the business of customer service.

I almost hesitate to use those words since they have been associated with really poor practices for so long. Customer service is NOT calling a number and then being forced to fight your way through the maze of choices in the hopes that you’ll talk to someone who you already know is going to be able to help you. Customer service is not a manager staring at you from behind a counter hoping that you run out of steam so they can tell you that they are sorry that there is nothing that they can do.

I would have thought that no one in the online business world would try and convince you of that. It looks like I might have been wrong.

NOTE: I won’t mention the names of anyone with whom I have issues. (I did that once before and never felt good about that post until I removed it. It’s just not my personality; I’d rather be an ass about a concept and let you figure out who you want to associate with it.)

The awesome

Despite the length of time that I’ve been blogging on this site, I’ve been intensely watching the online business and market arenas for a long time now. Long enough to see new people come and go and persistent people gain amazing followings.

People like Darren Rowse and Tim Ferriss (yes, two completely different personalities) have developed communities around what they are doing. Both of them have been awesome about engaging with people while they do business. True, it might be difficult to get their attention now with so many people IN their communities, but the lines of communication are still open regardless of how clogged they might get. I see both of them responding to people publicly on their blogs and through Twitter.

That is awesome to me! I love that and it drives home to me part of what customer service and engagement need to look like. It’s one of the reasons that I love being in these markets.

Danielle LaPorte recently closed down her comments on her blog. While I’m not personally a huge fan of that move (not judging her, just wouldn’t do it myself), she’s still accessible via Twitter where she follows almost as many people as are following her. I also know for a fact that she responds to email. Again, awesome. (Not to mention the fact that she never comes off as an ass anyways; love her!)

Nathan Hangen totally did away with his blog and has moved to an entirely different model of communication, again with no comments. Yet go over to his Twitter and you’ll see him talking to people there. I also know for a fact that Nathan is another person who is completely accessible and regularly engages with people.

However…

The disgusting

What’s disgusting me is watching people who have come to the scene, used the same methods of building up a community, and then turned around to give people the middle finger. How? By shutting off their lines of communication, trying to guilt people into publicly allowing their lack of customer service by stating they are doing it for some higher reason…but still expecting people to buy their crap.

If someone just wants to create their art without being hindered by those around them, then a good way to do that is to stop selling stuff! Otherwise it’s a business and they’re also creating a product…in which case they need to be serving their customers and not just themselves! It’s selfish and it takes advantage of people.

• If you want people to give you money (i.e. run a business), you need to be involved in serving your customers!
• If you shut off your comments but following your link to Twitter reveals that you’re followING count is roughly 3% of your followERS count, then I’m going to start to wonder.
• If those you ARE following are only the “movers & shakers” of the online world, then I’m going to give you one more chance.
• But if you’ve shut off the lines of communication at your home base (your site) and I don’t see you reaching out elsewhere to the same people you are trying to sell to…then I’m calling FOUL!

Why the fuss?

This disgusts me because this market is watched by other markets. I’m here because I’m passionate about this stuff. I love marketing and research. I love learning how to start online businesses. I love connecting with people and helping them reach their goals. I love SERVING the people who have paid me with the currency of their attention!

And I hate that if something crappy like this happens HERE then it starts to show up more elsewhere.

The responsibility ultimately falls on those of us who are handing out our attention. When we continue to support those that refuse to support us, we give them our seal of approval. If you follow those people, then you add to their numbers. And like it or not, those numbers give them credibility that they will use to affect others.

The currency of our attention can be MORE powerful than the currency of our money.

The most frustrating part is that I am seeing numerous people applaud these moves. Running a business that eliminates customer service is not applaud-able. Every time I see this now I wanna scream “I FEEL LIKE I’M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!”

You and me

Are you paying someone with your attention who has no plans to serve you as their customer? Are they just struggling to learn HOW to engage with you…or have they made a decision to give you the middle finger with one hand while extending the other to take your money?

Be mindful of who you support.

As for me, I’ve started UN-following these people on Twitter, RSS, and email subscriptions. I might be only one voice, but I have no intention of my voice giving credibility to anyone who is willing to take my money and write me off as a person. Helping charlatans con others out of their money is not my idea of heroic.

What are you going to do?