A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

Do me a favor.

Close your eyes and think about AT&T (NYSE:T).  The brand, the logo, their corporate image...everything.  Think about AT&T and their job as a telephone service provider.

Does anything good come to mind?  Anything?  Probably not. 

That's really a shame because I'm sure AT&T has made some marvelous technological advancements that all of us enjoy when we make a phone call using their system.  Yet, for most of us, our impression comes down to how they treat us on the rare occasion that we need to call them to ask a question, pay a bill, resolve a problem, or order service. 

Sales and business author Robert Ringer shares my sentiment, in writing in a recent column for Early to Rise:

"Like all people, I have a natural tendency to resist change. IBM... Xerox... AT&T... I grew up believing that people of substance dealt only with old-line companies. I was loyal to a fault. The problem is, none of those companies had the slightest interest in my wants, my needs, or my problems.

So, as AT&T's customer service continued to devolve from hard to deal with... to nearly impossible to deal with... to completely impossible to deal with... to an arrogant refusal to even allow a customer to speak with a live AT&T representative, I began to think the unthinkable: Change to another carrier. And finally, after decades of loyalty, I made the switch.

Everything that goes around does, indeed, come around. Consciously or unconsciously, AT&T's top brass made the ignorant decision to treat their customers with rude indifference. It saved the company untold millions in salaries, but it also lost AT&T millions of customers.

When I need information, I don't appreciate being led by the nose from one voice mail to another by some robotic voice. Nor do I have the time or patience to listen to a recorded list of "frequently asked questions" (especially since I have never once heard one state, let alone answer, my specific question).

Above all, I don't want the presumptuous robot on the other end of the line to continually encourage me to go to the company's website to search for my answer. If I had the masochistic desire to click around on its website, I wouldn't have called in the first place. The websites of some of America's biggest corporations are so confusing and user-unfriendly that it makes you wonder if they were designed by chimpanzees.

Every company has a mindset toward its customers. The mindset of many businesses is: "This is our policy. Take it or leave it." When it comes to dealing with a company that harbors this kind of attitude, unless there's a compelling reason to do otherwise, I almost always opt to leave it."

A few weeks ago, I read that my cell phone provider, Cingular Wireless, was now being re-branded as "the new AT&T".  Coincidentally, a few days later, I started to get computerized calls and text messages from AT&T / Cingular Wireless (or whoever they are now) on my cell phone.  It prompted me to call the account service center, which I did.  The person there had no idea why I was calling, or what would have prompted the computer to call me.

Great.  Another reason to loathe AT&T.

Here's my point in all this: For most of your customers, your logo, your most recent takeover, your corporate earnings...all of that...is meaningless.  It all really comes down to how you and your company interact with them when they need to talk to you.  That's what forms their opinion of you and your company.  All the beautiful TV commercials during primetime television hours don't sway those of us who are weary of the thought of dealing with AT&T.  And from a sales standpoint, that's not a good position for any company - large or small - to be in.