Businesses can’t stay in business if they don’t make money and businesses won’t stay in business if they provide inferior products, services, or have bad customer support. Squeezing a provider for everything you can get out of them will only lead to them regretting the deal later (which will most likely affect the service you get). Would you rather:
- have a provider take care of your issues when you contact them (or when they identify an issue) because they value the relationship they have built with you, they are making a profit and they are able to hire 1st tier service people or
- wait for a provider to get around to addressing your problem (normally after multiple calls, emails, etc.) because they don’t make any money on the deal and can’t afford to hire high quality people?
I believe everybody will say they want option 1. Providing quality products and services, and great customer care, costs money, lots of it! A provider can’t offer you awesome customer service, if they have to hire 2nd rate customer service people just to break even on the deal they did with you. Like many of you, I want partnerships with providers where I am a valued partner, and when an issue arises, it is addressed quickly. I don’t want to have to constantly be negotiating new agreements with providers because the previous provider went out of business, could not live up to the terms of the agreement, or just provided bad service as this will irritate on-site staff, residents and will affect you and your company’s reputation.