Successful Meetings - March 2008 - (Page 33)

foreign country. Their connection is scratchy, their English challenged, and their approach tightly scripted. If the problem is simple it may get resolved. If not, as in Connolly’s case, it’s likely “referred” somewhere, perhaps to a supervisor or an escalation department. In Connolly’s case, the referrals were a merry-go-round of misinformation until her dogged persistence forced a resolution to the issue. Steve Collins, president of Resort Meeting Source, LLC, in Breckenridge CO, relates a similar scenario with his former internet service provider. “In this part of the world we don’t have cable or DSL, so I hooked up with a satellite company four years ago,” says Collins. The service, while necessary, didn’t come cheap: A $600 fee up front, plus $69.95 per month. When hit with a series of outages, he immediately contacted his service tech, where the wait time approached 90 minutes before even reaching a human being. After hours of walking through basic scripted troubleshooting, Collins was referred to another technician, who would “call in three to five days” to make a house call appointment. “I said, ‘I can’t afford to lose my Internet for three to five days, never mind waiting that long just to schedule a service call,’ ” says Collins. “I’m in the middle of nowhere, three miles from a town of 180. I had to have this service. My only alternative was to double-up on my sole phone line for, at best, a 26KB dial-up connection.” satellite tech-savvy. “Once you go through the script three times you have it memorized,” he says. “Needless to say I’ve sometimes solved my own issues as a result.” He also switched services in the past year when a new satellite provider came to town. For others, the learning curve came early on and was blessedly brief. Janet Pickover hired a personal tech consult- people,” is Shadovitz’s motto. To that end, she offers a self-help check list for planners when it comes to purchasing and troubleshooting their computers: Never buy hardware based solely on a friend or relative’s purchase. What others consider to be acceptable for their use isn’t necessarily what will work in your own business. Do your own research and compare products on a “Make nice . . . ‘I hate to bother you,’ ‘With all due respect,’ and ‘I humbly request,’ will likely get you faster, more efficient tech support service, if not a supervisor and eventually satisfaction.” —Deborah Shadovitz, technology consultant, Los Angeles, CA KNOWLEDGE = POWER It’s not surprising to find wisdom born from such nightmarish experiences. For Connolly, it meant signing on with a local tech support firm. “The thinking was that if they couldn’t solve something we could then go to the manufacturer,” she says, while admitting that even they were befuddled by her laptop’s problems. Collins’ solution was to become very SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS MARCH 2008 ant over a decade ago for her company, JR Associates and has not looked back since. “I’d encourage everybody to consider it,” says the NJ-based independent planner, whose office gadgetry includes a fax, scanner, copier, printer, laptop, and cell phone. Besides peace of mind, Pickover says she’s learned a thing or two along the way. “I’m the Queen of Glitch and I don’t like to mess around with things,” she says. “I’ve picked up the basics from my IT person—I watch him and figure things out—but I don’t need or want to know everything.” Better yet, finding someone smart and reliable was surprisingly simple, courtesy of Pickover’s planner networking. “He’s been with me for 12 years and works with a lot of other small business owners and entrepreneurs,” she says. “It’s an expense, but well it’s worth it. Just think of all the hours it’s freed me up to do other things, like run my business.” TECH-CHECK “My goal is to make computers easy for mimegasite.com professional basis. Ask up front and in detail about a manufacturer’s warranty. What’s the cost, duration, type of support it entails, and where is the support team located? Get it in writing if possible. Call tech support during a company’s business hours. During the business day you stand a reasonable chance of getting someone in North America, including supervisors, who tend to work nineto-five. After business hours, chances are you’ll get 24-hour staffing thousands of miles away. If your screen freezes—be patient. Something may still be happening. Make the room quiet, put your ear to the machine and listen for sounds of activity. If there’s noise then give it time to unfreeze. Make nice. No matter how satisfying an epithet may seem, “I hate to bother you,” “With all due respect,” and “I humbly request,” will likely get you faster, more efficient tech support service, if not a supervisor and eventually get satisfaction. 33 http://mimegasite.com

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Successful Meetings - March 2008 Contents Editor's Note Suppliers On the Record Research Associations Planner's Spotlight Management Matters Mouth for Sale Meetings Law Pre-Event Pre-Event Tools of the Trade On Site Quick Tip Critical Conditions A Family Affair Conference Centers We Love CSM of the Year Places & Spaces Luxury Las Vegas New York CIty Houston New Orleans Quebec Bahamas Oahu & Big Island Florida Keys Gurus

Successful Meetings - March 2008

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