I’ll Get Back To You …

1st Gear Music is a small operation. Not a Mom and Pop business. Just Pop on most days. Someday 1st Gear Music will be a large operation. But not too large. I do not want a giant warehouse with a forklift, though driving one looks like fun. I am sure, though, that forklift operators will correct me.

Being a small operation, we are not here 24/7. We are more like 8/6. And we are not 9 to 5. We start very early to pack things for shipment, which means we leave before most other businesses close. I make no apologies. I am a businessman, not a shopkeeper. I don’t spend 10 hours leaning on the counter by the cash register, like some music store owners. My vendors tell me I am one of their few dealers who actually take their calls, so I know I’m doing a somewhat decent job at that end. On the customer side, it gets trickier.

Vendors call during their normal business hours. Customers call at all hours. That’s why we have answering machines. I try my best to get back to every person who calls. It is not rocket science to check messages each day and work down the list. But every once in awhile, I seem to miss one. Why, I don’t know. Maybe the message was accidentally deleted. It is easy to do when clearing dozens of messages each day. Sometimes I get an itchy trigger finger when hitting the delete button. I do so with machine-gun rapidity.

I realize if you are a customer who did not receive a callback, you don’t give a hoot about possible reasons. But have a little mercy. If you really want to discuss something, try calling again. One thing I hate is the “my turn … your turn” game we tend to play with phone calls. If I want to speak to someone or find out about something, I’ll keep calling until I get through. I have found that it is more fun to chew someone out in person for not getting back than it is to leave a snide message on the anwer machine.

Why am I sharing this? Because I just got a snide message on my answer machine. The caller left a message saying he called once before and “so much for customer service.” I really take pride in the customer service we provide, and his comments really bugged me. What still bugs me is that he is right. Most customers say they cannot believe the great service they receive. But this guy will probably never call again. Instead, I will face a firing squad on some musicians’ forum. And this guy’s rifle will contain that traditional lone bullet … the one that will snuff me in front of lots of witnesses. Ouch!

So I pledge right now before the entire universe that I will try and do a better job of returning phone calls. But this pledge only covers those messages I have not accidentally zapped. Maybe you should email me at 1stgearmusic@gmail.com if I have not returned your call. If you end up in my Spam folder, don’t worry. I check it at least once a week.