Geez, Even Fargo Has Gone Upscale!
It’s been nearly a year since I’ve been on the other side of the coin. My last visit was in April. Our company has been through a serious transformation. This was the beginning of the end.
I’ve been in this position before. Most companies have been run by the kind of people who think that if they can get the latest version of Windows on their server and then buy a company that builds software for that system, they can fix the issues that come with having that kind of hardware. That hasn’t been my experience. It has been a learning process. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen small-time software company CEOs, with no hardware experience, come in, open their PowerPoint decks without any software, and say that the customer service staff is terrible. They will not use any fancy words like “service,” “support,” or “guarantee.” They will just say things like, “I need somebody to put this system on line and run the software because we can’t get somebody in here to do that.” That’s not bad service. The problem is they are not the kind of people who get it. They’ll say, “Let me explain why my system is going out of business. That’s not an excuse. It’s why you have to make a change. What you gotta understand is you’re not gonna get another quarter from this company.”
I have been there. I have to tell you that if you let me talk it’s not pretty. It makes you sound like a crook if you go to a bank or a hotel and you put the words “computer” or “office” or “office supplies” in your head. There are things that are in that industry that are hard and nasty, like making phone calls for a company. People hate that. They hate making phone calls for companies. I hate it. But if you go out there and you get customers, the worst thing you can do is to not use any technology. You have to have a website, you have to have the ability to get people in front of you. You have to let them get in front of you. I know this sounds impossible. But the reality is that you have to do something
