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March, 2003
Inertia – it just keeps me hanging on
by Ken Pyle
It seems like most of the time I could be called Mr. Inertia. Once I am on a path, I tend to stay on that path and it takes a great deal of energy to move me. This is especially true with regards to my adoption of new gadgets, like Personal Digital Assistants (ok, they aren’t so new – I am probably one of the few people in Silicon Valley that still uses a pen and a paper notebook). In fact, it was only about eight months ago that I signed up for digital cable service.
What motivated me to add digital service was; 1) the pricing was the same as extended basic cable service for the first six months and, 2) I had a professional interest in the service and 3) I received a phone call from a real-live cable employee. So what then, prompted me to switch to the DISH Network a mere seven months later?
For years, I saw that I could save a few bucks a month by going with a Direct Broadcast Satellite provider instead of the local cable operator for package of services that was comparable to an extended basic plan of analog channels. At that point, price wasn’t enough of a factor to sway us to switch. But then, the six months of “free digital” ended and the price differential between the cable provider and the DISH Network for a comparable digital package was about $14 per month.
My solution was to drop digital, but the decision-maker in the house had become hooked on digital, so going back to analog was no longer a solution. And she became hooked on all of the behavior changing goodies that digital provides, like the Interactive Program Guide and Starz-Encore! Even with the price differential, we probably would have stayed with the cable offering, but then along came “Al”.
Al was a nicely dressed, but slightly frail man who came by our house one day. He had a very low-key approach as he extolled the virtues of the DISH Network to my wife. She was convinced in five minutes that we needed the DISH Network. The deal he was offering was no different than the one I regularly heard from telemarketers, saw in the paper or could find at the mall. Something about Al’s approach, however, weakened my resistance and I said yes.
It might have been that Al keyed on my professional interest in trying DISH Network. I had a crazy idea as to how I could configure the receivers such that I could have three televisions connected to only two receivers. He immediately got his technical person on the line and we conversed long enough for me to think that it would be kind of fun to rewire the house for this special configuration. Besides, I would only have to commit to a year and I would “save” all that money per month.
In the month or so that we have had the DISH Network, I haven’t been overly impressed with the offering relative to the cable companies analog and digital package. The “remote control help” channel, although simple in concept, impressed me as being a very simple customer service tool. And the installers actually showed us how to access this channel before they left. The cable company’s installers did not provide nearly this amount of help.
The other thing that impressed me was the box that arrived in the mail a week or two after our installation. We inferred from the packaging that it was a box of candy, so, instead of throwing it away like we might have if it had just been in a regular envelope, we tore it open. Instead of chocolate, it was a “get a month free of service” for referring a friend to Dish Network. We probably would have preferred the chocolate, but both the packaging and the use of “viral” marketing was a clever.
So what do my inertia problems have to do with independent telcos? Well, not much, but some of the things I experienced apply to any broadband service provider:
- The total package must be comparable to the competition and offer a similar value.
- A local presence is critical to sell certain inertia-driven individuals– Al saw what our needs were and presented the package in such a way that we perceived they were being met.
- Customer Service is critical – the remote control channel greatly improved our ability to use the service.
Copyright 2003 Viodi, LLC. All Rights Reserved
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