Teach yourself out of business

Customer loyalty is hard.

I spent thousands of dollars on advertising to draw people to my previous business of online games - Cityposh. I’m also well versed in all the techniques and game mechanics to keep people coming back.

But no one who discovered Cityposh through those ads and game mechanics uses Draft today.

My home started falling apart last week.

First it was a broken furnace during Chicago’s record cold from the polar vortex.

I woke up and it was 65 in the apartment when it should have been 72. The furnace wasn’t blowing hot air.

I’m not incredibly handy, so I went online to learn what I could do on my own. I rebooted the furnace a couple times. The air filter was clean. But the furnace and its fan just wouldn’t stay on. Scared the inside temperature would plunge, I called a heating and air company to get help.

While waiting for a technician to come over, I took the dog outside. It dawned on me I should investigate any pipes I might see in our courtyard. Sure enough, one had some snow inside, and I removed it.

Five minutes later, before being able to tell if that worked, the technician arrived.

As the technician started looking at the unit, I told him I just removed snow from a pipe outside. He said, “Ah, that was probably it.” The leading causes he’s seen for these calls are blocked air filters or ice in the inlet pipes to the furnace.

He restarted the furnace as I had earlier in the day, and since it seemed to restart fine, he decided I had actually fixed the problem. But I still had to pay the $150 bill.

Why didn’t they mention the leading problems when I called?

On Sunday, I was washing dishes when water came pouring from the cabinet underneath the sink. Come on!

Again, I went online for do-it-yourself tips. The leaking from the bottom of the garbage disposal indicated something was wrong inside the machine and it probably needed replacing.

My first instinct was to get a plumber. I went on Yelp and found Drain-EEZ. One review started with:

Let me preface this by saying I never actually hired Drain-EEZ for any service.

I called Drain-EEZ for some advice and talked to Pat on the phone for at least 30 minutes. He not only stayed with me on the line while I tried his troubleshooting tips and tricks, but even waited and had me call back twice while I kept trying.

Over and over there are reviews of calling Pat, and Pat teaching them on the phone to fix their problems themselves for free.

I replaced the garbage disposal this time on my own. But I know the next time something inevitably goes wrong with my plumbing that I can’t fix, I’m calling Pat.

And when my heating or air has a problem again, I’ll be looking for someone else. Someone more like Pat.

Forget the tricks to get people attached to your business. Instead, help them become better on their own.

Pat loses some business teaching his customers to be self-reliant, but notice the paradox.

They come back when they really need him, and they’re proud to tell the world.

P.S. I’d love to meet you on Twitter: here.

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