Just purchased an iPhone. I know, very exciting.

But I had a few questions, so I called ATT.  I got right through (courtesy of Get Human, by the way) and had all my questions answered by a friendly and knowledgeable guy named Brad.

But at the end of the call, something weird happened. Brad said, approximately:

“Thank you for calling ATT.  My name again, is Brad.  It’s been a pleasure serving you and we appreciate your business and how long you’ve been a customer.  We know that you are the most important part of our business.  On behalf of ATT, have a good day.  My name is Brad.”

Ouch.  He took a perfectly friendly, personal conversation and, thanks to a closing script that someone in (I’m guessing) the marketing department has written and made a requirement, turned it into a chore for both of us.

The ironic thing is that I have no doubt whomever wrote this did so with the best of intentions. “Be courteous, say your name, thank the customer, tell them how much we appreciate them.”

All good and worthwhile suggestions.  The problem is that when read from a script, it sounds insincere and is often out of context (nothing worse, for example, than being thanked for your business after complaining about a problem that still isn’t fixed).

So are they just dumb over at ATT?  Nope, not at all.  But as a big company, they’re constrained by the need for standardization.

You and I, on the other hand, as the owners of our own businesses,can implement courtesy, thankfulness and whatever else matters to clients and customers, without the need to write a script.

It’s a HUGE advantage of being small, and something your large competitors simply can’t do.