We have all worked with that person, the one who is just phoning it in until they are no longer required to show up every day.  They are either just hanging around for retirement or they took the job just to get a paycheck.  Getting them engaged in the work is next to impossible because they really don’t belong in that job.  These people are littered throughout corporate America and have been factored into the cost of doing business.  But that isn’t the only place they show up.  Some small businesses have to deal with this quandary as well.

Take the professional that no longer cares about the service side of their business.  They just want to make the money and go home.  Get while the getting is good so to speak.  Some of these people have just stayed to long.  There was a time that they felt real passion for their work and were quite good at it.  But now they aren’t concerned with growing just maintaining status quo.   They take too long to return phone calls and they seem to no longer care how you are doing.

Some of these business professionals never really had a great passion for the work in the first place.  They just didn’t want to work for someone else.  These people just want to make a living and aren’t really concerned with expanding their business or yours.

Another day at another time these people would have fared just fine; but not now.  We have entered a time when transparency and downward pressure on price has made it next to impossible to remain mediocre.  The competition is fierce and you had better be ready to compete or don’t bother leaving the house.

Consider the current situation that attorneys now face.  The consumer now has the choice to use legalzoom.com or hire a paralegal for minor legal work for a fraction of the cost.  Both of these options are satisfactory and very cost effective.  The internet along with the various government agencies have made certain legal filings very easy to do online.  You can incorporate your business online for a fraction of the cost it would take to use an attorney.  So if your experience with the legal profession has been less than stellar you now have an option and probably for less cost.

What about the CPA industry.  Once again accounting software along with the ability of providing data and transactions over the internet seamlessly has given the consumer a plethora of options.  They can now manage their own accounting throughout the year and hire a tax professional to add the final touches.  In addition, in a very short time everything will need to be filed electronically.  This will further simplify the accounting process.  So if your accountant isn’t returning your phone calls when you need him/her too and your business dealings are fairly routine you may now question their fee.

Web developers are not immune from these changes either.  I just spent some time looking into getting my website refreshed and I was shocked at the quality and low price of some of the web templates that are out there.  These templates have already been developed and do allow for some customization.  A new service sector has developed that incorporates the template module with some additional tools (portals, forms, etc.) as well as the ability to host with them and get some technical help on an as needed basis.  These website templates have been written in such a way that you can do your own editing.  This is great news for the do it yourselfers; but what about the web developer?

Now more than ever it is important for the service sector to establish a great customer service attitude and make that their differentiator.  Because “A sale is not something you pursue; it is something that happens while you are immersed in serving your customer.”  Author Unknown.

So if you have been suffering from the “To Big To Care” bug…… don’t worry it won’t last.