Goddamn, I’m human, and I never really thought about it that way before.
In my day-to-day I provide web services to a few clients, and if they have a problem, it’s me the human who responds to them.
This hit me like a lightning bolt just now when a prospective client from Austin, Texas firstly thanked me for responding quickly (it took me about eight hours, longer than usual) AND thanked me for… let me copy this out of his email… “I like that you responded in a caring and hospitable way.”
He went on: “[my current supplier] is not quite like that. I can’t really talk to anyone but machines or automated responses.”
I had never really considered this before. You know, I did respond in a caring way because I made an effort be to cheaper than his current supplier, and I also congratulated him for choosing Austin to live in, cos I think it’s a mighty place.
Hell, maybe I have a unique – or close to it – selling point that I hadn’t wholly considered before. That’s brightened-up my Monday.