There are few things in this world that I really looooove.
Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer certainly makes the cut. (I swear it’s the reason why I’m in my thirties and don’t have a single eye wrinkle. A single one. I swear. It’s WEIRD. Am I an alien? I must be an alien. Comeee anddd gettt meeee, Willlll Smithhh.)
This book pretty much makes me want to shout from the rooftops to never force yourself to answer another email again. (Seriously. How much would you love to wave sayonara to that asshole in your inbox?)
This microphone makes me sound like I should be on NPR or some shit.
And this guy reminds me that it’s okay to swear two sentences in a row because frankly? I’M A SWEARER. (And if you don’t know that guy? You need to stop whatever you’re doing, pour yourself a vino, and then get ready to spit it all over yourself when you see how funny he is.)
All that said, there is one other thing that has been giving me daygasms (my new term) over and over again for the past, what? Two months?
I keep trying to find something wrong with this company, but they keep making me like them more and more and more (did I say more?), so basically we’re going to end up in one of those creepy co-dependent relationships where Winona Ryder ends up playing me as some kind of drugged out skinny person who simply cannot. stop. using. this thing. (Then again, if Winona Ryder EVER played me, under any circumstance, I’d really be okay with it.)
This thing that I speak of is something you’ve probably heard of before, but maybe haven’t taken seriously. Or you’ve looked over but didn’t get to it. Or you haven’t been sure so you haven’t done anything.
But I’d like the record to show that as of May 2014? This thing has changed my life.
My company’s life. MY FUTURE CHILDREN’S LIVES. (Okay, maybe not them, because I probably won’t have children so let’s not get out of hand.)
Let the record show that I, Ashley Ambirge, am hopelessly, helplessly head over heels with this gorgeous, sexy, dark, incredibly user-friendly eCommerce tool that lets you sell stuff on your website in a way that’s easy and makes you look like hot shit.
I looked over them in the past. I thought they were mostly for physical products. But I will gladly choke on my words because, holy shit, these guys are bringing it. They aren’t just paving the way for eCommerce software – they’re taking a giant bulldozer and yelling, “SEE YA” as they blow right on by everybody else. And I will never, ever go back. Not even to Infusionsoft. (I’ll actually be switching even our Brandgasm 101 copy & design kit over.)
Yet perhaps my favorite thing is their customer service. I obsess over companies who do customer service well, and in particular, bonus extras like live chat. Because every customer service inquiry is an opportunity. An opportunity to show what you’re made of. An opportunity to kill it. And yet, so many companies throw that opportunity out the car window. They make you feel like a pain in the ass for contacting them. They’re curt. They link you up to some damn help article as if you didn’t already look there. They send insta-script replies that don’t even address your question.
But then you’ve got the others.
The companies like this one who, when you contact their live chat? Make you feel like a welcome friend. Who surprise you with AN ENTIRE HOUR of free design changes, to your e-commerce site, as you wish. Who genuinely make you feel like they want to talk to you.
And you’ve got great companies like my former company, AWeber, where, before I could even settle into my role as the Director of PR for them, they made me go through two weeks of customer service training, hanging out on live chat and answering emails so I would intimately understand the business of email marketing and how it all worked, AND, most importantly, be able to relate to our customers’ needs. Their problems. Their concerns. Their wishes. Their wants. And who they are as people, period.
Too often these days, it’s easy to get by.
It’s easy to do just enough.
It’s easy to exist.
But I’m not interested in the company that goes out of its way to exist; I’m interested in the company that goes out of its way to matter. To do things right. To do things good by people.
Those are the companies I want to do business with. And those are the companies I do do business with.
So today’s Just The Tip? Is exactly that.
Don’t give your hard-earned money to people who aren’t willing to work hard in return to receive it.
We’re all out here busting our asses, and if you’re going to spend the money?
You don’t just want it to be worth it. You want it to be wonderful.
And it should be.