So, for me wanting an specific Apple product, I have to ‘reward’ a telecoms company for poor customer service and poor product knowledge. Does that make sense? Of course not. It’s a contractual grudge purchase.

No doubt, when this contract ends and Vodafone et al. get their hands on the iPhone, O2 will lose customers. And, off course, they’ve taken full advantage of the exclusivity and tied people in for up to 24 months.

But, for all the fancy Sean Bean adverts on TV, is it a great marketing to have such poor customer service?

Recently when trying to buy our second iPhone, my business partner got told different information on three occasions about what was needed when purchasing. Although I already had a business account for my phone, we had to prove the business again.

After the third visit, I took my computer so we could clarify figures and print off a Purchase Order there and then. They wouldn’t let us. Conversely, the nearby iStore let me print it, even though I wasn’t buying (although I have in the past).

When we asked about the new iPhone, the O2 guy denied there was a new one coming out… a week before it was announced.

So, who am I going to moan about and who am I going to champion? And I know I won’t be alone.

Client retention is the new “new business” for 2009.

Maybe it’s the old 80/20 rule:

• 80% of your income will come from 20% of your clients
• 80% effort to get new clients / 20% to keep what you have

I love new business and I think it’s essential to any company. The nature of client relationships are such that there is always a need to attract new business to replace the business you will organically lose over time – there is a cycle.

But, I wonder how much business is lost too soon by taking clients for granted, not being hungry enough to treat them like they’re new.

It’s like when you get a new person in your life – the sex is amazing and after a while familiarity changes that initial excitement and it goes one of two ways. You either lose interest and go through the motions, or, you discover new ways of pleasing the peron that you love.

Before Christmas I had need of a skip to get rid of lots of rubbish. I first contacted a local company (website under construction) by telephone and got a price – getting the impression that they had better things to do than speak to me. Then I tried R Collards Skip Hire.

Not the best website in the world in terms of technical spec and design, but it is simple, which kind of fulfills the need of a good website in terms of general ease of use (usability) and delivering the business for them.

I choose the size of the skip to my address – these guys are based 10 miles away – and I could also pay online with  a credit card. What’s more, it was 10% cheaper.

There was a couple of glitches with the website (and I have told them), but the responses I had were fantastic. The email interchange was very personal, including the day when I had finished, when I sent in an email at about 8am on 23rd December and the skip was collected that afternoon.

Just goes to show what a local company can do online, which gives me quite a bit of hope for many small, local businesses. Or maybe it’s just Christmas and I’m feeling generous.