Thursday, September 28, 2006
Technology is mysterious and scary
We often get calls from people who've seen our ads in the phone book or elsewhere, and want information about the product. That makes sense. What amazes me sometimes is the way people will demonstrate a lack of knowledge about a concept or what we offer, and insist on specific answers to questions that don't actually make sense. I also find it amazing that sometimes people just don't grasp that I can't offer an objective answer expressed in a subjective way.
My last caller saw our ad and wanted to know more, since he was thinking about switching from his current ISP. He didn't know much about the Internet, which is fine, but it got tough to answer his questions when I'd already offered him the simplest answer I've got.
Caller: "So, if I switch to OurCompany, what will my email address be?"
Me: "Your email address would be your username@ourcompany.com."
Caller: "So what would would my email address end with?"
Me: "It would end with @ourcompany.com."
Caller: "So if I wanted one that said @mylastname.com, how would I do that?"
Me: "You would need to contact someone who offers a service like that, probably someone who does domain hosting or a specialized email service."
Caller: "And that's not you guys?"
Me: "No, I'm afraid that we don't offer those services."
Caller: "So what would my email address with OurCompany be?"
Me: "It would be your username@ourcompany.com."
Caller: "Oh. Um, so what would it end with?"
Me: "..."
This actually repeated several more times. Now, in terms of subjective answers in objective terms, what I mean by that is when people call up and ask me something like "is your service good?" I'm not sure what to say to that. It's inherently an opinion, and you're asking for the opinion of a person who works for the company you're asking about. I usually just ignore the extra thoughts and answer with my honest opinion, since that's ostensibly what they've asked for: "Yes, I think so." Sensible people tend to followup that silly question with more specific questions.
However, this same caller didn't seem to understand the difference between an opinion and an actual measurement. Here's another excerpt from the call.
Caller: "If I want to make my own web site, do you provide space for that?"
Me: "Yes, we do. Your account would include 10mb of space in which to host a site."
Caller: "Is that a lot?"
Me: "It depends on what you do with the account. Plain text takes up very little space, whereas graphics and other files will take up significantly more."
Caller: "But 10mb, how much stuff could I do with that?"
Me: "That will depend entirely on what you're doing. I don't really have a way to answer that question."
Caller: "How big would an average web site with five pages be?"
Me: "I don't know, sir. Again, the size taken up by a page will vary tremendously based on how that page is constructed. We don't do site design here, and I'm not sure what would be considered average for a page."
Caller: "Would five pages take up a lot of space?"
Me: "That depends on how you make those five pages, sir. I can't answer that question, because it depends on how you decide to make the pages."
Caller: "Oh."
Lastly, the caller was baffled by one other facet of our conversation.
Caller: "Where is the company based?"
Me: "We're in OurCity."
Caller: "Oh! But I called a OtherCity phone number!"
Me: "Yes. Calls from that number are routed to the OurCity office."
Caller: "Where are you?"
Me: "I'm in OurCity."
Caller: "But I called a OtherCity number!"
Me: "Yes sir, that phone number is routed to the office in OurCity."
Caller: "So this is a long-distance call?"
Me: "No, sir, you called a local number. That local number is directed to our office in another location. This happens all the time with phone numbers all over the world. If you dialed a local number, then it's a local call for you, and the phone company handles sending the call where it needs to go, whether the end destination is around the block or in another country."
Caller: "Even though I called a OtherCity number?"
Me: "..."
I hope the world changes enough to confuse me when I'm older (although this caller sounded like he couldn't have been more than 30). I want an excuse to be baffled by everyday things, too!
My last caller saw our ad and wanted to know more, since he was thinking about switching from his current ISP. He didn't know much about the Internet, which is fine, but it got tough to answer his questions when I'd already offered him the simplest answer I've got.
Caller: "So, if I switch to OurCompany, what will my email address be?"
Me: "Your email address would be your username@ourcompany.com."
Caller: "So what would would my email address end with?"
Me: "It would end with @ourcompany.com."
Caller: "So if I wanted one that said @mylastname.com, how would I do that?"
Me: "You would need to contact someone who offers a service like that, probably someone who does domain hosting or a specialized email service."
Caller: "And that's not you guys?"
Me: "No, I'm afraid that we don't offer those services."
Caller: "So what would my email address with OurCompany be?"
Me: "It would be your username@ourcompany.com."
Caller: "Oh. Um, so what would it end with?"
Me: "..."
This actually repeated several more times. Now, in terms of subjective answers in objective terms, what I mean by that is when people call up and ask me something like "is your service good?" I'm not sure what to say to that. It's inherently an opinion, and you're asking for the opinion of a person who works for the company you're asking about. I usually just ignore the extra thoughts and answer with my honest opinion, since that's ostensibly what they've asked for: "Yes, I think so." Sensible people tend to followup that silly question with more specific questions.
However, this same caller didn't seem to understand the difference between an opinion and an actual measurement. Here's another excerpt from the call.
Caller: "If I want to make my own web site, do you provide space for that?"
Me: "Yes, we do. Your account would include 10mb of space in which to host a site."
Caller: "Is that a lot?"
Me: "It depends on what you do with the account. Plain text takes up very little space, whereas graphics and other files will take up significantly more."
Caller: "But 10mb, how much stuff could I do with that?"
Me: "That will depend entirely on what you're doing. I don't really have a way to answer that question."
Caller: "How big would an average web site with five pages be?"
Me: "I don't know, sir. Again, the size taken up by a page will vary tremendously based on how that page is constructed. We don't do site design here, and I'm not sure what would be considered average for a page."
Caller: "Would five pages take up a lot of space?"
Me: "That depends on how you make those five pages, sir. I can't answer that question, because it depends on how you decide to make the pages."
Caller: "Oh."
Lastly, the caller was baffled by one other facet of our conversation.
Caller: "Where is the company based?"
Me: "We're in OurCity."
Caller: "Oh! But I called a OtherCity phone number!"
Me: "Yes. Calls from that number are routed to the OurCity office."
Caller: "Where are you?"
Me: "I'm in OurCity."
Caller: "But I called a OtherCity number!"
Me: "Yes sir, that phone number is routed to the office in OurCity."
Caller: "So this is a long-distance call?"
Me: "No, sir, you called a local number. That local number is directed to our office in another location. This happens all the time with phone numbers all over the world. If you dialed a local number, then it's a local call for you, and the phone company handles sending the call where it needs to go, whether the end destination is around the block or in another country."
Caller: "Even though I called a OtherCity number?"
Me: "..."
I hope the world changes enough to confuse me when I'm older (although this caller sounded like he couldn't have been more than 30). I want an excuse to be baffled by everyday things, too!
# posted by Terry @ 1:32 PM 
