Irony Too Delightful to Ignore

29 November 2002---We have many Dilbert-like expressions in our informal business vernacular: No good deed goes unpunished. We don't do this-or-that because it would make too much sense. The tail is wagging the dog...

I just experienced one of those moments that gives rise to the cynics. After using the trial version of software produced by FranklinCovey for a few weeks, I decided to order it. (An add-on program to Microsoft Outlook, it adds useful functionality.)

Bear in mind, the FranklinCovey folks specialize in Time Management methods and tools.

In paying for the rights to permanently use the software, the FranklinCovey web site took my money in quick, efficient order. But after completing the transaction --- which confirmed that I had paid for the software, PlanPlus, there was not a word of information about how to convert the trial version into a registered version.

No instruction for a new download. No link to a page with my secret unlock code. No word of an email being sent to me with further instructions (because none was sent). Other than a receipt that confirmed that FranklinCovey had successfully taken my money, I received nothing other than distracting, nagging bewilderment. My money had apparently fallen into a black hole inside the FranklinCovey coffers.

Concerned and confused, I went to the site's online help section. No information. And no live operator was available either online or by phone to help either as my distress with the frustrating FranklinCovey procedure occurred outside normal business hours.

The next business day I return to the support section of the FranklinCovey site. I manage to connect to a live person on the Tech Chat section. Looks promising. But no.

When I ask how to get the Product Key for which I just paid $80 USD, the reply is TO CALL for one!

So FranklinCovey, the time management experts are now requiring that I have to consume yet more time in the phone zone to get the use of my PRODUCTIVITY software.

To be fair, in relatively short order after calling, I do get a helpful service representative on the line who obviously has heard my complaint before. He patiently explains that, yes, the web site does nothing to indicate the outcome of the transaction, but, rest assured, a CD is on its way to me with the proper codes.

I gently push for the underlying explanation: Why the clunky procedure, and why not one word of explanation on the web site to avoid the confusion and distress?

He chuckles the chuckle of one suffering with you. "There are eight tech reps here, and all of us, as well as our supervisor, know that the procedure doesn't work very well. But as sometimes happens between departments, we can't convince the web site guys to change this."

Translation: The convenience of the web developers at FranklinCovey, the productivity tool merchant, wastes the time of customers, and its other employees! Which, of course, costs FranklinCovey profits because its easily amendable procedures forces:
    1) an additional interaction with live (read: costly) service agents,
    2) increased call volume and charges on the toll-free number provided by the company,
    3) reduced sales from negative word-of-mouth(or website) generated by angry, frustrated customers.

Productivity Lesson for FranklinCovey (and those wise enough to learn from that company's poor example): Eliminate self-defeating processes that frustrate customers, waste employees' time, and cost you both out-of-pocket expenses as well as lost revenue from missed sales.

Is it either cynical or overreaching to think that a productivity consulting company should already know that?

Might there be such a gremlin lurking in your operation? Can you do something about it, or is the tail wagging the dog?

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