Many of you know that I recently moved to San Francisco.
One of the first things I did is to look for an Internet/Cables/Phone package. As I'm an AT&T user on my iPhone, I decided to first check what they can offer me.
I went into an AT&T branch on Union street and immediately saw a big ad for an all included package (Internet + Phone + Digital Satellite).
I asked the sales people a simple question: "How much it would cost me to get a very fast Internet connection + a land line + digital TV with HD/DVR?"
The AT&T guys started to check this on the computer and didn't find an answer.
Then they called themselves to the sales line of AT&T and didn't get an answer.
After 15 minutes of trying to find the information they told me they can't sell packages like this in the stores.
(To their defense - they were very nice and it is not the direct employees fault).
I went out of the shop and called Comcast. I got an offer in 5 minutes and got everything installed in my apartment in 4 hours!!
This is why AT&T will always stay an "old" company that chase everyone else. I was the perfect customer - want to by everything and willing to do that on the spot and they lost me.
It just shows you that you can spend millions on campaigns and technology, but if your sales process is not easy for the customers, all these investments are worth nothing.
