Support used to energize me. Talking to customers, getting their feedback, thinking through solutions to their problems. Lately, it drains me. I can’t pinpoint exactly when it started, but somewhere along the way, everything changed.
The first few hundred customers felt like partners. They’d suggest features, share their workflows, think alongside us about what might work. There was patience. They understood they were using a young product from a bootstrapped company.
They appreciated when we went above and beyond. We’d talk to their accountant to sort out an integration issue. Call their web developer to help troubleshoot something on their end. Spend hours working through a workflow that wasn’t quite right yet.
What It Looks Like Now
These days, people don’t suggest features. They demand them. To be implemented right away. Our solution costs less per month than a single patient appointment, yet they expect a tailored solution built specifically for their workflow. The kind of customization they’d never expect from enterprise software, but somehow expect from us.
Going above and beyond isn’t appreciated anymore. It’s expected. We still sometimes talk to accountants, or web developers on behalf of customers. But now they tell us directly: they’re using us because it’s free.
“I’d rather ask you, because I have to pay his hourly rate if I ask my accountant.”
A customer told me this recently. Not sheepishly. Not apologetically. Just matter-of-factly.
What I Don’t Know Yet
This shift has transformed something I loved into something I want to avoid, and honestly, it frustrates me that I haven’t figured out how to deal with it yet. Maybe the answer is raising prices. Maybe it’s being more selective about who we serve. Maybe it’s setting clearer boundaries around what we will and won’t do.
What I do know, though: Growth changed our customer base in ways that weren’t obvious until it had already happened. Not necessarily in a good way.
