Help! An extended hand grabs customers

Entrepreneur, Oct, 2002 by April Y. Pennington

From superior customer service are loyal customers often born. Consider Pierre Schwob, who created a classical music haven by heaping personal attention on the visitors to his Web site (www.classicalarchives.com).

As co-chairman and founder of Classical Archives LLC, Schwob knew the site's success would depend on its appeal and friendliness. So Schwob placed a page on the site facilitating friendly link interchanges. He also spends an enormous amount of time assisting people with questions via telephone and e-mail. "I try to be friendly and responsive," says Schwob, 56. "I think that makes an enormous difference."

Now reaching 1 million unique visitors per month, the site boasts free access to more than 19,000 recordings and additional downloading perks for subscribers. Projected 2002 sales are less than $500,000, but Schwob predicts a 100 to 200 percent increase in subscribers, which now number several thousand. With plans to add more content to the site, it's evident Schwab's passion far classical music is music to everyone's ears.