Lenton Harding is the owner of Wireless Place located in Clinton, MS. You can find information about Wireless Place on Facebook at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/WirelessPlaceMS.
Mr. Harding has a great start with his business especially focusing on customer service. In my opinion, no matter what your product is it will not sell as well if your customer service is horrible. The transcript of the interview is shown below. I will be referred to as CM and Mr. Harding, LH.
(CM) Tell me a little about yourself.
(LH) My name is Lenton Harding and I was employed for 28 years with MCI/WorldCom and they were eventually bought out by Verizon. I started out as a telephone technician and worked my way up to telecommunications manager.
(CM) What made you want to branch out and start your own business?
(LH) It was something I always wanted to do. After being laid off from Verizon I chose that it was the perfect time to start my own business. Also, I was inspired to do it because there are not that many minority businesses in the Clinton, MS area.
(CM) Could you give some examples of the challenges you faced when starting Wireless Place and how you overcame them?
(LH) One of the challenges that I faced was learning what consumers wanted. I started off buying cheaper phones because I am in the prepaid wireless business and I thought that is what my potential customers would want. I quickly found out that most of my customers wanted the same phones that you could walk into the AT&T store and buy.
(CM) How long did it take you to get your business up and running?
(LH) It took about 2 months for me to learn the business and figure out what all services I was going to offer.
(CM) Who is your target market?
(LH) My target market is anyone who is tired of getting charged these ridiculous phone bills from these cellular giants. I try to offer close to the same things AT&T, Verizon, etc. can offer but for a cheaper price.
(CM) Could you describe a typical day as the owner of Wireless Place?
(LH) A typical day would include doing many phone refills and a few phone activations. In my downtime, I am often thinking of how we can market to other people.
(CM) Why did you choose the cellular phone industry?
(LH) I chose the cellular phone industry because it is an industry that is constantly growing and if you look around everyone has a cell phone from elementary students to 85 year old seniors.
(CM) How do you deal with the competition in your industry?
(LH) I believe the best way for us to deal with competition is just to offer better customer service than what the competition offers. We go the extra mile for our customers and guarantee that they are completely satisfied before they leave out of our door.
(CM) Is there any advice or information you would like to share with new entrepreneurs or people thinking about starting his or her own business?
(LH) RESEARCH!! You have to research the aspects of the business that you want to start. Also find about 3 other people that are in the same type of business that you would want to be in and talk to them and listen to their experiences.
