For years, the tech industry has blamed small and mid-sized businesses for stalled deals, ghosting, and indecision - but what if the real problem is us? In this episode of CX Without the BS, Brian Nichols turns the mirror back on vendors, advisors, and channel leaders who claim to care about customer experience while quietly sabotaging it with slow responses, rigid contracts, bloated quotes, and seller-first processes.

This is a blunt, no-fluff gut check for anyone selling into the 5 to 1,000 employee market. Brian breaks down five specific ways the industry is breaking the SMB buyer experience - and exactly how to fix it without buzzwords, gimmicks, or enterprise theater. If you care about liberty, trust, and actually helping people make confident decisions, this episode will challenge how you think about sales, CX, and who the process should really serve.

You might think things are fine, but if your repeat customers are disappearing, your team is burning out, or your reviews are getting passive-aggressive... you’ve got a problem. And the kicker? Most businesses have no idea it's happening. In this episode of CX Without the BS, we're diving into five sneaky red flags that show your support system is broken — and what to do about it before your customers bounce for good.

We’re not just talking about support agents here. We're talking to you — business owners, IT leads, and especially technology advisors who are out there selling UCaaS and contact center solutions. If your clients don’t know what their hold times are or how many support calls go to voicemail, there’s opportunity on the table. We’ll show you how to spot failing systems and how to turn them into competitive advantages.

From low-key customer ghosting to review sections filled with “love the product, hate the service,” these warning signs are everywhere — and we break each one down with real talk, not theory. You’ll hear exactly what to look for, how to bring it up in a conversation, and why “It’s fine” is the most dangerous feedback your customer can give.

We’ll talk about why most support reps aren't the problem — their broken tools are. And we'll call out why ticket ping-pong is killing resolution time and frustrating your customers. Whether you're an advisor looking to land new deals or a business owner who wants fewer fires, the solutions we outline here are tactical, practical, and immediately usable.

Bottom line: good support isn’t just a retention tool — it's a revenue driver. And if you're not actively fixing the cracks in your support process, you're leaking money and trust every single day. Listen now and learn how to plug the holes, rebuild trust, and make your business — or your client’s — the kind people rave about instead of run from.

These aren’t softballs. We’re skipping the fluff and diving straight into the conversations you should be having with every client, every time. From missed call tracking to personal cell phone usage, every question pulls back the curtain on a broken or duct-taped system. If you’ve ever heard a business say “we’re fine,” you’ll want to press play.

We break down each question, not just with what to ask, but why it matters. You’ll learn how to spot blind spots in visibility, poor integrations, slow resolutions, voicemail chaos, and the myth of “happy customers” as a CX metric. Most of these issues aren’t on purpose - they’re a result of never asking hard questions in the first place.

Every single question in this episode is designed to expose real-world communication problems before they cost you a deal or a customer. These are the questions that separate amateur tech advisors from trusted experts – and they’re exactly how you position a better system without sounding salesy.

If you’re a technology advisor, a channel partner, or even a business owner yourself, this is 20 minutes of discovery gold. Don’t waste time pitching – ask better questions, uncover the gaps, and let the customer ask you for the fix.