Cutting Back on Service? Customers Find Ways to Get Even! |
This decade started out as the era of the customer. It was a WIN + WIN vision. We create value for customers, and they pay us value in return, in the form of profits. But every party has a pooper, and along came CRM, Customer Relationship Management, and a new WIN-LOSE philosophy. Customers were not to be uniformly cherished, revered, and respected, anymore, unless they were in the 20% that presumably provides 80% of one's profits. "The customer is always right" became "Guilty until proven innocent." Today, if you are tagged as a client who needs too much hand-holding, you are thrown off the train, as SPRINT just did to 1,000 customers that called in for support too often. That carrier simply cut them loose, and effectively said find another vendor, go away, you're worthless to us. But you know what? Customers are pesky. You can toss them out, but they won't go gently.
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