blending the mix

 Seth Godin has a quick little post about the good and bad of customer relations.

1) Customer visits website to sign up for newsletter.

2) Customer previously delcares “no-mail” from company.

3) Website writes to confirm new newsletter instruction.

4) Customer is taken to a confirmation page where he is found to be considered a NON-ELITE customer.

5) Customer pisses-off elsewhere (presumably!)

Apart from the lesson about not hacking-off customers, there is an equally important point about the way we speak about customers between oursleves.

Elite or non-elite, if we learn to talk ABOUT customers in the same way we talk TO them when communicating with them, we learn to be naturally nicer about them, helping to ensure their needs are always met first.

Always talk ABOUT a customer in the way you would talk TO them.