Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

Yesterday I received a big, blue thank-you card from Time Warner Cable. Inside was a note explaining that in appreciation for my business as a triple-play customer, I was going to receive a special rate for sticking around for another year. No contract necessary. If fact, I don't have to do anything at all. The company proactively reached out to me with a saving opportunity that I wouldn't have even known about otherwise. Proactive service made a sale in that I'm staying with Time Warner Cable. I had considered looking into other options, or perhaps dropping my landline in favor of cell only, but Time Warner's proactive approach made my decision to stick with them easy.

Conversely, a recent shopping trip to Macy's wasn't so customer friendly. A friend and I stopped in the men's shoes department to look for a specific brand. We couldn't find it on display, so we asked a sales associate. Her response, "We're out of that brand and aren't getting it in again, but I can show you something else."

On the surface it seems like she's being helpful by offering to find us a comparable brand. But in reality, her goal was to make a sale in the moment. My friend and I knew that the brand of shoes in question would be back in the store, probably within a few days. And we know this because he is the designer of those shoes and we detoured from our shopping in other parts of the store to visit the shoe department to check on placement of the new stock.

The more appropriate response from the salesperson would have been to explain that the brand in question would be back in stock within a few days, and to offer to find out when, so we would know when to come back (another trip to the store means more sales opportunities for Macy's). She could even have given her name and said to stop back and see her. At that point she could also have offered to show us other options.

Instead she went the quick-sale route--which is a disservice to both the customer and to the store. If we hadn't known about the real status of the shoes, we might have believed her and sought the shoes at another retailer. So in the salesperson's rush to make a sale in the short term, she could have cost Macy's sales over the long term. How many other people think that Macy's no longer carries that brand and are shopping for it elsewhere?

When you put the customer first, as Time Warner Cable did, you retain customers and grow your business with them. When you put the sale first you lose customers and revenue in the moment and over the long term. Proactive service puts the customer first.