Customer Relations Management Lessons

Submitted by Edward Marczak on Tue, 10/16/2007 - 17:38

Like many people that are my age - let's just say the 1980s were my formative years - I had a VCR, and needed someplace to rent movies from.  This started out as the small, local shop.  But then Blockbuster came along and claimed dominance.  And why not*?  Practically any movie you could think of was there and in stock.  I stuck with Blockbuster for a long time.  And then I moved.

When I moved out of my apartment and into my house, the 'local' Blockbuster was just on the edge of being too far away.  This made picking up and dropping off tapes a hassle.  All of the late fees were no-one's fault but my own.  Then along came Netflix.

Simple math showed that Netflix would be a money and time saver for me.  Also, no more late fees!  No matter how the pros and cons of Netflix work out for anyone else, I like it.  Consequently, I returned my last tape to Blockbuster, and never went back.  Literally.

So the question is this: where's the letter from Blockbuster saying, 'we want you back!'?  How could they not notice that a good customer suddenly went MIA?  While I wasn't solely keeping them in business, I was renting one or two movies a week.  I had to be a blip on their radar.  How did they not notice it drop off?

This is Blockbuster!  Owned by Viacom.  They have the databases, and they have the means to mine them.  Talking with others tells me I'm not the only blip that dropped off the radar.

Anyone in Marketing 101 can tell you that it's easier to retain a current customer, or get back a previous one, than it is to gain an entirely new one.  It would have been painless for Blockbuster to simply follow up with a call, letter or even e-mail telling me all of the great ways they're ready to serve.  But none of those ever arrived.

The lesson here is simply this, for everyone who has customers: don't let this happen to you.  Pick up the phone two weeks (or so) after a job and check in - or whatever is appropriate.  That's the client that will say, "That all went well, but, you know, there's this other thing that we could use some help with."  Even if there's nothing to do at that moment, you'll be remembered the next time there is.

* OK, I can think a a few reasons "why not".