A friend’s story is a great reminder that every touch is part of the Client Path process, and our efforts to protect ourselves from problems may create problems of their own:
He needed to replace a hot-tub cover, and used google search to develop a set of eight potential sources. He quickly grasped that the universe of hot-tub cover suppliers includes some truly gunshy people (no doubt based on prior real-life horror stories of their own). These suppliers linked two concepts: The responsibility to provide desired dimensions is yours; and if you mess up the dimensions, you’re paying us anyway, buddy.
On the face of it, neither position seems unreasonable, but the world is a competitive place. He found a site that had meticulously listed the brands and model numbers of virtually every hot tub known to man. The buyer’s job was to deliver the right brand/model, not precisely measure the hot tub. And the rest of the hero-company’s website felt friendly and provided a host of helpful information.
They were not the lowest price, although competitive; and they easily earned his business. Why? It felt like he would have a caring partner AFTER the sale … which would be one of the emotional keys that support loyalty building. The other competitors created this emotion: “Wow, if they’re that hard on me when I’m not even a customer yet, how would they treat me if they had my money?”
Obviously we need common sense policies. But it’s painfully common to penalize all future prospective customers because of the misdeeds of a handful of unreasonable customers. Client Path mentality would argue for declaring those losses a cost of PR or Marketing and maintaining a cheerful, helpful attitude toward the good folks.
