Loving Your Customer - After the Honeymoon is Over

Why do Cable TV companies get no respect? You might love your cable TV provider, but as a general rule, they don’t rate high on the "love meter".

Cable TV is a great “first date” in the game of LOVE. You fall madly for a very cool package and special offer. Think of the combination of over 1000 stations in high definition, any movie you want on demand, high speed internet access all combined into one low, low price. It’s a great deal and you sign up with huge expectations. The first impression is terrific – the first date, the promise of love between a brand and its consumer.

Reality can be very different. Your first service call goes unanswered. On hold for half an hour, It must be your equipment that doesn’t work, billing is incorrect. Frustration. In the game of LOVE, this is the exactly where the relationship needs to grow and mature based on mutual respect and trust. Hey look, It’s ok for there to be some delay, some getting used to the service and style of the product offering. You both try to get along and work things out.

Hopefully you don’t find your dream partner could care less about you – or act like they don’t anyway.

What does your brand measure? In cable TV they probably measure marketers on sign-ups. Its a numbers game. Retention is someone else’s job (if anyone’s). In fact, when I was frustrated with my cable company it became obvious that to get any further special consideration, I would have to quit, go to my competitor, then come back to them later for their special deals.

Don’t let your company, your brand, your business relationships, your internet voice play the numbers game. Don’t be a great first date and a horrible partner. While you will succeed at a certain metric, its inefficient and wildly expensive, and you will lose the respect that will last a lifetime with a customer/partner