Attack Your Best Customers?

As the recession deepens and panic sets in, the conventional wisdom seems to be to generate cash flow by force of will. Municipalities including San Francisco and San Mateo have been trying to hike every fee not nailed down, in an effort to close budget shortfalls. That’s a plan; now that everyone is hurting and out of work, hike their taxes. That’s the way to get our economy back on track. Maybe if taxes are high enough the few left with jobs will get fired and tax revenue will drop to zero. Similarly, one business after another has been trying to do anything to avoid shipping money out the door. A specialty retailer that the Buzz’s best friend frequents would not give her a refund on valentines day cards “because it is a seasonal item.” And this was three days before Valentines day. To make matters worse, this great customer traveled 30 minutes to shop at this store to help them stay in business rather than buying her stuff off Amazon.com at 30% less, and was buying another $50 worth of stuff when denied the refund. No good deed goes unpunished indeed. Why bother trying to help stores that couldn’t care less about you? The moral here? Don’t panic! Take extra good care of your customers! You should know that their retirement portfolios are down 40%; they might have been fired that day; the State of California might be shipping them an IOU instead of a tax refund; and they might not be able to afford college for their kids any more. In short, take a deep breath, relax, and still take care of those who value and use your products and services. Some day you might need them…...
-- Paul Marotta