Do You Truly Value Your Clients?

Source: Ric Payne's Blog

Following includes excerpts from a blog post by Ric Payne, reproduced with permission.

In this post, Ric presents a case for recognizing the long-term value of your customers. He recounts the story of Christine Clifford Beckwith, a frequent business traveler. While recuperating from cancer Christine was unable to take advantage of special benefits extended to her by a hotel chain and an airline. When she requested that her benefits be deferred for one year, she received two vastly different responses from those companies:

Here's the hotel's form letter she received:

“We received your request to extend your frequent guest benefits. While we regret what has happened to you, we also realize that things do happen, and we are unable to defer your benefits. But we hope to see you soon.”

Christine also wrote to Northwest Airlines. Here is the handwritten letter she received back:

“How can we thank you for being one of our best customers? We are happy to defer your benefits for a year. In addition, we have enclosed four complimentary airline tickets to take you and your family away from the cold Minnesota winter and give you a break from your treatments. Thank you, Christine, for your business. We will miss you this year.

Sincerely,John Dasburg, CEO”

Both of these organizations have records of her loyalty to them so both of them know what she is “worth” to them over a lifetime. If the hotel would have bothered to give the concept of lifetime value some attention and modified its systems to reflect the true value of a customer it would today be the beneficiary of Christine's loyalty and not the victim of her negative testimonial.

To read the complete post, click here.

From Ric Payne's Blog — Confessions of a Lazy Accountant, http://theconsultingaccountant.com, May 24, 2010, “The importance of knowing the lifetime value of a customer.”