Focus on the relationship, not the transaction.

Not long ago, I called my cable company to get help with a problem.

I had to go through the endless dialing of "press one for billing, press two for pay-per-view" etc. Then it asked for my phone number, which I punched in. Finally, I finished navigating the various menus and got a live person - who immediately asked for my phone number. Why? Then she asked for my password, and my address, and then she was finally ready to help me. I told her the problem, she asked me to try a couple of things, then asked if she could put me on hold. Which she did. I was on hold for almost 6 minutes. When she finally came back, I said, "Did you actually put me on hold to go deal with another customer?" There was just a big pause. She didn't answer me. She couldn't. I was right.

There was a situation where the cable company just has their eyes on the cash register. They don't really care about my relationship with them. If they did, they would make it much, much easier to get through to them, and they would never put me on hold, in the middle of a conversation, to pick up another line, and not even apologize when they finally came back.

The most important thing a company has is its relationship with their customers. It's all they have. Smart companies nurture that relationship, cultivate it, make sacifices to make it better. Ever noticed that when you get treated especially well by a company, it kind of shocks you? You hang up the phone, or walk out of the store, and realize how rarely you have that feeling in life. That feeling of being being valued.

I wonder how many CEOs actually call their own company's help lines? Do they have any idea what kind of torture that is for their customers?

Focus on the relationship. When you do that, the fruit of that relationship comes back in waves of goodwill, in mountains of great feedback, and most importantly, in that thing called Brand Loyalty. Brand loyalty builds a moat around a brand. Makes it less susceptible to raids from competitors with lower prices, or more convenient locations, or better hours.

A great relationship makes the cash register ring for a long, long time.

As The Beatles said, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."