Comments on: I call them “customers” http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html Author, Speaker, Consultant: Ideas on Creating Profitable Customer Relationships Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:05:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html/comment-page-1#comment-120 Steve Yastrow Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:57:42 +0000 http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html#comment-120 Enjoy it! (But then ... think about how many people are your customers!) Enjoy it! (But then … think about how many people are your customers!)

]]> By: David http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html/comment-page-1#comment-117 David Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:06:13 +0000 http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html#comment-117 You mean ... I'm a customer?! You mean … I’m a customer?!

]]> By: Jari Chevalier http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html/comment-page-1#comment-113 Jari Chevalier Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:25:04 +0000 http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html#comment-113 Hi Steve, Thanks for your response. Tomorrow I'm interviewing an "artist advocate". What art school is your son studing at and what's the name of the president with whom you spoke? I agree with you that the customer wants to be recognized as an individual. But people are also clannish and like to be associated with people they admire. It's another case of both/and. Glad to hear about your musical and philosophical roots--are you still composing at all? Which philosopher(s) really grabbed you? It would be interesting to see how your classical leanings contributed to your marketing philosophies. Hope you enjoyed the podcast. Cheers-- Jari Hi Steve,

Thanks for your response. Tomorrow I’m interviewing an “artist advocate”. What art school is your son studing at and what’s the name of the president with whom you spoke?

I agree with you that the customer wants to be recognized as an individual. But people are also clannish and like to be associated with people they admire. It’s another case of both/and.

Glad to hear about your musical and philosophical roots–are you still composing at all? Which philosopher(s) really grabbed you? It would be interesting to see how your classical leanings contributed to your marketing philosophies.

Hope you enjoyed the podcast.
Cheers–
Jari

]]> By: Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html/comment-page-1#comment-111 Steve Yastrow Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:56:33 +0000 http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html#comment-111 Yes, let's give Seth the credit he deserves for advancing the marketing lexicon. Of all of them, my personal favorite may be the Ideavirus. To me, the issue here is that marketing is about interesting people in doing things that help your business, and many of the actions people can take that help your business don't involve writing you a check or handing over a Visa card. The toughest "customer" I ever had was United Airlines, 20 years ago. Yes, we were buying $50 million worth of seats from them each year, but guess who was really the customer ... Yes, let’s give Seth the credit he deserves for advancing the marketing lexicon. Of all of them, my personal favorite may be the Ideavirus.

To me, the issue here is that marketing is about interesting people in doing things that help your business, and many of the actions people can take that help your business don’t involve writing you a check or handing over a Visa card. The toughest “customer” I ever had was United Airlines, 20 years ago. Yes, we were buying $50 million worth of seats from them each year, but guess who was really the customer …

]]> By: Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html/comment-page-1#comment-110 Steve Yastrow Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:52:13 +0000 http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html#comment-110 Jari - Interesting angle. My new book, We, talks a lot about not classifying people into categories, but looking for ways to see the individual. It's one of the keys to a We relationship. So much of marketing is about lumping people into categories based on what makes them similar, when the customer is looking for you to recognize what makes him or her different from other people. I'll listen to the Dan Pink podcast later today - thanks! When my son was accepted at an art school for college last year the school sent us A Whole New Mind. The president of the school and I struck up a great conversation - I was a music composition major as an undergrad, and we discussed how that, along with my philosophy minor, influences my business much more than the MBA I did a few years later. (Case in point: my first book is called Brand Harmony.) Jari - Interesting angle. My new book, We, talks a lot about not classifying people into categories, but looking for ways to see the individual. It’s one of the keys to a We relationship. So much of marketing is about lumping people into categories based on what makes them similar, when the customer is looking for you to recognize what makes him or her different from other people.

I’ll listen to the Dan Pink podcast later today - thanks! When my son was accepted at an art school for college last year the school sent us A Whole New Mind. The president of the school and I struck up a great conversation - I was a music composition major as an undergrad, and we discussed how that, along with my philosophy minor, influences my business much more than the MBA I did a few years later. (Case in point: my first book is called Brand Harmony.)

]]> By: Michael Martine http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html/comment-page-1#comment-104 Michael Martine Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:33:55 +0000 http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html#comment-104 One thing Seth does really well (usually) is get us to think of things in a new way by using new words, like Purple cow or permission marketing. Nobody has a perfect score 100% of the time, but these latest attempts at reframing the discussion are weak, in my opinion. Citizens? Ick. I kinda like the idea of "tribe management" but didn't need the MBA stereotyping that went along with it. One thing Seth does really well (usually) is get us to think of things in a new way by using new words, like Purple cow or permission marketing. Nobody has a perfect score 100% of the time, but these latest attempts at reframing the discussion are weak, in my opinion. Citizens? Ick. I kinda like the idea of “tribe management” but didn’t need the MBA stereotyping that went along with it.

]]> By: Jari Chevalier http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html/comment-page-1#comment-97 Jari Chevalier Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:01:03 +0000 http://yastrow.com/2008/i-call-them-customers.html#comment-97 Hi Steve, I appreciate this inquiry. Citizens, tribes, guests . . . all of these potential new terms for customers were mentioned on the Seth Godin call last week. I think they’re all weak compared with "people" (my people, our people, the people . . . "the American people" :)). The market, your market, any market in the world, is, in fact, made up of people and only people (fish, insects, plants, rocks and animals will be buying squat from us). I’m stating the obvious for a reason: if we do not genuinely care about people as human beings living in an ecosystem that includes all of the above, we are just lying to ourselves and each other. And this is the real challenge of our time: we’re looking at the very serious consequences of hoodwinking business practices. We use the word "solutions" for our offerings, but it really doesn’t matter what words we use unless those words are connected to genuine wisdom, big-picture thinking, and caring. Example: A customer, citizen, guest, tribal person, _________ (fill in the blank) has a chronic itch on her back. If our solution is to get this person one more mass-produced plastic or bamboo backscratcher shipped all the way from the Orient or some new electrical gadget to scratch it, instead of teaching her to get enough essential fatty acids in her diet and urging her, educating her, to care for herself holistically, we’re really not providing a solution at all, doesn’t matter how loud we chant that as a marketer or advertiser. Doesn't matter if no one seems to notice that we don't really care and that our language is manipulative and bogus, if everyone’s buying into it. Fact is: It’s still a lie. And so our moment provides us all with an opportunity to overcome short-sightedness, greed, and dissemination in business, and to align heart and mind in providing real solutions to real people, even if it means that we ourselves don’t get all the groovy gadgets and things with which we might like to play. My blog has a podcast (the Living Hero show) recorded with Dan Pink on February 19th (same day as the Seth Godin teleseminar). <a href="http://jariscope.com" rel="nofollow">Jariscope.com</a> Just follow the link to get to it. I would be pleased to receive your responses to these views. Best wishes! Hi Steve, I appreciate this inquiry. Citizens, tribes, guests . . . all of these potential new terms for customers were mentioned on the Seth Godin call last week. I think they’re all weak compared with “people” (my people, our people, the people . . . “the American people” :)). The market, your market, any market in the world, is, in fact, made up of people and only people (fish, insects, plants, rocks and animals will be buying squat from us). I’m stating the obvious for a reason: if we do not genuinely care about people as human beings living in an ecosystem that includes all of the above, we are just lying to ourselves and each other. And this is the real challenge of our time: we’re looking at the very serious consequences of hoodwinking business practices. We use the word “solutions” for our offerings, but it really doesn’t matter what words we use unless those words are connected to genuine wisdom, big-picture thinking, and caring. Example: A customer, citizen, guest, tribal person, _________ (fill in the blank) has a chronic itch on her back. If our solution is to get this person one more mass-produced plastic or bamboo backscratcher shipped all the way from the Orient or some new electrical gadget to scratch it, instead of teaching her to get enough essential fatty acids in her diet and urging her, educating her, to care for herself holistically, we’re really not providing a solution at all, doesn’t matter how loud we chant that as a marketer or advertiser. Doesn’t matter if no one seems to notice that we don’t really care and that our language is manipulative and bogus, if everyone’s buying into it. Fact is: It’s still a lie. And so our moment provides us all with an opportunity to overcome short-sightedness, greed, and dissemination in business, and to align heart and mind in providing real solutions to real people, even if it means that we ourselves don’t get all the groovy gadgets and things with which we might like to play.
My blog has a podcast (the Living Hero show) recorded with Dan Pink on February 19th (same day as the Seth Godin teleseminar). Jariscope.com Just follow the link to get to it. I would be pleased to receive your responses to these views. Best wishes!

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