Everyone tells you the same story in marketing, right? You spend 7 times more money trying to find the client than you spend to keep them…
SO WHY DO WE ALWAYS FORGET THAT?
Here’s the deal, yo:
I’ve been a Verizon Wireless customer since the day I had my own cell phone. So, what? 17-18 years? My family bought me my plan and then I moved it to my own billing after college. Sigh… I really should have seen if we could wait for all those bills. Dad, next time slow me down!
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between two telecom companies, one of them branching from the infamous Bell Telephone Company. It’s the second largest telecom company in the US and apparently beats out its competitor, AT&T in coverage.
AT&T is the largest telecom company in the world (so definitely the US) and has the second best coverage, second only to Verizon. This is what I’ve READ, I do not have my own data on this.
So, why am I telling you all this? Because, I have recently switched from Verizon Wireless to AT&T.
My Verizon Wireless bill was getting to be astronomical. I have tried over the years to lower it through smaller data plans (I couldn’t do that because I need it for my business), calling and asking for a lower bill, etc. etc. I was considering actually getting a second phone with them for business reasons: be able to work on social media with it, use it when I Uber drive (yup, I totally do that to pass the time and for extra cash on weekends), etc.
So, I walk into Verizon, already on the end of my financial rope with them. And, I ask them if I can add another line. An additional line plus financing the least expensive used iPhone was going to cost about $80 additional. Wowza! I’m already paying too much… I figured with an additional phone and speaking to a representative, maybe there was a way to save some money or at least get that second line for a nominal fee.
- No second line.
- And, now I’m on alert for a new plan.
I was actually with my cousin, at the time. He’s a brilliant dude and we always have great conversation. Sometimes we just hit up a store or grab a bite or whatever when we are chatting. So, a few weeks later, I’m hanging with my cousin again and it must have reminded me to check out my phone plan!
We stopped into an AT&T Wireless store after dinner and I spoke to an awesome representative, Adam. I inquired about how I would switch phones and here’s what happened:
- A single line would be about $60 less than you what you may now
- Wow! Awesome, let’s switch.
- But, did you mention you wanted a second line?
- Yes! How much would that cost?
- Well, we have a buy-one-get-one-free deal right now. So the phone costs nothing and it’ll cost $60 for the line, itself.
So, for the same price as I was paying, I received:
- Two phones, both top of the line
- Two phone lines
- A $370 rebate for my phone
- A $150 bill rebate for opening it through my business
- A new phone company
I have noticed little to no new service interruption and I’m very happy with my new phones. But, do you want to know what interrupted my day, the next week?
- A mailing
- An email campaign
- A phone call
From Verizon Wireless asking me to come back to their company and stay with them as a customer.
To get this straight, you wouldn’t spend any money, time, or energy to keep me as a customer. But, they’d spend it after the fact to try to get me back?
What’s the lesson here? The lesson is we do this in every single relationship: business, personal, etc. We don’t spend the time cultivating lifelong partnerships and customer service. And, then we spend so much more time and energy trying to start a new one… OR get back the old one.
What’s one relationship you should be spending more time keeping?
