Craig is making good money now and will make better in the future. Google made no money the first years, and then when the time came to monetize it correctly, they made as much money as the mints could print.

…craigslist’s customer service is marvelous. For example, when I was shopping for a used car, I noticed that about half the “Cars” listings were actually for auto parts. I suggested they create a separate “Auto Parts” board, and they had done so within a week. That really impressed me and only contributed to my loyalty as a customer of theirs.

That sounds like incompetence on their part. You’re not a customer Seamus, you’re a volunteer.

But I am a customer of craigslist, even though I don’t usually pay them anything. The reason is that if they don’t treat me like a customer, then I’ll go elsewhere.

To that end, craigslist’s customer service is marvelous. For example, when I was shopping for a used car, I noticed that about half the “Cars” listings were actually for auto parts. I suggested they create a separate “Auto Parts” board, and they had done so within a week. That really impressed me and only contributed to my loyalty as a customer of theirs.

Could craigslist make more revenue? Definitely. Would that make craigslist a better company or the world a better place? Absolutely not. Sometimes *not* maximizing profit is the soundest decision.

If you want to learn about customer service, study Nordstrom.

For the record I’m not talking about Craig, he seems like a stand-up guy with a good service.

humbug.

You say: “The key to customer service is not treating people like customers but like people.”

That sounds nice, but it isn’t completely true. Customers are different from people – they’re more important.

The social dynamics between people are very different from the dynamics between marketers and customers. Marketers try to influence the behavior of strangers. People generally don’t, first dates and job interviews excepted. Marketers involve themselves in customers’ lives. People leave other people alone. In fact, it sounds as if Dell *did* treat you like a person – they blew you off, it happens – when they should have treated you like a customer.

Marketers need to recognize that in exchange for inviting themselves into customers’ homes, lives and pocketbooks, they need to treat customers with more respect, more concern, more … honor than people accord people in general.

This is increasingly important, for a couple of reasons. First, as functional and pricing differences between competing products shrink, marketers will have to differentiate themselves on dimensions such as service in order to attract or retain customers. This is even more important for marketers who want to charge a premium price.

The second reason is that as marketers capture more and more information about individual customers, it is incumbent on marketers to respect the customers’ privacy and not misuse the information. Again, customers are more than people – marketers know more about you than your neighbors do.

I do, however, take your underlying point that marketers could use some humanity. David Ogilvy (of course) said it best: “The consumer isn’t an idiot; she’s your wife.”

Best regards,

Ron