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Firing a customer? Are you crazy?

The basis of a CRM or relationship marketing mindset is that not all customers are created equal. That doesn’t mean that you as a marketer should unfairly discriminate against any group of customers, but it does mean that you should recognize their unique needs and desires, and treat them differently in a desire to provide them with a better experience.

Recently, Sprint “fired” 1200 of their customers because these people were calling customer service 40-50 times more often than the average customer (who calls less than once a month). The media spin is that this is unfair – these customers were discriminated against because they were more expensive to maintain.

But thinking about this from the customer’s perspective, how unhappy do you have to be to call your mobile provider 40-50 times per month? Isn’t this a clear mark of dissatisfaction, and isn’t it likely you just want out of your contract? The other possibility is that you are simply lonely and need someone to talk to – in which case there are better places to call than your mobile carrier’s customer service department.

Consumer advocacy in the media is a vital check on businesses, but it’s often misguided. We should let Sprint be, and criticize the other carriers who no doubt have similar groups of customers but either can’t or won’t step up to meet their unique need: the need to change carriers.