1. Tom Asacker on April 20, 2005 01:51 PM writes...

Love 'em all! The folks in the BMW fund the river guide! ;)

2. Tom Guarriello on April 20, 2005 03:08 PM writes...

This story really resonated with me. I've consulted with many companies in which the customer is routinely berated, caricatured or mocked. I may have even done something like it myself on occasion.

My question: what is it that leads us to judge and criticize the very people who pay for our labor?

3. Johnnie Moore on April 20, 2005 03:09 PM writes...

Great post. Sounds like this guy is starting to do some soul searching about the meaning of what he does. I'm not sure it's so much about whether he loves one person or another, but whether just making money for stuff is really doing it for him.

4. Bruce DeBoer on April 20, 2005 04:53 PM writes...

Don't we all have an image of our ideal client? Mostly it's those who gush over how great we are and never complain.

Could it be that BMW customers challenge who the owner wants to be? It sounds as if those BMW drivers put him on his heels while the Guide type clients make him feel more important.

Do I have something here or am I reaching?

5. Dustin on April 20, 2005 10:23 PM writes...

I see no problem with reaching both customer types. Hopefully you transform the beamers as you help the jeepers thrive.

6. jbr on April 20, 2005 11:58 PM writes...

funny, how reality is much different than pretty pictures and fetching words...possibly, this encounter will encourage the creation of a new line of equipment more affordable to the common river folk. that would be the best end to this story.

7. Charlie Tuke-hastings on April 21, 2005 03:29 AM writes...

The river guide is providing the inspirational icon for the BMW driver, the BMW driver wants to see himself as the river guide and is willing to spend $500 dollars to be like him. You should give the guide the products as he is your "Marlboro Man"

8. Deb on April 21, 2005 12:50 PM writes...

I agree with Johnnie. This sounds like a deeper question for your friend than just which client do you love.

There are always clients/people that we relate to better than others. Perhaps it's shared experience, shared vision, shared values or joys. It could be any number of things, but it's definitely shared.

Your friend ascribes, as we all do, certain characteristics to each. Maybe what he is seeing is a reflection of who he wants to be. The BMW client who, it might be assumed, is about status, money, only takes outdoor activities as a hobby versus the river guide who charts his own course, is individualistic, rugged. (I'm not personally generalizing, but just giving an example.)

Maybe this is leading him to question how he wants to be viewed, what his values are, and if changes might need to be made.

In reality, we can say we love all our clients all we want. But there are always those we identify with more than others.

I don't fully understand clients who are afraid of technology and refuse to use it. There are other clients who have values that I can't understand to save my life! But then, there is one client who I admire a great deal, whose picture should appear in the dictionary next to the word "integrity". Some clients really are impossible and it becomes apparent that doing business with them isn't the right course of action. (Yes, I've "fired clients" before.)

One of the things I love most about my job is listening to all of these different perspectives, and helping find solutions that fit each as much as possible.

Maybe it's possible, as jbr points out, to create a line more accessible to the river guide while still appealing to the BMW clients.

9. Tim Sunderland on April 22, 2005 09:37 AM writes...

Charlie,

You have a point. What the marketing executive needs to do is set the river guide up with some product and a blog. Get the blog out there and sell more product to the beemer drivers. That's what marketing is all about, conveying information to potential customers so they will purchase your product.

Of course, the blog needs to have some integrity to it, but that's part of the marketing challenge.

10. Dale Wolf on April 26, 2005 11:13 AM writes...

The haunting question. It is at the basis for why so many companies struggle now that the customer is in charge. It turns out that customers all along were just a means to an end. Profit. We didn’t really care and it showed in a thousand little ways. We wrote into our company vision statements that we put customers first. But we acted differently. Now the shift. Those that fail to make it will be revealed and succumb to the marketplace. You can spend a few million dollars on CRM software and never be a company that cares about your customers. The few million just exposes you more quickly as a fraud. When we get to the point that we truly love our customers, we will become more relevant to their needs. And they will love us in return.

My guess is that BMW generally does love its customers and we love what their products do for us -- both the driving experience and the ego satisfaction. This dealer who struggles with his haunting question seems to be the wrong person to represent BMW. He would do better finding a job with a company that serves river guides so he could love them and provide them products and services that are relevant to their needs. Happiness and peace will then flow everywhere.

11. Dale Wolf on April 26, 2005 11:35 AM writes...

Well, this post taught me to read more carefully. As those of you who did read more carefully recognized, my posting was a bit off -- especially in the last paragraph. So this experience led me to write a posting of my own on my blog. See it at: http://contextrulesmarketing.blogspot.com/2005/04/marketing-motto-love-em-or-leave-em.html