Evolve

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Great post and very insight to the new age of normality. To survive and thrive in todays environment - you need the systems and tools to spots changes in your business process - from your customer to your suppliers. To learn three steps to ride the chaotic wave of turbulence see the following blog: http://www.phitch.com/Blog/tabid/98/EntryID/13/Default.aspx

John Krech of MN 5:13PM May 19, 2009

I like this article. It really inspires a re-evaluation of the way some do business. I would have to question the "serve the customers you hate" advice though. That old 80/20 rule has got to come into play here because you really don't want your people spending loads of time chasing after pennies. I just re-examined a national association I founded where we just started offering a membership for free that we previously sold for $15/month. It became very clear that our other clients paying $99+/month were more consistent. Although we don't hate these customers, they sure did cost a lot of money to serve because of inconsistency as well as needing more customer service time. In the end, we make more money personally serving less clients, and we have the power of numbers by offering free membership.
This paragraph could be re-named "Find your niche with the undesirables". Every industry has a niche where a percentage of clients are served by the industry's standard practices. If you can find the problem and deliver a solution for that niche, then there really can be "riches in niches" as Netflix found out.
Gina Robison-Billups
NoMoneyMarketing.com

Gina Robison-Billups of NV 11:32AM May 07, 2009

It's terrific to be included in a story about good customer service. However, a few inaccuracies.
Netflix started the subscription service in Sept. 1999, not 2000 as reported.
Netflix has more than 300 salaried employees and more than 2,500 hourly employees, not 250 as reported.
-- Steve Swasey, Netflix VP of Corporate Communications

Steve Swasey of CA 8:44PM May 05, 2009