WHAT is going on? Why are all those In The Know writing and talking about how if you send users to a competitor that has something you don't, you build loyalty, as if no one has ever heard of this concept?!
In "Miracle on 34th Street" [1947], the Macy's Santa [Edmund Gwenn] sent a mother [Thelma Ritter] to Schoenfeld's to get the toy her little boy wanted for Christmas. Macy's didn't have it.
Thelma Ritter's enthusiastic response demonstrated the power of putting the relationship above the transaction. In the movie, Macy's turned the theme into a big campaign, even instructing employees to tell customers where they could find things that Macy's didn't carry.
This is not an obscure little picture, people. This is considered one of the best films of all time.
Now in 2008, in our little old valley, we've got all these people -- the In The Know crowd -- telling us the very same thing that Edmund Gwenn told Thelma Ritter, as if they invented it! Heck, the movie's writers probably got it from somewhere else.
I suggest watching some old movies and -- gasp -- reading some books just to get your feet back on the ground. Having bazillions of followers on Twitter does not a wise man make.
You know, we are really getting too big for our britches around here.
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