Face-to-face customer interactions are becoming rarer by the day. The movie rental business is a perfect example; streaming video and mail delivery ensure you almost never encounter a human while making a purchase. Rental shops, both big box and mom-and-pop stores, can no longer compete with the likes of iTunes, Redbox, and Netflix. Any chance they have to interact with a customer needs to count for something. It needs to be a differentiator. It needs to be remarkabl…if they want to survive.
Blockbuster, You’re Fired
Last Thursday I made a quick trip out to grab a few last things for our Thanksgiving meal. Every year we enjoy watching a favorite movie, but I always forget to rent it beforehand. So as I passed by what may be one of the only Blockbuster brick-and-mortar stores left, I decided to drop in and see if they had it in stock. The store has been at this location for over 20 years. I stopped going there about 10 years ago when a clerk called me a liar. There’s another person with my exact name in town who had a late fee. Instead of looking into the issue before making a judgement, the clerk decided not to trust me. I handed over my card and swore to never come back.
A Second Chance
Out of an urgent need, ten years later, I decided to give them another chance. I was pleasantly surprised to find two copies of the movie. I walked to the counter a bit worried that I was on some obnoxious customer list. The clerk was nice enough and told me that “once in the system, always in the system.” Oh great, I thought, I was sure to have a red flag on my account. What came next was worse though. I waited about 3 minutes without the clerk saying anything. Thinking he was not finding me in the system I said, “Nothing showing up, eh?” To my shock he replied sarcastically, “No, you’re in the system. What do you want, a play by play?”
Strike Three
I walked over to the new releases and decided to let him deal with my account in peace. I picked up a holiday movie we wanted to watch and then looked at the price, $4.99! It wasn’t a hard decision since I could get the same DVD at one of the many RedBox locations around town. I finished up my transaction and quickly left. It was another strike against a brand that has a deservedly bad reputation. It was the last strike for me.
Sometimes you only get one or two chances to make a great impression. Don’t blow that chance.
About the author
John Bergquist is a community guide, consulting companies, non-profits and individuals in finding and leading their tribes. He is the Head of Communications at Conservation Biology Institute and DataBasin.org. He also works with Soma Games and is the owner of Flurry Interactive, LLC. Make sure you follow him on Twitter.
Sign up for the Newsletter
Follow Tim on Twitter
Subscribe to the RSS Feed
Little Hinges on 
as gururaj on 
Tim,
As always, a great service example. Blockbuster is an interesting scenario, as they may be a service organization living on borrowed time. In their heyday, I could see some front line people pursuing a career with blockbuster, while for many (most?) it always will have been just a job. Fast forward to now, and with a business model seemingly outdated beyond recovery, how many front line staff would see this as anything more than a temporary gig until they go out of business or something marginally better comes along? If that is the case (and we don’t truly know whether it is) how does an organization effectively engage its employees in providing exceptional service as a way of keeping the customers they have?
Chris, I think it comes down to hiring people that are passionate about customer service. When I was working at Eddie Bauer right before they dropped their legendary money back guarantee I had many co-workers that just wanted to part of something cool. What Blockbuster might lack, and thus not have the ability to attract that kind of employee, is coolness/remarkableness. One follows the other.