Mr. Marketing: Big guy blows it; Little guy wins

My dog is overly shaggy. As a bichon/terrier mix, he gets a haircut every 10 weeks. He’s looked forward to haircuts with Pam at Escondido’s Petco since 2007.

His disappointment was palpable when we tried scheduling his haircut and were told Pam had moved to Texas last month.

It was news to us!

Maybe their sales and HR departments don’t communicate. As a $3.2 billion company, it’s entirely possible.

Yet it’s hard to believe that not one of Petco’s 24,000 employees made the connection to send us an email saying “Here’s 20 percent off to help you try one of our other groomers.”

Furthermore, given that our every purchase is tracked by their computer, shouldn’t somebody have known we’re loyal customers and that our connection to the company was leaving?

Rather than being proactive, they let us discover the sad news ourselves. They compounded the mistake by letting us hang up the phone without so much as a “Let us make it worthwhile for you to still visit us.”

And you know how I feel about being taken for granted!

This oversight made us consider our options, prompting my bride onto the Yelp website. There she discovered Rancho Bernardo’s Barkley’s Pet Spa and their positive reviews, more convenient location and lower prices.

Which encouraged us to switch our dog-grooming needs away from Petco. And I’ll bet that without our personal connection there, they’ll take six months to notice we’re gone.

Now consider your business: When someone leaves your employ, do you immediately reach out to customers and let them know they’re still valued?

And if introducing them to another account manager, are you simultaneously providing an incentive to continue working with your company?

Because assuming our experience this past week isn’t unique, then any business not making that extra bit of effort — especially when a customer contact disappears — is courting disaster in that particular relationship.

Granted, the $400 we spent at Petco annually is a pittance to this multinational corporation.

But since the vet sells the dog food and Kahoots has the toys, our last reason for shopping at Petco has just evaporated.

I wonder what it’ll take before they realize that customer relationships are really important.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.