Brand loyalty is a leading goal of nearly all marketing efforts, but it needs to be practiced before it can be preached. 

‘Joe the Plumber’ vs. the drinkin’ buddy
Business loyalty under attack, based on a true story

He is known as “Joe the Plumber” and is wrestling with a problem. No, not because of his name, but he did take some good natured ribbing during last year’s presidential debates.

Rather, he is questioning loyalty, ethics and responsibility in light of recent events. His 25-year-old, hometown business has been under increasing threat from those itinerant plumbers who do installations for chain stores like Home Depot and Sears. Even those customers who always hit him up to donate to their charities have been turning to the big box stores to save a dime or two. But the matter that has him questioning the ways of the world started with a recent phone call.

“Hello Joe? It’s Charlie. Yeah, Ralph’s son. I know you’ve been maintaining the complex, but I’m gonna need to make some changes.”

Joe has known Charlie since the latter was a toddler. He watched him grow up, barely graduate from school and freely blow through his Dad’s money without a care. Since Ralph’s stroke a couple of months ago, Charlie has been in charge.

“It’s like this Joe. I owe my bud a favor. He was busted for drunk driving and finally got his hardship license. He needs money bad and I’m going to give him those bathroom projects since he’s, you know, good enough. You’ll still get the leaks and stuff if you can beat his prices. And, the after-hours disasters since Lenny can’t drive after dark. Oh yeah, you have to pull the city permits for Lenny since he isn’t licensed.”

Ralph was one of Joe’s first customers and they grew their enterprises together. Back in the 1980s, Ralph thought he could turn some quick cash developing a garden style condominium project. Unfortunately, the housing crash of that time left Ralph a landlord instead of a real estate tycoon. He gradually filled the first and then-only building in the development with tenants. Joe also started around that time with one truck and a part-time helper. Cash was tight for both of them and Ralph hired Joe on the condition that the plumber kept his rates reasonable and charged no extra fees for after-hours emergencies — even those 3 a.m., dead of winter freeze-ups.

During the 90s Ralph finally finished the complex of a half dozen buildings and decided to remain a landlord rather than sell. Meanwhile, Joe grew his business to a small staff of licensed plumbers and a few trucks. It wasn’t a giant business, but it was an honest one.

During all these years Joe never charged Ralph extra for those emergency, overnight jobs and irritating tenant disasters. These often involved abused garbage disposers or irresponsibly clogged pipes. More often than not, Joe took on these jobs himself so as to avoid calling an employee at home and also to help Ralph save money. Joe figured he would eventually be rewarded with some lucrative projects.

“You hear what I’m sayin’ Joe? You still there?”

Charlie was not only giving Joe the crap work, pardon the pun, but also telling him to break the law by pulling plumbing permits for some cut-up drinking buddy. Joe wonders what ever happened to business loyalty and ethical conduct.

Brand loyalty: take the quiz

How would you feel if you were Joe the Plumber?

What would you do if you were in his shoes?

Have you ever acted like Charlie?

Brand loyalty is a leading goal of nearly all marketing efforts, but it needs to be practiced before it can be preached. The CEO complaining that he is losing sales to cut-rate chains might think twice about beating up the local vendor on price, or sacrificing the long-time dealer for the seemingly cheaper Web merchant.

Lead by example and your business will garner respect. Act like Charlie above and the whisper campaign will seal your fate.

Submit your comments to creative@cocoboston.com.

Blame regulators & auditors?
BofA mercilessly places compliance ahead of customers

Editor’s Note: The Spring, 2008 “COCO COnnections” print newsletter warned of the consequences of “failing to consider the intent of regulations” — that is, to protect consumers. The article, “Napoleon compliance harms competition,” reported “Efforts to comply with regulations-run-amok have resulted in bloated bureaucracies, power mongers and existence justification on the parts of regulators and others.”
 
Financial institutions are literally bullied from the outside by FDIC examiners and their ilk and, from the inside, by auditors. This industry must be one of the few that pays to be beaten up. All of this is undertaken supposedly to protect consumers, but consumers’ interests seem to be the first sacrificed when bureaucrats slither through the door.
 
It is reported that Bank of America turned away a man who was born without arms because he could not provide a thumbprint. Unbelievable! A teller told 54-year-old Steve Valdez that he could not be served even though he provided two forms of alternate identification. It turns out exceptions can be made, but no one told the teller.

This is what happens when “compliance,” “compliance,” “compliance” is driven into employees’ heads instead of “customer,” “customer,” “customer.” From another perspective, this is yet another bizarre marketing/operations disconnect.

Use Beneficial Benchmarks^SM to learn how to identify disconnects in your organization. Call 978.374.1900 or use the contact form to learn more.