“Make Your Customers fall in love with you.”
Globalization, whether we like it or not, plays a significant role in business at the local, municipal and federal levels. Have you ever sat down in a Tim Horton’s thinking about that special someone, and the music from the speaker seems to speak to you in your unique situation? Well, if one has ever felt attracted to someone in the service industry, from a sex worker to the sultry Japanese waitress you met on a business trip, there could be more than meets the eye than just their beauty and allure.
It’s something that is by design and is part of the business’s bottom line. They WANT you to come back. As Tony Robbins mentioned in his Pursuing your passion podcast, a successful business creates a product or service that customers “fall in love with.” (Robbins, 2008) This may seem benign on the surface but can have dire consequences when a person perceives the service or product as love.
Getting to Know Your Business Suitor
This extends to all forms of commercialization, as attention is the actual currency of our world. In a Supernatural Episode, Dean mocks a hostile overweight man in jail, telling him, “…is that just some deep-seated self-esteem issue? ‘Cause y’know, they’re, uh, just doughnuts. They’re not love.” He is right. The man may love the Donuts, but donuts cannot replace what love is supposed to be, and a donut certainly cannot love them back. If there is the odd chance that a customer falls in love with someone or something that is just there as a service or product, what are the consequences of a one sided love affair wrapped up in a business?
Instead of trying to fight the feelings that were conjured inside during your lofty experience with the product or service, it is prudent to look at the financials of the situation. A business or service always targets its clients or audience and probably knows more about them than they would ever let on in a casual conversation.
Competition for your wallet and Attention/Time
Imagine if someone walked up to you and started discussing your order history on Amazon but has yet to tell you how they got the information. As a consumer, you might feel delighted or very concerned. Either way, it might carry a different level of acceptance of something done in a digital environment. That’s not love, it’s business. Their job is to separate you from the money in your wallet in the smoothest way possible, like the syrup from the tree.
The product or service you receive may come with a slew of benefits, but if the benefits stop once your wallet runs dry…then the ‘love‘ felt for that product or service will disappear on the business side. A Service Queen may make you feel like she is your loving girlfriend and do everything no one has ever done for you sexually, or the smiling waitress may compliment you and laugh at your jokes, but the tip they are after is in your wallet. As a discerning person, it would be unwise to spend money carelessly, so guarding your wits as you protect your wallet should also be incumbent.
Fancy a pretty DJ who comes to your city? Do you feel connected when you comment and click “like” on their social media posts, and they respond with a 3-5 word sentence? That could be their social media manager, for all you know, or even worse, a bot. Love and business can co-exist, but it would be tough to differentiate between them when they’ve researched the consumer/potential customer, including whether you’d be able to support a lifestyle with them.
Solutions for Lovestruck customers and consumers
To combat these situations, some ways to navigate the emotional strings being pulled while you reach for the wallet due to immaculate marketing are to look up the company they represent online, talk to management about your aspirations and see the response. If you love the service queen, consider asking if the business will accept a dowry. For the waitress, consider becoming a regular, meeting her friends after her shift, and having a drink or two. And for the DJ, you might consider researching who owns the company and who owns the company that they work for. Actions like these will help one stay grounded and remain aware of the adage, “Your mileage may vary.”
Making customers fall in love with your product or service seems like a fool proof strategy, which is…for the business. It is equally important to remember that people can do many things out of character when in love. A fool in love will become desperate and make mistakes that his wallet can’t pay for. His attention will also be wasted, as the object of his affection may not even recall his existence or may be bound by contract. You may end up with an unused $15 Starbucks card.
Businesses offer limited, controlled friendship
Unless these individuals are your friends, or the product you acquire is something recurring, the safest way to deal with these situations is to watch and see if any of these people will stick with you when the money stops getting spent. You stop attending concerts or restaurants. There was a story about a man whose friends always came by for drinks, but when he stopped putting them out, they stopped showing up. Most importantly, remember to be human first and consumer second. Everyone has expenses and is very good at masking theirs while they charm you.
References:
Career: Find Your True Gift 3 paths to Maximizing Impact in Your Career (2008). Anthony Robbins Companies. United States. Robbins Research International. Compact Disc and DVD set Supernatural 2005 (no date) Quotes. Available at: https://www.quotes.net/mquote/873621 (Accessed: 01 February 2024).
The holy bible: Containing the old and new testaments translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared & revised (1986). New York: American Bible Society.
