Customer relations
The voicemail sounded ominous. "I've just cancelled my subscription to your paper, and I want you to know about it. Call me back."
I wasn't having my best day yesterday and my first thought was, "Let's see, he's no longer a paying customer, and he wants to complain now?"
I get a lot of calls from readers and self-professed former readers. Philosophically, I know that these are just the sorts of calls you should take. Hearing and understanding customer dissatisfaction is a key to improvement. And I try to call most of them back.* But the man's approach seemed backasswards to me. Don't you want to provide me more incentive to respond favorably if you're a customer asking for help, rather than one who has made his decision already?
I called him back. We had a pleasant conversation about the paper. At the end, I asked him why he waited until after he canceled to register his complaint. He said he didn't think it would do any good to call at any time and was surprised that I returned his call. He didn't say if he would re-up, though.
* I don't always call back the regulars, who often just seem to want to have someone to talk to.