Mr. Macy was right

Mr. Macy was Right!
By Paul Herbig


One of my favorite movies of all times is “Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street.” The original made in 1948, not any of the retreads made since. In it, Mr. Macy calls up Mrs. Walker and her boss, Mr. Schellhamer of Toys, to a meeting he is having with his executives. He relates that Kris Kringle, Macy’s Santa Clause, has been sending customers to other stores, even Gimbels, his hated arch-rival, when Macy’s does not have exactly what the customer wants. In the last part of the scene, he monologues, “I want this gimmick all throughout the store. If we don’t have exactly what the customer wants, send him to whoever has it. We’ll be known as the caring store, the thoughtful store, the store with the Christmas Spirit. And consequently will make more money than ever before.”

Mr. Macy was right. That simple speech should be memorized by every corporate executive and should appear on every final test by any business student prior to completing their studies. It reflects the essence of customer-first that separates the superior companies from those merely in business. The separation financially becomes even more apparent when profitability is compared to customer friendliness—the line is almost a perfect match: the more of one, the more of the other.

TQM is a well known acronym meaning Total Quality Management, the pursuit of quality performance throughout all steps of the manufacturing process, input, process, and output. Perhaps companies should start a TCM program (Total Customer Management). As with TQM, the concept is the same but as it applies to customers—working towards fulfilling the customer’s needs at every stage of the process, from design, through manufacturing, through the selling process, delivery, and finally the important after-market of service and support.

Having read numerous letters to the editors from influential business magazines, it appears that even some of the world’s best known and brightest stars could improve upon their TCM. For example, Toyota is rightly considered to be the most advanced, highest quality, and best performing of any automotive company in the world. However, they too seem to have dropped the ball. One reader’s letter states,” If anyone is going to stop them it will be themselves when they purposely lose return customers” (Sounds like Pogo’s “We have met the enemy and he is us” quote) This customer contacted the dealer four times for a promised follow-up appointment, got the “We will call you tomorrow” line and for him tomorrow never came. Another reader noted, “My Toyota is a beautifully running and performing car but I’m afraid it will be my last unless the people who service Toyotas become more knowledgeable about their product.” I know what you are thinking: but these are complaints about Dealers, not Toyota manufacturing. To the customer, the Dealer is an appointed agent of Toyota and represents the company to the customer. For Toyota may provide high quality, reasonably priced, stylish products but if the service and support after the sales is not adequate, all is forgotten. Modern customers are demanding that their needs be fulfilled at all points at all times during the product’s life.

Another interesting example comes from a Dell user. The product was what he ordered, was delivered on time, and at a price he was well satisfied with. However, during the critical installation and first usage cycle, his attempts to get live (or even online) customer support was non-existent. As he indicated in his letter, “What good is a product if there is no one there who can (will?) answers questions when you need it?” Dell has been rightly praised for its innovative JIT assemble-as-ordered process and its price leadership. Once again, however, what good is it to go to all that effort and then alienate the customer after the sale. He will never buy another Dell. No relationship there.

Mr. Macy was right. Think TCM. Customer management is a total dedication, a process, not an event. Every step of the process from design to manufacturing to marketing to delivery to support is a minefield where one misstep (even at the end, the last step) can be deadly. In order to succeed in today’s highly sophisticated, highly demanding market, all points of the chain must be handled with equal importance and all of them must be directly aimed at solving the customer’s problem.