Back to School
August 23rd, 2007
Some thoughts occurred to me this past weekend as I went home to my high school reunion (yes, apparently I am slightly masochistic)… You know, you walk into a room with these people you saw every day for four years (some even longer) and suddenly, after however many years, you’re back in the same room together and all those same expectations come flooding back. There were 721 people in my graduating class, but still, the faces and their labels came back quickly: The Jocks, The Cool Kids, West Cafeteria Kids, The Nerds (that’s me), etc. etc. etc. Even after all that time, our identities fell right back into place - whether they were still accurate or not. Even for the people who’ve changed (which, if we’re lucky, is most of us), we can’t just stride in and have that Hollywood high school moment where all those people who never understood you back then suddenly see who you’ve become. Who we were at our last contact is who we remain.
As I returned to work Tuesday morning, those thoughts mixed in with our upcoming Net Promoter Survey (now in its fourth round). As with anything, we lose touch with people over the years, and it’s always a big discussion as to how long to keep a person on our Net Promoter list after their last contact with us. Has it been so long that they still see us as we used to be? If it was a brief contact, was the impression we left deep enough to be remembered and reflected on? Has it been so long that they feel like they just don’t know us at all? How much of an effort have we made to keep them each other up to date on what we’ve been up to?
It’s an interesting thought when you think of clients and customers. Is your identity focused enough that people will remember it even if you’re one among 721? Even after having no contact for ten years? And, perhaps more importantly, as your identity changes, is it focused enough to communicate who you are in a way that overcomes the preconceived notions of who you were? Because in most cases, you don’t have the luxury of telling your whole story to your old chem partner over a microbrew.
Other posts by Jennifer.
