Customers are your Biggest Fans

And, continuing on from the title, fans are your biggest customers.

It’s true—all those superstars out there, whether it be music, movies or sports—they are doing their job. They truly only have this job because of their fans. Fans like their work, they pay for their work by going to the movies, buying the album on iTunes or getting season tickets to the games. It seems that most superstars are not focused on “customer service”. But, should they be?

We’ve all heard stories about, “I met so-and-so celebrity downtown last night and they were SO rude! I will never watch another one of their movies/buy their music/buy tickets to their game again!” Then, the other party considers this and holds it in their mind next time they see this person on the big screen. They tell their friends, “Oh yeah, my friend met so-and-so celebrity and they were so rude to them! They just don’t care about their fans!” And the storytelling train continues. On that note, here’s my story (sorry, not going to give names but if you want to know who it is, email me at “stories@communicatebetterblog.com“).

My friend introduced me to a charity she often supports as it has a direct connection with football, of which she is a huge fan. The charity was created in honor of a 2 year old boy who lost his battle with cancer. Annually, his mother organizes an event kicking off the football season, complete with drinks, food and most importantly, local NFL players. People from all around donate their money to the event, which this year was held downtown at one of the NFL player’s bars. Kids come out with their parents, eager to meet their favorite players. So, my friend and I attended the event, which ran from 8pm to 11pm. We had a few drinks, made some new friends and checked out the merchandise at the silent auction. 9pm comes and goes. Kids are rubbing their eyes. 10pm comes and goes. Kids are cranky. 11pm comes. Kids leave with parents.

The scheduled football players do not show.

Now, I do not know the background of the story, but I feel if you are invited to make a presence at an event in honor of a child who passed away, supporting a cure for childhood cancer, you show up. Even for 20 minutes. If you’re in contact with the mother of this child and you schedule to meet at this event, you go. Even for 20 minutes.

We all left the event confused and honestly, feeling jipped. I know that our money still did go to a good cause. But, needless to say, we were let down.

While I personally am not the biggest sports fan, I did support this team. And while I still will (because living in this city, if I don’t, I might get beat up), I will never support or cheer for these two players, no matter how many touchdowns they score. It’s unlikely I’ll ever buy a ticket to this game, either. And, I’ll share this story with many others who most of which have children and I think all of them will be shocked to find out how low some people can go.

So hey all you super stars, remember, your “fans” are your “customers”. And, word of mouth get’s around fast.