Situation A: I love a specific Hostess product (Crunch Donettes) and haven’t been able to find them in my local area since Hostess went bankrupt, or since they’ve reopenned. During a business trip I recently stopped at a store where they were available. So I called the 800 number on the Hostess website to find out where I could get them. Guess what … the lady said she not only couldn’t tell me what retailer sold them (since they sell only to distributors), but also couldn’t even tell me which distributors sold them.
Situation B: I wanted a particular Audi. There’s no dealer where I live. While on a trip to Vegas I stopped at a dealer, but they didn’t have the model I wanted. I called the 800 number on the Audi website. They had a dealer contact me. I told them what I wanted. He found and acquired one. I got it.
Now who here understands who the customer is and how to respond to their needs, and who doesn’t?