This article is an excerpt from the authors' new book, Enterprise One to One: Tools for Competing in the Interactive Age, Currency/Doubleday, released in January, 1997.

There is a business practice we call "best-interests" marketing which should be included as an element of any customer recognition program. Basically, best-interests marketing involves putting a customer's own best interests at the forefront of whatever policy or marketing program is being executed. For example, phone companies and banks should review the accounts of their most valuable customers ("MVCs") and recommend the best plan for each customer. While best-interests is a business practice that makes sense when dealing with any customer, it requires a level of personal care and attention, as opposed to a standardized, one-size-fits-all program, that is often impractical to apply to levels much below that of an MVC.

Consider the successful home builder, who sells an infrequently purchased, very expensive product and must therefore rely, principally, on referrals to drive his business. Most builders warrant the homes they construct for a period of one year. After the first year following construction, the owner, and not the builder, is responsible for any further repairs or adjustments.

New homes are complicated products, with many small things that can go wrong at various times. Even a home built by the best is likely to be filled with little problems that require adjustment. So, there are two ways a home builder can treat a one-year warranty. He could wait for the deadline to pass, hoping that his customer (who will never buy another product from him again, anyway) doesn't think to call him in to fix anything until after the expiration. This is likely to be the least costly course of action, at least in the short term. Or, he could call the new home owner in the 51st week, just a few days before the warranty expires, and offer to stop by to inspect the house with the owner, in order to spot any additional problems that might have been overlooked. While this customer may not ever build another home, he is certainly likely to refer others to the builder, right?

Besides the longer-term benefit that best-interests marketing can provide in terms of customer retention and referrals, it will dramatically improve the rank-and-file attitude within the enterprise, with respect to how customers should be treated. A well-managed firm will train even lower-level employees to make decisions according to some overall criteria designed to further the enterprise's mission. "Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen" is the mantra at the Ritz-Carlton, for instance, and the thinking and training behind this phrase go a long way toward explaining this company's well-documented excellence in service, customer satisfaction, and complaint recovery. The enterprise that practices best-interests marketing will infuse its culture with the principal that the customer comes first, above everything else.

Don Peppers is president of Marketing 1:1, Inc., a Stamford, CT, management consulting firm specializing in relationship management and marketing technology issues. Martha Rogers, Ph.D. is a founding partner in Marketing 1:1, and former professor of telecommunications and marketing. They are the co-authors of The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time (Currency/Doubleday, 1993).

To interact with the authors, order the book online, and download tools, visit http://www.marketing1to1.com.