Marketing Inspiration

Rules Schmules

Ben McConnell has been campaigning against inane corporate rules at the Church of the Customer blog. In a round-up of marketing resolutions for the new year he puts "Vow to eliminate a stupid rule" at number six. "You know what it is," he says. "Customers (or bloggers) have already told you. So eliminate it already. For extra points, give it a funeral." McConnell cites two examples of rules gone wild:

• A customer at a pack-and-ship store who wanted to tape his package was asked to do so outside. Huh? It turned out a woman had once sued the store for cutting her hand on its tape dispenser, and the company chose to avoid future lawsuits by banning the practice altogether. "One customer's misfortune inspired an unnecessary rule at the expense of 10,000 others who aren't clumsy and litigious," notes McConnell.


• In another logic-defying case, the manager of a high-end grocery store ordered an employee to release a shoplifter he had restrained, and then fired him for violating a hard-and-fast rule that prohibits employees from touching customers—a loose definition at best—for any reason.

"More rules are proportional to less convenience," writes McConnell. "More rules = fewer customers. You either let the tyranny of one customer influence your organization, or not. When someone wants to add a new rule, how about eliminating an existing one instead?" And we think that removing rules, not adding more, is Marketing Inspiration.