Steal These Ideas!: Marketing Secrets That Will Make You a Star, 2nd Edition

The Absolute Power of Membership... and Something American Express Does Right

The American Express card was first introduced in 1958. When I worked at the firm from 1987 through 1991, we instituted a policy that never questions how long a customer thinks he has been a cardholder. I remember one day receiving an urgent call from a customer service senior executive. An elderly charter cardholder from 1958 had called to complain that his new replacement card had just arrived and incorrectly showed his membership as since 1958 when he knew he had been a member since 1956. “What should the customer service folks do?” I was asked. This wasn't the first time a customer had called to complain that he was right about his years of membership when, actually, ...