Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

A few weeks ago, I did an experiment. 

Instead of emailing you the entire blog post, I set my blog up to only email you a short segment. If you wanted to read more, you had to click on the link and go to the website. 

Why the change? It clearly would be good for me and NAFCU. On the blog's website, you'd see ads. You'd see other posts. It would be easier to leave comments.

But was it good for you? I really struggled with the decision. At the end of the day, though, I figured that what you wanted wasn't to see ads - but rather to read the post. So why make you do one more thing to read it? So I went back to emailing you the entire post. 

And so it is with many businesses.

• Major league baseball starts is playoff games so late, many children (and adults!) can't stay awake past the seventh inning. Starting late is good for advertisers. So in the short term, it is good for baseball. But not great for fans. 
• Many ticket companies charge you outlandish fees for getting your tickets. A "will call" fee. A "print-at-home" fee. Surely, it is good for them. Surely, it is not for you. 
• Hotels used to charge you for making local calls. Now our cell phones have ended that racket. But now they charge for access to the internet. Good for them. Certainly not for you.

I always look at those decisions and shake my head. My gut tells me this: making decisions that are good for you, but not for them is not taking a long-term view of things. 

You'll make out in the short term, but I fear that you'll erode the trust of your most important friends - your customers. And while the change you make to maximize the short term will work for you (in the short term), it does create an opportunity for something or someone else to undercut you. 

The key, I guess, is to balance the short and long-term whenever possible. 

And isn't it always possible at some level?