A tale about recharging the relationship--and the brand.

When relationship strength is high, the customer is 49 percent more likely to remain a customer than when it is low. and 55 percent more likely to shop at the retailer within the next year ... is 1.82 times as likely to recommend the retailer to friends and family."

--Carlson Relationship Builder 2007: Getting It Right in Retail, Don Peppers &Martha Rogera, Ph.D. 1 to 1 Weekly, June 18, 2007

The battery in nay computer was holding a full charge for only about 12 minutes. As I lamented its decline, I remembered a recent article referring to the brand of computer I have as "the Buick of computers." I have purchased perhaps a dozen computers--for my kids, wife and me--over the past few years and the last several have been these "Buicks" and lately they have been neither cool nor great on service. Note to self: My next computer is going to be some brand other than this.

With this "brand" baggage in tow, I mentally prepared for the dreaded customer service call to determine nay computer battery rehabilitation options. Let's see, this will require navigating through copious menu options, being put on hold, trying to understand a strong foreign accent, and being told my warranty expired last month. I can hardly wait.

The dreaded call

My call began with the obligatory lengthy menu items. Check. Next, I was put on hold. Check. Then came the strong accent that I could barely understand. Check. After telling the agent--Emmanuel was his name--about my weak battery, there was a slight pause as he checked nay service tag number and told me the battery was no longer under warranty. Check. However, because I was under the service agreement with them, he would check on replacing it without charge. Huh? In a few seconds he was back on the line saying he would send me a new battery free of charge. In my mind we are way off script at this point and I am feeling pretty good.

His next question surprised me: Are you having any other problems with your computer? I was in the middle of mouthing the words, "No, everything is fine," when he asked, What about your keyboard--is it okay?"

"Well, yes," I said. "It is fine, except sometimes when I hit the letter 'k' it does not work."

He responded, "Fine, I will send you a new' keyboard. Do you know how to change the keyboard?---it is real simple."

"No, I have never changed out the keyboard."

"Robert, I can walk you through it--you will not have any problem. I am in all week except for Wednesday. E-mail me when you are ready, I will call you back to you in a few minutes. Any other problems?"

"Well, yes. When I attempt to shut my computer down, it hangs tip and will not power down.

"Your computer has been running really slow?"

"Yes"

"You need to back Lip your files and then reinstall Windows. Is that something you can do on your own?"

I told him I had a back-up hard drive I could use but that I had always had tech support to reinstall Windows.

He said, "When we install the keyboard, I will help you reinstall Windows." What caused me to change my mind?

As we concluded the call, I was reeling. I had already received his e-mail providing his follow-up contact information to install the keyboard and Windows. I felt very different about him and especially his company. I began to think about what had caused such a shift. Emmanuel had been generous to comp the battery no longer under warranty. Accent and all, he took the time and seemed genuinely interested in any other needs that I had. And even better, he took the time to extract other problems that I would not have surfaced, and he skillfully diagnosed them.

Yet as good as those things were, what had the greatest impact on me was that he had provided a way for me to access him again for the next step. This is pretty unheard of in call center roulette where everything is designed to ensure that you always are starting over and thus talking with a stranger. He redesigned the follow-up to lever the information already exchanged and the trust and rapport established. There was already a reservoir of relational currency in our joint account.

I was already thinking, I will e-mail him next time I have a computer problem. Next, I am thinking, when I replace this computer, I will get another one of these "Buicks" because "cool" or not, I have a proven place to go if I have a problem. So, within about 10 minutes, I had re-embraced the brand, become loyal and even anticipated my next purchase. Now I am sharing it with you and even recommending the brand to my colleagues. What could cause all of that? Then it struck me: Heck, Emmanuel and I--we have a relationship. What will they think of next?

Robert Hall is author of "The Street Corner Strategy for Winning Local Markets." E-mail: [e-mail]