Turning positive attention on active members or customers

by free2beme 5 Replies latest jw friends

  • free2beme
    free2beme

    When you buy a new cell phone, they give you a new pretty cell phone for cheap, waive activation fees and treat you too all this positive welcome attention. Then once your in contract, it is deal with it sucker or pay a huge cancellation fee. When you order new cable service, they have these "free service" offers for the first fee months, and then once that is done, you call and ask about a ad you saw and it is "sorry, but that is only for NEW customers." This type of behavior is so common in our world, and it reminds me so much of how people are brought into religions too. When we had a new person, we all made a point to make them feel wanted. We made sure they came to gettogethers to get to know people. We gave them special encouragement when they gave talks, or made comments. We basically built them up to feel great. Then once they were baptized, it was just like the cell phone companies and cable companies, when they comment that they feel people changed and things are not the way they remembered. "Were sorry, that is only for new people."

    When you call a cell phone company or cable company, and say you want to cancel. They transfer you to a retention department that tries to give you special offers to stay. If you stay, you will be given a "sort of better" deal then you had before, but enough to make you not want to go through the hassle of finding another company. When your a Witness and you call the elders and say something like "I am discouraged" or "I have doubts, " they too will put some of that old fashion beginner attention on you. You will get a brother or sister assigned to you (depending on your sex), to invite you out in service, offer to take you to meetings and so on. Yet much like those special offers from cell phones and cable companies, they too will run out and before you know it, your back to that same old unhappy plan you were on before and trying to figure out what to do.

    So you call again, and they offer something more and it is not what you had before as they have to try something new and in many cases they have a policy of "you can not keep putting some one on the same deal, as they in time need to pay the normal prices." So you call the elders later, after the temp fake love went away. They put you on the list of whiners and put together some half ass support for you, thinking to themselves that you are way to much work. In time, you realize that you have either got to cancel the service or deal with it the way it is. If you "deal with it the way it is", you are now what is defined as a solid customer base. Basically, they know you will pay each month and not cost much more then the bill they print for you. You are a good income for them. If you cancel, you are what is considered "acceptable lose", they basically feel they did what they could to save you and now that you leave, they know they will just get someone else (or multi-someone else's) to replace you. You are not breaking any business down, and you are not really going to be missed.

    Religion is a business, you are either a customer base or acceptable loss. Nothing else! Ever thought about it that way?

  • anewme
    anewme

    Yep.

  • SirNose586
    SirNose586

    Nice analogy. Only, a cell phone company won't threaten you with eternal destruction if you leave them...

  • anewme
    anewme

    Seriously, it does hurt when you are raised in a religion to believe it is from God and the people are Gods people and everything the elders do is directed from Jehovah and everybody loves everybody else and would give their very lives for each other.

    It hurts when you realize that people are just people, motivated to move and do things for others sometimes by ulterior motives that may have nothing to do with godly love.

    Few people are gonna love you like God does, always forgiving, ever patient, always there.
    If they do, they are the ones to be loyal to. They are your true friends.

  • free2beme
    free2beme
    Only, a cell phone company won't threaten you with eternal destruction if you leave them

    True, but they will say "your coverage wont be as good as ours" and "you there may be a problem with keeping your number." All these little things that make you question, is it worth it? Which is much like the Witnesses saying "you hope will not be the same" and "you will not to keep your life, friends and family."

  • LDH
    LDH
    sorry, but that is only for NEW customers."

    Yes, so you have basically financed a better deal for someone who didn't have the insight to sign up when you did. Pretty much like the "newbies" in JW world now. They may be customers, but they'll never know about suffering through the hardliner days. All of the emotional suffering endured by generations of JWs has finally come home to roost at the WTBS. The religion has been watered down, and bears no resemblence to what the old timers put up with. Who would? After all, the network is so much better!

    Lisa

    Can you hear me now? Class

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