Last week I received an email from a local garage I’d never heard of before. I was kind of intrigued that this local garage had found me via email … but, more intrigued that they were targeting me for a timing belt. Somehow they knew that I was about to hit 90,000 miles on my car.
The next day, I called an Acura dealer in town to get my car serviced. I haven’t been to this Acura dealer in over three years, well before I got married and moved twice. I scheduled my appointment and before hanging up asked if they wanted my name… they said, “this is Lisa, right?” So I figured they had my first name and VIN number (obviously associated to the caller ID of my cell phone) and that would be enough to get me to the appointment and change the rest. Then, a few days later, I got a letter to my current address from the sales manager encouraging me to talk to him personally as soon as I was ready to sell my car. He would “make me a deal” in reward for my loyalty to their service department.
As much as I get frustrated when I call credit card companies or airlines and they can’t pass along data when I transfer them, I’m continually impressed with companies that do seem to keep tabs on my whereabouts, interests and needs. So far, I just want more of it. I’ve not yet been upset that someone knows something about me they shouldn’t. I know my privacy may be compromised, but I like the convenience! I’m sure I will eat my words soon.
P.S. Random MBTI note, I wonder if this is tied to me being an “expressive” versus “contained” introvert. “Expressives” (typically extraverts) are very willing to share more about themselves with strangers.
