Leave it to the endlessly greedy NFL owners to pass on a great PR opportunity in favor of once again being perceived as a bunch of greedy bastards.

Who in business outside the world of professional sports does not dream of having customers that you can call “fanatic” about your product or service? Who would not love the opportunity to fit out these customers with all manners of clothing and just about anything else with their company’s logo? And have the customers pay sometimes outrageous prices for the clothing and other stuff.

That is why I am amazed to hear reports of the National Football League threatening legal action against peddlers of Who Dat? T-shirts and other items down in New Orleans in the lead-up to their appearance in “the big game” (afraid calling it by the name you would all recognize might earn me a “cease and desist” letter). Where was the NFL in even one of the 44 prior years the good citizens of The Big Easy celebrated and supported this (often struggling) team?

There are some lessons here and even though I know the aforementioned greedy bastards will not get it, maybe some of the rest of us in business will. From my point of view the lesson is real simple. There is a time to stand up and defend your legal rights and there is a time to actively pursue the position of “good guy” and simply sit down and shut up while your customers have their fun and enjoy it.

Working to service customers with the mission of taking them from “satisfied customers” to “fans” takes a lot of focus and attention to details. Once you have made the customers so glad they are doing business with you that they will tell their friends and family about you, the mission has not been accomplished. You must work to keep your customers in the “fan club” with every single touch, be it a simple phone call, a cherished referral, a repair job, or a new opportunity to bid more work. Take them for granted once and they will drop from your fan club and start talking about you the way I talk about NFL owners.