William Noyes Technology Services

When I began thinking about this post, I thought it was going to be just a rant about an experience I had at lunch. I have mixed feelings about posting rants, it feels a little unprofessional, but sometimes it feels so good to rant and rave! However as I thought about it, I decided there was a lesson to be learned, that hopefully makes this a worthwhile post.

I frequently eat lunch at one particular sandwich shop, often eating there two or three times in a week. They have a frequent buyer card program, where after five sandwiches, you get 20% off, after ten sandwiches, you get $5 off (basically a free sandwich), after fifteen, its 40%, and after twenty, its $10 (two sandwiches). Several weeks ago, I’d reached the ten sandwich mark on my card, and redeemed it. The cashier gave me the discount, and gave me a new card. Later I was thinking that I should have gotten the old card back to work on the 40% discount. However, I’d been happy with the service and the food, so I let the issue go. Yesterday, I’d gotten to the 20% level on the new card (which should have been 40%), I gave the card to the cashier as I ordered, he ran up the order without the card, and calculated the discount on a hand held calculator, he then keyed in the $20 dollar bill I handed him and gave me my change, without entering the discount into the register! In my head I thought it’s only 20-30 cents, and decided not to make a scene during the busy lunch rush. Driving back to the office, it kept nagging at me, it wasn’t 20 cents, it was really 20% of $10.00, or $2.00, and it should have been 40%! So now I’ve been “cheated” twice within a month by this shop. I kept thinking, I should put this on my blog, and never eat there again.

As I pondered the blog post, I realized that there was a lesson to be learned for business people, and we’re all business people in some manner. The lesson is that your customers expect to be treated fairly. If they do not feel that you are treating them fairly, they may make a huge embarrassing scene for both of you. More likely, they’ll just go somewhere else, and you’ll never know why. This is a case where the perception is more important than the reality. Your customers need to believe they can trust you. If you are giving them a great deal, but they do not realize it, then you might as well have cheated them. Take the time to set expectations with your customers, whether they are paying customers or internal customers at work. Tell them what you are going to do for them, how long it will take, what the costs are, and what the benefits are. Then follow though. If there is the possibility that costs may rise as the scope creeps, make sure the customer understands that the initial cost is for the initial scope, and clearly document what the process will be for adding features and requirements. Never surprise a customer at the end of a project with a bill that is higher than the original quote without having documented the increases during the project as they come up.

In short treat your customers the way you want to be treated yourself, and they won’t go looking for a new sandwich shop.