The Cost of One Dime
This time I went to buy a bread and didn't have enough money on me to pay for it. In fact, I was just a dime short. After searching my pockets to find a dime without success, I asked the man behind the counter what to do.
His answer astounded me.
As a loyal customer, buying a lot of bread in the last couple of years (the expensive, healthy stuff remember?) he actually told me to give back the bread in my hand, since I didn't have the money to pay for it. I could buy a cheaper loaf if I liked.
I think my mouth fell open, I'm not sure. I didn't want a cheaper bread, I wanted this one! But if I wanted THIS bread, I had to go home and fetch another dime. Yes, a DIME!
I felt betrayed. I couldn't believe that this man would put me through all this hassle for a lousy dime. And it wasn't that this man had no authority to let me go with this loaf of bread and one dime short, this guy was the boss!
I guess he couldn't miss that dime.
But apparently he could miss a customer.
Because at that point I decided for myself that I wouldn't buy a loaf of bread, a cake, a pie, whatever, from this guy again. So in the end, the cost of this one dime, was all the future profits he would have earned by keeping me a happy customer. And he would have converted me in a loyal customer, just by sparing me the hassle...
Take it from me: if you're ever in a situation like this, where you can help a customer at your own expense, please consider the future income that customer may bring to your company. It's just good business.
