Don’t Confuse Discounts with Customer Service

I heard from a banker friend of mine the other day about his frustration with his commercial bankers’ habit of waiving fees for “good” customers. This practice is often viewed by the “donator” as providing good customer service, but in fact has the opposite effect of commoditizing service overall.

Service is one of your primary deliverables, and any overt focus on pricing will tend to devalue that service. Your company’s brand position should support your pricing and discounts or waiving should be a rare occurrence. Your customers likely did not come to you, or more importantly stay with you for price considerations -so why would you resort to price reduction as a retention tactic?

Good customers recognize truly good service and are willing to pay for it. Those who are not, do not value what you deliver and will be subject to abandoning you for price-driven competitors.

Defend your position. Hold your ground and keep delivering exceptional service. Your truly best (and most profitable) customers will stay and pay and you’ll be far better off in the long run.