Not too long ago, a vendor that I have used for years tripled the price of something that I buy regularly.
Confused and admittedly a little upset, I called the vendor thinking there had been some kind of mistake.
The mistake was probably choosing him in the first place.
He said, angrily, “I’m running a business, Dave, and I have overhead! We have to make money here!”
End of call.
End of business relationship.
A sluggish economy creates unusual stressors. And folks have different ways of reacting to that stress.
Some react by treating their clients with first-class service, because they know that the environment is more competitive now than ever.
It’s not good enough to just serve customers; winning vendors know how to delight them.
Others react with a “scarcity mentality” and decide — amazingly — that the customer has to lose so that they can win. This vendor clearly decided that my business was not worth it anymore. Like a gambler putting his last chips on a number, he took a gamble that tripling his money was worth the risk of losing it.
He was obnoxious and condescending.
I did not accept his second class behavior, and I encourage you not to accept second-class behavior from ANY of your vendors.
Although the economy is forcing many companies to raise the standard of their customer service to higher levels, they should’ve been doing that all along. It’s good that they have learned a positive lesson from a negative economy.
It’s a shame that not everyone is learning the same lesson.
If you’ve had a good or bad experience with a vendor recently please post it as a comment.