Don't gouge your customer

I'm in DC today, giving a talk on customer service to business owners and C-level executives in the technology sector. My presentation is predicated on the simple, undeniable premise that if you want to survive this recession, you'd better learn to spoil your customers rotten, or you'll be on the street - if you aren't already.

Recessions suck, especially this one. But they do teach us all to stay on our toes and sharpen our game. You can't fake your way through a downturn this deep.

In a few hours I'll be leaving my attendees with my ever-popular Ten Quick Tips to better customer service - practices they can bring home to the office to get the entire staff performing at a higher level right away, today.

I have at least 120 of these tips, probably more by now. Here's one just for you: Don't gouge your customers.

Gouging is when you take advantage. For instance, if you run an amusement park and charge $6 for a hot dog. Your customers aren't likely to leave the park for lunch, so the typical family of four will shell out $45 for a crappy, thoroughly unnutritious meal.

Having a captive audience is a prescription for gouging. As consumers, we have come to accept gouging as part of the game: we expect this going in, so sure, we don't like it, but... what are you gonna do?

It's tempting to gouge your customers - what respectable businessperson wants to leave money on the table? And when you have a transient consumer, such as a park visitor or hotel "guest," you're probably not going to see that person again any time soon. So... why not go for it?

Hotels are actually where I'm going with this; my talk is at a four-star hotel today. And what I've noticed from years of travel for similar talks is, the more upscale the hotel, the more expensive the Internet access.

That's weird to me. You stay at Quality Inn, Internet is free. But at Marriott or the Ritz, you'll end up paying $10, $20, or more a day for it.

How does that make me feel like a "guest?" I stayed at my friends' house last night. One of them actually spread cream cheese on my bagel for me this morning. Now that made me feel like a guest. And no, I did not have to pay them a cent to check my email.

Sorry - call me a pinko hippie, but I like my Internet free. So I've left the hotel and walked a quarter-block to a Starbucks. My Starbucks card is registered, so I can log on in any of their corporate-owned stores at no price.

That is called "finding the third way out." The gouger says, "Pay or don't play." They think they've won. But savvy customers walk a block and get the service free. Oops. Hotel zero, "guest" one.

...And Starbucks one, as well. They just got a plug on a moderately-well-read blog for not gouging. Good for them.

Bad for Hyatt.

Does your company gouge its customers? If so, you might want to rethink that. It's short-term thinking all the way. Are you in business for the short-term, or the long-haul?