My absolute best business advice

As you probably know, I ran a 25% off sale on all instructional videos and it ended yesterday.  More technically, it ended at midnight EST.  When I awoke this morning, I found three emails and a voicemail from people who all had the same complaint.  They had all tried to order before midnight in their time zone, but the coupon did not work because it was after midnight here in Atlanta.

I know many business people who would agonize over what to do in this situation.  I belong to a Facebook group of small business owners where they post and debate situations like this all the time. 

But for me, there is nothing to think about and nothing to debate.  I gave all of those people the 25% discount.  The reason why is simple.  It goes back to a very simple but core business strategy that I operate by.  Here it is:

Be as generous as you can.

We all know this is not unique to me.  It is a Biblical thing. Jesus discusses this concept through the gospels.  You can probably think of pithy statements and phrases that encapsulate it (such as the “baker’s dozen”). 

This is a business strategy that always works.  Be generous if you possibly can and stop worrying about getting every possible dollar out of your customers.  Put your energy elsewhere; focus on business growth rather than pinching nickels.

Now, as important as it is to be generous, don’t lose the last part of the strategy: “as you can.”  That is just as important. Just because a customer demands something does not mean you should give it to them. 

I had a former employee who was young and idealistic who used to give me grief because I did not operate like Chick-fil-a does.  If you know anything about Chick-fil-a, you know that this principle is a big contributor to their success.  When is the last time a Chick-fil-a employee has told you “no”?  Want to use an expired coupon?  Of course you can.  Want to get a free sandwich with a coupon for chicken nuggets? No problem.  Want to steal from them by falsely claiming you did not get all of your order? They will give you another sandwich without batting an eye.

At Vitabase, we don’t go as far as Chick-fil-a.  Anybody that answers calls here is supposed to bend over backwards to help customers but we have limits.  If a customer wants to use a technically expired coupon, they can.  If they claim that they saw free shipping advertised on the site and we know they are wrong, we give it to them without arguing. 

But there are things we won’t do.  For example, if we ship an $100 order to a customer and they claim they did not get it but we have signature proof of delivery, we are probably not going to ship another order.  In a few cases, we might; it depends on the customer and various other factors.

But the difference between us and Chick-fil-a is not very dramatic really.  Both of us are being as generous as we can.  There is just a difference between a chicken sandwich and $100 worth of vitamins.  Trust me, while Chick-fil-a may not blink at honoring expired coupons, I can assure you there are limits to their generosity too.  Buy 100 chicken sandwiches for a party and falsely claim they were never delivered and you will quickly find their limit of generosity.

A lot of it has to do with what you are selling.  On this site, I can afford to be very generous.  Everything I sell has a large initial investment but the actual product costs are low.  For example, I might invest $20,000 in some instructional DVDs but they cost only $1 each to reproduce.  The same is true for my CDs and various other stuff.

And because product costs are low, we aim to be exceptionally generous.  If you tell us you did not get something you ordered, we are not going to try to prove you wrong; we will just assume you are right and reship, often with a free gift to say we are sorry. 

I mention this scenario because I remember a Facebook discussion where people were debating a situation where someone’s customer claimed that a DVD was defective.   Seriously? Don’t think about it. Just ship another already.  It will cost a few bucks at the most to keep the customer happy.

And that is why I don’t have to think twice about giving the 25% discount to those who ordered a few hours late last night.  I can certainly afford to be that generous.  Debating with them that midnight means midnight Eastern Standard Time is just plain silly.  Frankly, I am tickled pink that they want to buy my courses in the first place.

So, what I did was extend the coupon code through tonight.  If you are one of those people who tried to order at 11:00 PST last night, try again.  You have through midnight tonight to get the 25% discount.  (BUT, I anticipated this problem happening again so I really extended it through tomorrow at midnight.  Just don’t tell anyone because as you can see, this can become an endless cycle.)

If you are involved in a business though, remember this strategy of generosity. Don’t be more generous than you can.  But definitely be as generous as you can. It works.