I like this little news magazine called Open Forum by American Express because it’s written just for small businesses. A recent article titled Shopping Local Can Save Us All focused on how local businesses can help communities. In the latter part of the article the author challenges Charles Matthews, a professor for Entrepreneurship at the University of Cincinnati, on the value of customer service that small businesses claim. And specifically is customer service a reason to pay more.
“Matthews is quick to answer. “It’s never a question of why spend more, it’s a matter of why you are spending at all”.
During the holidays, many businesses send greeting cards to their clients. So when they ask how much they should spend, I now reply, what’s your client worth? Really. Why are you spending at all? What impression do you want to make?
Custom greeting cards can range from $200 to more than $1000 for 100. But that’s about $2 to $10 per card. Do you think your client is worth $10?
