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View Full Version : throw the dog a bone....



greenoak
10-22-2008, 09:04 AM
heres another saying from my world.throw the dog a bone.....mainly from my old antique buddies...in a nutshell it means giving something nice to a good customer once in a while...like a super cheap price on something ,or a real freebie, ,...its kind of a thank you. and also maybe to make up for something that maybe didnt turn out as well as hoped..or because they brought a new customer to you...or helped you out in other ways........
some guys i buy from will do this for me, knowing what i like they might save me something and give it to me or sell way under the money...its nice....
i try to do this a lot...its not organized or anything...and that wouldnt seem right ... but its out there...
the opposite is done to me a lot!!! my nice son will do a hard job for a customer, like load his truck, and they give him a tip, not the store who is definitely paying him to load the truck, ......or my cute daughter , when she worked here, she would often get help carrying something heavy , shes young and strong,,,,but they dont even see me lugging stuff around.... ..its so wrong!!!
ann

vangogh
10-22-2008, 06:16 PM
I try to do the same, though I'm not sure I like the expression since I'd rather not compare my clients to dogs. I'm not sure if they like bones either.

Usually I give a few freebies here and there. Someone might call with a quick change to a site and I don't bother charging. If they ask me for a lot of those quick changes I'll charge, but not for all of them.

I probably don't do a good job of letting my clients know. Sometimes I do things for them without charge, but I never really tell them. I'll often tell a client something took 2 hours to complete when it really took 2 1/2 hours. Things like that, that they may never really see. I think overall they do know even if they aren't aware of every specific time it happens.

Now I have no problem with your son getting a tip. I used to work retail and helped a lot of people load things into their cars. I wasn't sharing those tips with my employer then and I'm not sharing them now.

greenoak
10-22-2008, 07:03 PM
i call it laginappe too, but throw the dog a bone is kind of fun ....
jons probably making a lot more than a normal retail carrier.... ...and i dont really care...i dont want our workers to try and get tips tho! and jon doesnt..
i know you tip waitresses because its part of their pay, or maybe carry out boys....but it kind of suprises me here...
we dont sell on comission either.... but sometimes i wish we did....also wish some of my workers would beat me in that department...ann

orion_joel
10-22-2008, 08:53 PM
I think that ding these little things for customers can be a good thing weather they know about it or not. However i do agree that the line often needs to be defined where and who you should offer them to.

For example i may do this for someone who owns a small business and has spent a fair bit of money with me, i will not charge them for some time i spend on their project or something. I try to find someway to let them know what i have and have not charged for, not so much to have them thank me for not charging it but so that they can see what they are paying for so that later on when i do charge the normal rate for something they are not under an illusion as to what i charge.

At the same time, i tend not to give away anything to larger corporate clients, government, or any company with rules about gifts or such for employees. My reasoning here is mostly based on the fact that these type of businesses are rarely doing you a favor buying from you. They are buying from you often because you offer the best price for the product or because you are the only one willing to supply the combination exactly how they want it. For the corporate clients i may take the client to lunch or some sort of gift for purchasing, but more so to the person that i am dealing with for the most part. But i try to be very aware of any rules the companies may have in regards to this.

greenoak
10-23-2008, 09:31 AM
my post turned into a message , i think..... sorry
wanted to say i wouldnt want to give a freebie on something they were going to order again...wouldnt want it to be seen as the new price....
and i do behind the scense freebies too that they might not know....but the fun is when its like a little thank you present, just for them...i have lots of customers who bring me customers...and i really try to throw something in for them ...


and i hear joel on the idea thatbig companies and the gov would be different....for documentation and maybe even seen as a bribe....
i sure like it in our store and our face to face situation with our customers......

vangogh
10-23-2008, 04:22 PM
I can see what you mean about people thinking it's the new price. I've had to watch myself on that too at times.

It's cool though, that you can throw in a fun freebie for people. I can picture their reaction when they discover it.

the goat
10-24-2008, 12:23 AM
Everyone likes to feel special. It's what creates loyalty. My father used to always say it was how you become someones "guy". What he meant was, if someone asked them about how they got something done, they would say "oh I got a guy, he's great".

I've got a guy (or gal, figure of speech) for just about everything.

greenoak
10-24-2008, 08:22 AM
definitely...and its so nice when you have that as a customer...like my furnace guy....all i have to do is call.......and i cant imagine another guys coupon or ad
changing that....
that first encounter or dealing with someone is so important!!!! and can lead to so much...

orion_joel
10-25-2008, 02:10 AM
For small often one person businesses that have this type of effect, it is really something that can be worth their time building that effect into their marketing. Especially for service based businesses. You want to be that guy/gal for your specific market to your customers.

So many small service based business miss this critical part of their marketing. All it really comes down to is getting the call, be the one to show up, be quick and efficient and get the job done, for a reasonable price and suddenly you become the guy/gal to your customers.