GALT Consulting LLC

A pizza place emails out a coupon to it's preferred customers.  One customer gets the coupon and decides to eat at the restaurant... only they don't print out the coupon.  They arrive, order, eat and go to pay and show the coupon via their phone to their server, who rejects it.  The owner comes out and explains...  "If we didn't make you print the coupon, our wait staff would give away food to everyone who walked in."  The customer does not get the discount... and proceeds to tell the story to several people (including me). 

I understand why the owner made this decision, but that doesn't make it a good decision.  The owner doesn't have clear vision for what it takes to run a successful business.  I am not criticizing to complain, I am trying to make the point for you, so you don't make the same mistake. 

Businesses are made and lost on relationships.  Why?  Because it is far better to have a long-term relationship with a customer than to have to develop new relationships with total strangers.  The coupon incident was handled by an owner who expects every transaction to occur between strangers.  He sets a policy that shows his employees and customers that he doesn't trust them. 

Cost control is important in business, but relationships are more important.  NEVER do anything that signals a potentially valuable client that you are only interested in a relationship when every transaction is financially beneficial.  There are a lot of pizza places out there...

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