Dumb Rules
By: Jan BolickA man did business in the building where his bank was located. He didn’t have business to do at the bank that day but went in to get his parking ticket validated. This was a perk the bank provided to their customers.
When he asked a teller to stamp his parking ticket, she looked at his shabby dress and refused, explaining that they only did that for customers. He was angry and asked for her supervisor. The supervisor responded the same way. No banking business, no stamp. That is the rule.
So the man obliged by doing business with the bank that day.
He withdrew money.
All of it.
One million dollars.
I feel certain that smart people made this rule for smart reasons. But this situation, it became very dumb. Even chased a customer away.
Does your business have any dumb rules?
copyright 2009 – Jan Bolick, Business Class Inc
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This is a very powerful and very educational story. Talk about a lack of strategic thinking by the bank. They saved the cost of the parking validation and lost $1Million deposits. Wow!
Another illustrative story on a smaller scale but with the same principle from my experience is this: I was a “regular” customer at a local luncheon cafe’ and over a year’s time would probably spend more than $1000 annually there. That was until 1 day I asked for a cup of water and the owner told me she was all out of water cups. Now she had other cups there for soda, but she would not give me a cup for water since the water was “free.” I no longer go there, so that simple decision cost her $1000 per year and for how many years?
Thanks for the opportunity to share.
Thank YOU, Glenn! What a great example of a dumb rule!
[...] rules? No? Are you sure? If you think all of your rules are smart and if you haven’t read Dumb Rules – you might want to read it [...]