How To Send Your Business Broke

I had an interesting experience in the weekend…

I had some time to kill so I stopped for a coffee at a neighbourhood bookshop-cum-cafe.

I sat down for my coffee (flat white, no sugar) and flipped open my Macbook Pro. At that point I noticed that bookshop had wi-fi, so I approached the counter to ask for the password.

The girl behind the counter said their policy was to only give out the password to customers who spend $10 or more, either at the cafe or the bookstore.

Trouble is, I just didn’t feel like any food and I wasn’t in book-buying mode.

I asked for a little flexibility but she stood firm: “store policy”.

So I wandered back to my seat and surveyed the 18 out of 20 seats empty seats, wondering how sane this particular store policy was.

Free wi-fi for customers is in fact one of their hidden weapons. If I know I can have a coffee there and check email, I’m likely to go there more often…maybe even become a “regular” (life time value).

I may even bring friends or business associates (become a centre of influence for them). And I’m likely to gradually deepen my relationship over time and buy a few impulse-purchase books (even if they’re a little more expensive than Amazon.com).

But nope. They had to be tight-assed about the wi-fi policy, which is narrowly focused on earning an extra $6.50 from the transaction at hand, but pissing me off in the process and motivating me to seek other alternatives.

When they go out of business, they’ll say it was Amazon.com and the big chains that did it. They’ll say it’s impossible for the little guy to survive in this world of globalisation.

But the real reason will be, they didn’t capitalise on their greatest assets (a sense of local community and a place to “hang out”) but instead had to go for a the extra few bucks on the initial sale.

Next time I want free wi-fi, I’ll just go to Starbucks.

What policies do you have in place that might be repelling customers?

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