Danielle Putnam
Contributing Writer
The New Flat Rate
My husband is a planner and tends to lean on the OCD side of most everything. In unintended opposition, I am not a planner and tend to lean on the opposite side of OCD. So a summer vacation for me would mean showing up at the beach and laying there for a week then driving home. Whereas a summer vacation for my husband would be a binder with the preplanned schedule of travel, activities, historical information for each site we would see and reviews on the restaurants we mustn’t miss!
Snorkel Bob’s was the rental place that had been researched by my husband while on our family vacation last week. As I walked in the door I had to duck and dodge as equipment hung from every corner. “Hey dude’s, you looking to do some snorkeling?” Said the college age employee behind the counter. “Yes” I hastily replied. “Ok it’s just $9 for the day, what size shoe do you wear?” We responded with the information he needed then quickly tried everything on as it was handed to us, only to see it be instantly snatched away and packed into a temporary gear bag.
We nodded at each other as we approached the register, confirming our mutual feelings that we had made a smart rental purchase and were being offered a fair price. As we turned to leave I couldn’t ignore what I saw in the corner of my eye…a menu! Yes there it was clear as day, a menu of prices that they didn’t show me!
For daily rentals there were three options:
- Ultimate Truth $9
- Middle Cruiser $6.25
- Budget Crunch $2.50
The $9 price still sounded and looked reasonable to me so I wasn’t upset about the cost, but I couldn’t ignore the “gypped” feeling in my stomach. There were other options and they didn’t let ME choose which option I wanted!
Your customers should have the buying power; the power to choose what services they would like to purchase. Simply offering a menu of choices for them to choose from will increase your customer loyalty, referrals and bank account. Regardless of personality type, a menu of prices allows your customers to feel empowered…and that is something all personality types want.