The Deficit vs. the Investment in Business

The area that usually experiences the most of these encounters is in customer service. Here, you are dealing with all types of people: those who are in various emotional states, individuals struggling in different areas and people with very different outlooks on the exchange of business.

One of the issues that comes up from time to time is the idea of deficit vs. investment.

What this means is that a person spends their money at your organization in some way, shape or form. When the person does that, they have made an investment and therefore can be of the mindset that you are now in deficit with them. They have provided you with income so now they have a different access level.

You might experience it from a customer in the way of an e-mail response to you setting boundaries. Their reply could be, "Well, I've invested a lot of money in your firm so therefore you should..." and then they explain a series of demands or requests.

The investment of money to another company, does not put them at a deficit with you. The value of the currency exchanged over the value of the information, services, etc. received is not higher.

A lot of customers and clients may not understand that. They feel that because they paid you, you need to meet their requests even when it goes outside of the boundaries of what you've outlined when they've purchased. Their mindset may be that the money spent was of greater value than what they've received.

For a lot of customers and clients, this will often come up when money is a tender point for them. To them, the currency value is a lot higher than anything else because it may be in limited supply. In any part of the world, when something is of limited supply its value goes up... way up. This happens even when exchanging services for dollars.

How do we help to keep the value of our information and services up when currency becomes a limited supply for someone?

Some people may recommend bending over backward to meet the requests but that won't work. That will just fuel the requests in future and the more you give to an individual who belives money is the higher currency, the more they expect or want.

Instead, you need to point them to additional free resources that you've compiled. Always go back to referring to the value they've received, as part of their exchange, by pointing out tools and resources that they already have at their disposal. Offer additional ways you can support them -- for a fee.

You have to keep your stock rising too and by opening it up too much and bending over backward, you make yourself too accessible thus de-valuing yourself. When that happens, your currency value goes way down and you'll always find yourself in deficit with your customers.

Find that equal balance so that both sides prosper and the value is felt for both.