No company in their right mind would ever admit to it but the fact of the matter is offering less(bad) service can be quite a cost saving and yes this is a strategy, surprisingly a very good one.

It’s frustrating at times to find help in a store that prides itself on no service.  Have you ever tried to call Super Store with a question or problem?  You can’t there is no number.  Ever asked a Wal-Mart employee a detailed question about a non-stick frying pan?  You may luck out but the odds are the person can’t help you.

The reality is these large corporations understand that service costs money and after performing a cost-benefit analysis on service they determined it was not worth it.  Customers would rather have lower prices rather than paying from someone to help them while shopping.  Is that what we really want?  Would we all pay a little extra for better service?  There’s the catch.

Would you still shop at Wal-Mart if the prices were increased by five to ten percent but it included good service?  Maybe, but I would be willing to bet that the majority of us do not need great service, it is a small minority of people that actually do need it on a regular basis.

Why is this a great strategy?  If you can attain the lowest selling price, history tells us you will sell a lot of products so you don’t need a value added strategy, the lowest price is the value.  So who’s complaining?  There will always be companies that have the lowest prices and with it will come poor service; it’s to be expected.  At the same time you will always find a niche clientele that is willing to pay more for value added service.

You are free to go to the more expensive stores, you now know why you pay more, expect great service.  As well you can still frequent the stores with the lowest price, but please save us all some time and don’t complain about service.

Related posts:

1. Love Your Customers or Don’t, But Pick One
2. Price Is a Calculation; Value Is a Feeling
3. “We can get it cheaper”
4. The No Name Strategy
5. Small Business Marketing

Tagged as: bad service strategy, Business, finance, money, savings, Service, Strategy, Thinking, unintentional, wal-mart

About the Author

Hi, I'm Jeph. I love helping people make smarter business decisions. I help companies stand out. I consult, speak, facilitate and do project work on new marketing strategies (word-of-mouth, customer service, and social media). My consulting company is JephMaystruck.com Research & Consulting. The marketing industry is changing very rapidly and the only way to stay on top of it is by a philosophy of continuous learning. Do you have an information strategy? Are you learning faster than the world is changing? If not, we should talk. Learn more here: http://jephmaystruck.com/marketing-strategy/ Follow me @JephMaystruck

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