Page 155 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

actually earned—in other words, if a customer thinks a delivery
was late, or a product was defective, he or she can deduct an amount
from the invoice to compensate.
As in most business-to-business markets, buyers rely on having
good relationships with their suppliers, so few (if any) abuse the
system. In fact, Granite Rock has found that the overall cost of
dealing with complaints has dropped dramatically: apart from the
savings in terms of administration time, customers are actually
awarding themselves less compensation than Granite Rock would
have been prepared to pay.
The bonus is, of course, that customers trust Granite Rock and
are much happier to do business with it than they are with (often
cheaper) competitors.

In practice

• This works best in business-to-business markets, but should

also work well in consumer services.

• Abuse is of course possible: if a customer is consistently abusing

the system, it is open to you to stop supplying that customer.
After all, they were probably abusing your old system anyway.

• Monitor what the scheme is costing and compare back to your

previous system, but remember to include any increase in
business resulting from the increased trust customers have
in you.

146 • 100 GREAT MARKETING IDEAS