Would you dicker with a waiter about the price of a steak entrée? Or ask a hairdresser to give you highlights for free? Or expect a cashier to sell you a DVD at less than half its marked price? Probably not.

A viral video making the rounds this summer uses those scenarios to explain a major problem in the client-vendor relationship—specifically, when the former expects the latter to deliver a top-shelf product or service for a bargain-basement price. A typical exchange from the video highlights the shaky logic by placing it in a small-business setting:

Hairdresser: So what are we going to do today?

Client: Well, I'd like the highlights. But for now I can only pay for a trim.

Hairdresser: Okay, so today we're only going to do the trim?

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article