Whose value is it anyway?

There's a neat bunch of techy guys who look after the pay per click and search engine optimisation of my 'How to Sell' website (see link on the right). Basically, their job is to make sure that the site appears at the right time and place when people look for short, sharp sales training. Oh, and that it doesn't cost a me fortune (it doesn't).

Despite this not being part of their remit, last week I asked if they could fix it so that my site could stream a short movie without the vistors having to download first. They said they'd see what they could do.

The next day, the movie was up and running. Wow! I was delighted and immediately offered to pay for the work. They said no because they wanted provide good customer service and as it turned out, it was no big deal for them. I agreed not to pay, but why did it make me feel uncomfortable?

I came to this conclusion:- our customers assess and pay for the that value they get from the business relationship. When we accept payment we reinforce that value. If we refuse payment, we risk indicating that we value the relationship less than they do!