Do you charge your customers for being difficult to work with? Maybe you slap them with a convenience fee for using their credit card. Or perhaps you slap them with a late fee when they don’t pay on time.

However, do you ever charge them up front, at the point of sale for not behaving?

I’d hope not.

A sign outside the JCPenney’s photo studio claims that a $9.95 per person sitting fee will be charged if the subject doesn’t behave.

Why would I ever want to take my unpredictable children to get pictures there? I wouldn’t.

If you can’t change the customer…

Instead of charging customers that don’t behave, why don’t you specialize in helping customers behave and act like you want? Kiddie Kandids specializes in children’s photography. They don’t charge fees for rowdy people. In fact, they are experts at getting kids to sit still and smile.

Your Competition Loves Your Customers

Your competition is welcoming your disgruntled customers with open arms by accepting them just the way they are.

Contrast this sitting fee dilemma with a sign that hangs up at my favorite barbecue place here in Austin: Rudy’s. It reads that if you whine, you’ll get charged $10.

On the surface this appears to be the same problem and even rude. However, the atmosphere and culture at Rudy’s immediately tells customers that this sign is a joke. Come in and enjoy some food.

Your “policies” and signs may very well be the fodder that fuels your competition to make fun of you and laugh all the way to the bank.

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