How my publisher got $5,000 of goodwill with $100

July 16 19 Comments latest by Anthony Kuhn

It’s about that time where we start getting tons of invitations to weddings, birthday parties, and family reunions. Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed my friends mentioning how expensive these are. For example, one of my friends will end up paying about $1,000 to attend her friend’s wedding, with airfare, hotel, and gift. And we spent an average of $859 on Christmas gifts last year (that means you spend an average of $71 each month on Christmas gifts…did you factor that in when you guessed how much you spend in an average week?).

So last week, it occurred to me that there’s a way to cut down on the out-of-pocket expenses for some of these events. I was in New York meeting my publisher and had a GREAT time.

In fact, if I had to put a monetary number on it, I’d say my experience was worth the equivalent of $5,000 in my book advance. Why?

1. When my editor saw me looking at the books on the bookshelf, she said, “Take whatever books you want! In fact, just let us know and we’ll ship them to you.” This isn’t the case at all publishers: My friend, who published a book at another publisher, told me that his publisher offered 30% off their books. The fact that they were so willing to give me free books was such a remarkable attitude. So remarkable that I’m telling thousands of people about it today.

2. I got my photo taken, and I accidentally left a pair of jeans at the publisher. When I sent an email to one of my editors, she sent this back:

You did indeed leave your jeans here and I just got them from downstairs. If you want to swing by, I can leave them at our reception desk for you. Or, if someone (either someone in the apt. or a doorman) is around [where you’re staying], I can messenger them there. Or, if you prefer not to drag them home with you, I can just FedEx them back to you in SF.

This is top-notch service from a publisher, or anyone for that matter. She didn’t have to go above and beyond, but she did. It might cost $100 to ship those jeans and a few books, but it’s worth many times more to the recipient.

There are ways to apply this to your own life. If you’re trying to build a business relationship with someone, send them a book. It costs $15 (even cheaper than lunch! Which you should do, too) and is one of the easiest ways to show that you’re thinking about someone else.

If you can’t afford a $100 gift for your friend’s wedding, send something home-made or dig up old photos from high school.

At PBwiki, beyond some of the other perks we offer, we recently rolled out a new perk: If you want to have lunch with someone at the company, we’ll pay for it. It might cost $20 or $30, but the value of letting us all meet others in the company is much, much higher than that.

I’m curious if you’ve found ways of saving money but offering something of higher value. Do you have any examples?

Interested in having me speak at your company, university, or organization? Check out my speaking page.

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19 Comments latest by Anthony Kuhn

Here’s how I negotiated out of bank fees — part 2

May 29 62 Comments latest by Francis

Here’s how I negotiated out of a $20 overdraft fee and a $27.10 finance charge from Wells Fargo.

I accidentally overdrafted a couple weeks ago (overdrafting is when you don’t have enough money in your checking account to pay off your bills, so your bank helpfully transfers money from your savings or credit-card account. They also helpfully charge you $15-$30 for the service, wiping out all your interest for the year).

I had transferred money from my savings account to checking account to cover a temporary shortage, and the transfer arrived one day late. I saw the overdraft fee, sighed, and called the bank up to get it waived.

Here’s how it went last time I called my bank to negotiate fees.

This time, I had a feeling they would be less than happy to waive my fees, but with a little coaxing…

Ramit: “Hi, I just saw this bank charge for overdrafting and I’d like to have it waived.”
Bank rep: “I see that fee…hmm…let me just see here. Unfortunately, sir, we’re not able to waive that fee. It was [some excuse about how it’s not waiveable].

Bad things to say here:

• “Are you sure?” Don’t make it easy for the rep to say no.
• “Is there anything else I can do?” Again, imagine if you were a customer service rep and someone said this. It would make your life easier to just say “no.” As a customer, don’t make it easy for companies to say no.
• “Well, this Indian blogger dude told me I could.” Nobody cares…but it would be cool if 1,000 customers called their banks and said this.
• “Okay.” Don’t give up here. Despite what you learned in sex ed, “No” does not mean “No” when it comes from a bank.

Try this
Ramit: “Well, I see the fee here and I’d really like to get it waived. What else can you do to help me?” (Repeat your complaint and ask them how to constructively fix it.)
Bank rep: “Hmm, one second, sir. I see that you’re a really good customer…I’m going to check with my supervisor. Can you hold for a second?”
(I’ve been with the bank for many years, which you should always use to your advantage when calling to complain. Banks pay hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars in customer-acquisition costs and don’t want to lose you.)
Bank rep: “Sir, I was able to check with my supervisor and waive the fee. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

Key takeaways:

• Mistakes happen, but don’t be dumb and overdraft like me
• When complaining, have a clear goal and don’t make it easy for companies to say ‘no’ to your complaint
• “No” is the beginning of the conversation

[Update]: Always, always track your customer service calls (you can use this free spreadsheet). When I logged in this morning, I saw that the bank had categorized the overdraft as a cash advance from my credit card and and charged me a $27.10 finance charge. I got that waived (with a fight), but imagine if you’re earning $400/week. Those ridiculous fees just took 10% of your income away, underlining this recent Washington Post article about Americans’ dissatisfaction with credit card fees. If you’re going to say, “But consumers should just read the documentation,” it’s just not that simple.

[Update 2]: To open a high-interest ING savings account (I use one), click here.

Related articles:

• If I were a bank, here’s how I’d deal with overdraft fees
• ”My bank earns 0.5% interest
• Or just browse the entire archives of 400+ articles

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62 Comments latest by Francis

I’m doing a live interview Friday (today) — listen in

April 6 8 Comments latest by Wise Bread

Quick link: Listen to me being interviewed, live, for an hour starting at 11am Pacific today (Friday, 4/6).

I’m being interviewed by Pamela Slim (who was one of my most popular Friday Entrepreneurs interviewees ever) today at 11am Pacific. This will be a live interview and you can stream it online, free.

We’ll be talking about iwillteachyoutoberich, PBwiki, my book deals, and my thoughts about entrepreneurship. I’m usually bad at keeping secrets on live interviews, so I might let a few things slip about future plans here.

The interview is today and will be streamed live.

• Time: 11am-12pm Pacific
• Date: Friday, April 6th (today)
• Details about the interview here
• Direct link to the streaming interview here

If you miss it live, there will be an archive of the chat up there soon after the interview.

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8 Comments latest by Wise Bread

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