Real-Life Decision Making
You're a struggling ticket broker, scrounging for high-profile corporate clients.
You love working with corporate clients. As a ticket broker, you provide an incredibly valuable service. Whenever a hot bigwig comes to town, your corporate clients will do everything they can to impress their customers. The red carpet is officially rolled out -- fancy dinners, sleek limos and wonderful hotel rooms.
One other value-added perk they can give their clients? The most exciting concert and sports tickets -- even if they're "sold out." Corporations have neither the time nor the staff to hunt down the hottest tickets at the best prices -- but you can, often charging a premium price. If you build up some strong relationships with corporate clients, your business can be on easy street.
Late in the day, you get a frantic call from Mr. Bighead, CEO of Weownyou Corp. An important Japanese investor just flew into town -- and Mr. Bighead wants to impress his investor with four Stanley Cup tickets in a good section. Mr. B. just called his regular ticket broker, but they told him finding Stanley Cup tickets would-be "impossible." Now, he's hoping you have a secret Stanley Cup source and can find the four premium-seat tickets Weownyou needs.
You know Mr. B. is desperate. He admitted he virtually "promised" these tickets and his reputation is on the line. If those tickets don't come through, Mr. B. loses face -- and possibly his valuable investor. Mr. B. sounds frantic, like he's one step away from a ticket to the hospital emergency room. Mr. B needs those tickets -- NOW -- and he's willing to pay extra for them.
You know good Stanley Cup tickets will take you hours of frantic searching and surfing -- and you're not even sure if you will find the tickets you need. You're sick, you're tired, it's Friday and you want to go home. You also crunch some numbers and realize that there's no way you're going to make a lot of money from four tickets -- since tickets are so tight, you'll have to pay more money than face value. That means you don't make much.
"You may have to eat prices," warns Barry Lefkowitz, executive director of the East Coast Ticket Broker's Association. You'll spend at least four hours tracking down superior seats for a small profit. No fun.
However, you've spent months trying to get Weownyou's business -- and this may be the opportunity you're waiting for. Your customer service slogan has always been "If there's anything I can do, just ask" -- and now a potential customer is begging for your help.
If you save Mr. Bighead and find his tickets, he may be forever in your debt. That can mean strong future sales for you -- and referrals to his corporate friends. Taking a monetary loss now may result in stronger future sales, or it could mean you've busted your rear for a short "thank you" and nothing else.
What should you do? Take a look at the following scenarios and choose the one you'd pick.