When you make your customer feel stupid, you’ve given him no choice. He needs to blame you.

Some ways to make people feel stupid:

• Charge different prices at different outlets and shrug your shoulders when you get found out.
• Insist that the warranty ends precisely the day you said it would.
• Give new customers a great discount for signing up, but tell long-term customers that they’re out of luck.
• Make your expensive items less networked, less powerful and less reliable than your cheaper ones.
• Give your customers a product, idea or service that causes them to be ridiculed or shamed by people they hope to impress.
• Sell the private data you get from customers to other marketers without asking first.
• Put the important information in your terms and conditions, in little tiny type.
• Collect money as though you’re in the long-term relationship business, but in every other way, act like you don’t expect the relationship to last.
• Talk about your customers (students/clients/members) behind their back in a way you’d never talk to their face (hint: it’ll get back to them).
• Lower your pricing but don’t honor it for people who just bought from you. That shrug again.
• Scold someone because the last three people already heard you just answer that question (but we didn’t…)
• Assume the worst about a customer’s intent, intelligence and background.

Most people (particularly the customers you seek) don’t mind paying a little extra if it comes with dignity, confidence and a smile.