Not intended to be a rant, but an example of cause and effect and what happens when you leave out an important ingredient for building a relationship with your customer. This is an important one to bear in mind as you grow your business.

Don't be afraid to be generous.

Very risky to be obnoxiously stingy in business.

Stingy can be obnoxious and alienating. It's wise not to get too much on your customers' nerves, if you can help it. That is, unless you are Don Rickles, who has raised obnoxious to a fine art.  Or Jack Benny, who made "stingy" funny. But that's satire, not real life.

Wait. Are you too young to know who these guys are? They are, "were" in Jack Benny's case,  classic old time comedians who capitalized on being curmudgeons. If you're an old movie fan, then you've probably run into Jack Benny a few times.

If it's important to you to be obnoxious, then you had better be funny at the same time and maybe you'll get away with it. "Maybe" is the operative word, because maybe you won't get away with it. Takes a lot of charm to be like this in business and retain your customers. Either that, or you'd better have a product people can't live without.  Remember the old Seinfeld sitcom and the character they called the "soup nazi"? Despicable character. He got away with being obnoxious because his soup was just that good. People put up with him just to have his soup.

I do business with a local merchant in town, and have been patronizing this merchant for years and years. I bring this merchant lots of business, as does my family. We're great customers, and we're loyal. This merchant gives NOTHING away! I bought some wilted, straggly petunias from her last season, only because I needed to complete something I was planting. I brazenly suggested that she give me the plant in that it was end of season and the plant  was in dire need of resuscitation. I'm sure she either had to put it back in the nursery or throw it out. She charged me full price and I paid it because I wanted to finish my planting.

Was she victorious? Was that smart? Absolutely not! She had an opportunity to build "good will", and she missed it. She added one more occasion to my list of offenses and stingy doings. This woman won't even give you a grape to taste. I made a request of her today, which was actually generous on my part, and would have benefited her and it would have cost her nothing. Because she is so accustomed to being tight and so afraid of "giving", she blew it. I really do have a sense of humor, so I laughed it off. But guess what? Too much stinginess. She lost a customer. Was it worth it?

This person has an otherwise beautifully run business. Excellent product, hence, the reason I patronize her, no, "patronized" her.

I believe in giving, period. In business, you give a little to gain a lot. And most importantly, do not offend your customers, especially your loyal, return business customers.

Over the Internet, it's hard to charm people enough to justify stinginess. And you can't flash your dimples either. So, you'd better build good will by giving something away. There is much to gain if you remember it's important to give too.