My friend had been banking there for years. It was one of the Big Banks, but it shall remain nameless. When she opened her business, she established her business checking and credit card processing accounts there too.

Everything was business as usual until the day she decided to take advantage of one of those offers from the Bank on her business credit card account. It was one of those letters we all used to receive offering a low interest rate on balance transfers for the life of the loan. She had plenty of credit and a temporary cash flow problem so she decided to take advantage of the offer.

Despite the offer, when she tried to deposit the check the Bank declined to honor it. The teller could give her no reason for the Bank's decision, but he did give her an 800 number to call. She couldn't understand why the Bank would refuse to honor their offer and went to her office to confirm her account balances. She was shocked to find that by the time she had driven the ten minutes and logged in to her accounts the Bank had reduced the credit limits on both her business credit cards to slightly above the outstanding balances. She was stunned to find that they had also reduced the limits on her personal card.

She couldn't understand the Banks action, especially in light of her perfect payment history. She did call the 800 number was given a simple explanation for the Bank's actions - "Your balances are too high."

What she didn't yet know was that they had also eliminated the overdraft protection on her personal checking account. It was this action that caused The Problem, because her bank statements continued to show she had the overdraft protection.

In part two of the story we'll hear about the $250 opportunity that could have saved the bank thousands of dollars. If this was your bank, would you have done anything differently? What is more valuable to any business, the services it provides or the relationships it maintains? Being thankful for what you really have, the things you can count on, makes all the difference.

There are five stages at which you can influence customer expectations:
1. They come to you with expectations
2. You create new expectations
3. Performance of your product or service
4. Interaction with your organization
5. Post-purchase follow up
Most companies fail to take advantage of the last stage. It is the time when most customers feel best and are most likely to make referrals or additional purchases. Manage expectations to manage your bottom line.

It's so simple and yet so difficult. Families will be gathering together this Thanksgiving, have you ever asked the members of yours for a referral? Simple idea, not easy to execute.

Try talking about the things in your business that give you joy, the solutions you've provided, how your customers told you they felt. Those are the facts, the warm fuzzies. Share them.