Some businesses systemitize the transactional win. Examples include having processes for the following:
Paying vendors as late as possible to maximize cash flow
Making customers go through bots before speaking to a human
Using low wage people as the front line and only allowing escalation after wasting customer’s time
Some people systemitize the transactional win. Examples:
Shopping at 3 different stores to only pay the lowest price on each item
Tipping as little as possible
Only buying when things are on sale
If you are pinching pennies either as a business or in your personal life these systems may be necessary. But they have a cost. For businesses the cost might be missing out on a great vendor because of your history of stretching payments or losing a customer who values their time more than your money.
The person who shops at 3 different stores could have worked an extra hour instead and may have come out ahead by doing so. Tipping as low as possible hurts people struggling to make ends meet. Only buying when things are on sale means you often are settling for an inferior product and may not be a good use of your funds.
I feel fortunate not to need to win every transaction. Most of my vendors can charge one of my credit cards as they ship things, which gives them nearly immediate access to the money I owe them. The few that I write checks to I don’t string out and make wait, either. I pay them early.
We don’t have a telephone for customer’s to call, but that’s because phone service is really a poor way to do things. We answer our emails with the same people that are qualified to make decisions that make our customers happy. If it’s easier for a customer to use FB or instagram messenger they can start the interaction that way too.
My philosophy is that if the cost to you is low you should give the win to the other person. In the long run that philosophy will make you a winner.