The Loyalty Discount That Became a Ceiling

A long-time customer had a special rate locked in a decade ago, back when the relationship needed the extra push. Nobody had ever formally reviewed it since. New reps, hunting around for a comp to justify their own pricing, kept landing on that one account’s number because it was the easiest reference point to find.

Without anyone deciding it outright, that decade-old exception quietly became the unofficial floor half the sales team anchored to — “well, we gave them that rate, so...” — dragging margin down on brand-new deals that had no business being priced that low.

One generous decision, made once, for one good reason, ten years ago, was still quietly setting prices on new business today.

Is there an old exception or one-off discount in your business that's quietly become everyone's unofficial reference point?