“The customer is always right.”
This is one of the principles virtually enshrined in the business philosophy of most companies. It is sometimes unquestioned, unchallenged.
The phrase “The customer is always right” is said to have originated in 1909. It is attributed to retailing magnate Henry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridge’s department store of London and is typically used by businesses as a customer relations strategy – to assure buyers and prospective buyers they will get great service from the company. Conversely, it is also used to persuade employees to serve customers well.
Experience – as well as reason – tells us that the customer’s word or opinion is not always unassailable.
Every business has had its share of unreasonable, over-demanding, abrasive, even mean customers. Should such customers be condoned? Should employees always be expected to kowtow – even humble themselves – to such customers on the dubious ground they are always right?
“Customers is always right” can drive a wedge between a company’s customers and its employees.
A company that follows this business maxim to the letter may not be being fair to its employees and risks the danger of alienating them.
Abusive customers can demand for “the sky” – this makes the service crew’s job much so much harder, when trying to satisfy them.
Alexander Kjerulf, in “Chief Happiness Officer’ says: “It means that abusive people get better treatment and conditions than nice people. That always seemed wrong to me, and it makes much more sense to be nice to the nice customers to keep them coming back.”
Kjerulf adds: Most businesses think that “the more customers the better.” But some customers are quite simply bad for business.
Some companies have gone on record to have cancelled customers’ contracts because they have been extremely rude and overbearing to workers who serve them.
An airline CEO was quoted to have said: “When we run into customers that we can’t reel back in, our loyalty is with our employees. They have to put up with this stuff every day. Just because you buy a ticket does not give you the right to abuse our employees . . .”
Rosenbluth International, an international travel company, asserts that when you put the employees first, they put the customers first. Put employees first, and they will be happy at work. Employees who are happy at work give better customer service because:
- They care more about other people, including customers
- They have more energy
- They are happy, meaning they are more fun to talk to and interact with
- They are more motivated.
Greg Meyer puts it this way: Customers are always right — until they’re not.
Emma Nemtim of Hubba even goes a step further. She says: “Customers are not right about everything. In fact they are really only right about one thing: how they feel.” Properly serving a customer would need finding out where these (bad) feelings are stemming from.
(How to find out where customer’s dissatisfaction is coming from – will be tackled in a future article.)
Photo: “customer is always right” by , c/o Flickr. All Rights Reserved