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The Customer Isn't Always Right

Written by: Tom Lemanski

Article Overview: A blasphemous concept? Or smart business. We take a closer look at this age old axiom.

The Customer Isn't Always Right

How often do we see companies who live by the noble creed: the customer is always right? Is it possible that this approach could be self-defeating by ultimately damaging the commitment of the very customer service people who they hope to inspire?

Who's Always Right?

The Roman Catholic Church applies the always right or do no wrong concept to one living person, The Pope. By church doctrine, His Holiness is incapable of error in matters of faith and morals and is therefore infallible. History has shown that the infallibility of one person, no matter how qualified, can be difficult for some (like the Greek Orthodox) to embrace. Yet, how many businesses grant infallibility status to ANYONE who pays them? Makes you wonder about the effectiveness of other leaps of faith that management might be requesting.

What's wrong with the always right belief in business?

Customer infallibility is founded on the noble assumption that when a customer is happy, everybody wins. The unfortunate reality is that this philosophy often invites customers to exploit this belief creating "win-lose" scenarios. We succumb to unreasonable demands or even abuse of the people serving them. The customer may be King. But monarchial loyalty has its limitations.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

If customer infallibility is a myth, then how do we engage our people's commitment to serve them? How about:

If you love your customers, they'll love you back.

But, isn't this equally untrue? Perhaps not, if we can recognize the occasional need for tough love. When and how might we dare to demonstrate tough love with our customers? When our relationship has evolved into a win for the customer and a consistent loser for us, shouldn't this situation be communicated and remedied? If a remedy can not be found, it's sometimes more effective for tough love to take the form of strategic loss of sales.

Who are your high-maintenance customers that repeatedly take more than they give? What if they became your competitor's problem? If that happened, might you be better positioned to direct your limited resources toward those who do provide opportunities for mutual "win-win" relationships? Is it time for you to provide some tough love to your most exploiting customers? Does some Strategic Loss of Sales make sense for you? With whom have you been top-line wise and bottom line foolish? What is preventing you from cutting the cord?

Before we take this too far...

While the act of buying shouldn't elevate anyone to Papal status, one critical fact remains. If we don't our serve our customers with respect, empathy and even our love, they will seek someone who will. To replace the infallibility mindset and still effectively fight the battle for loyalty, I suggest two alternative axioms.

* While the customer isn't always right, we will always make the customer feel important.
* The Right Customer is a Profitable Customer

Palatable precepts for any denomination.

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Article Tags: customer service



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