Is the Customer Always Right?

True, the saying is "The customer is always right". But we all know the customer is NOT always right.

I find it wise to remember that even though my customer is not always right,

The Customer is Always the Customer.

I have made some unreasonable requests over the years, and a few times the person to whom I was speaking visited with me and helped me to understand the unreasonable nature of my request. Those places I still patronize. More often than not, my unreasonable request (deemed so by the sales associate, not me) is flatly denied or ridiculed (not our policy, that is ridiculous, why would I do that...) Those places have lost -forever- their customer to a competitor.

As long as your still making a profit with a customer, that:

The Customer is Always the Customer.

You make a good point there P911.

I have fired more than one customer. It can work both ways.

While it is obviously the object to make some money on each transaction, there also have been times when I absorbed some overnight shipping charges, or performed some factory warranty work for a customer that I wasn't responsible for and didn't get paid for. This, I thinks, goes together with the article from Milo. This sort of a commitment to your customer is (usually, and hopefully) rewarded with a loyalty from them. Contractors can buy doorknobs anywhere, sometimes for less money than I charge. I rely on my established relationships with my manufacturers and vendors, and the professionalism of the staff, to outperform the competitors.

When this effort is unappreciated by a customer, his discount structure is reviewed (as in how expensive do I have to make stuff before he goes somewhere else).

I have done the same, by taking a step back at times with a customer, you can take three steps forward. Your now ahead a step, such as what you mentioned.

Yes, the customer is always right. At least in his mind, that's the way I interpret the phrase. Keep him happy.

LINK

Milo

Milo, I am running out of space on my office wall to hang your stuff

Good answer, and good advice to everyone wishing to become or remain the preferred supplier. Spot on observations.

Thanks. That was an oldie but one of my favorites- It was when I first felt I had found my voice as a 'writer' with deadlines and such here at work. I still consider it to be one of my best articles.

Time to get a promotion for you- bigger office means more walls to hang articles upon.

Milo

The customer is always right......but there are times when you can point out how he can be more right than he is now.

For those who don't know, I am an engineering design consultant.

I like your continuous improvement tone.

Milo

Customer may not be always right. In my career I had faced many customers who had complaints about the product sold to them. In some cases product was subjected to use for which it was not designed. Due to lack of proper selection customer had subjected it to misuse and he claimed that he was right. In order to main ten the relationship with customer and to avoid bad name in industry we had to satisfy the customer forgetting the cost of replacement.

We find that helping customers "feel" they are always right keeps them either coming back or using us as a reference to other customers. Getting more business is always the goal, so pissing them off is not in the cards. Sometimes we even help them realize that our product may not be exactly what they want/need and send them to a competitor. They are always happy when they leave and that's the most important thing!

GA Fredski:

Your comment about maybe taking a small hit/cost in meeting the needs of a customer who has unrealistic expectations, with the hope of an ongoing relationship is good. A dissatisfied customer, for whatever reason, will tell many people about their "bad experience" than satisfied customers will, so it is important to eat some cost sometimes. Especially if it is a person of influence, i.e. someone who is in a postion to influence many potential customers.

There is a great illustration of this in Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People where the point is made that every person we deal with has value to a greater extent than we probably understand. And like Fredski said, "make a choice that will best serve YOUR long term goals and interests".

We have a Christmas Tree farm and also distribute fruit, during the summer months, and we tell the young people we hire that "our job is to serve people. We happen to do that in the context of Christmas trees and fruit distribution. The people they take care of are the ones who are ultimately paying them, so take good care of them." The goal is to make money too, but you don't do that by ticking people off needlessly. There have been times when we have gone out of our way to help satisfy a customer in order to garner their good will and hence long-term patronage.

A business owner will be taken advantage on occasion but that too is the price of doing business.

Agreed

Excellent answer and extremely wise.

In my past life, I was a retail manager who for all the reasons you mentioned have returned many items in the name of customer satisfaction. The two most outrageous examples were a 35 year old parka (that did not live up to the customer's expectation and as he pointed out we had a company policy of "lifetime guarantee") and a non existent defective watch.

The watch customer walked up to my jewelry associate and demanded a refund (and a manager) because her 3 month old watch was defective. I was called as the store manager. I asked to see the watch and simultaneously what was wrong with it. The customer told me that she would love to show it to me but couldn't as it had fallen off her wrist under a subway due to a defective link. After a quick phone call to the regional office to get their blessing, I took the "watch" back and refunded her $300. Two weeks later she returned and replaced that watch with $1000 designer model. Did I get scammed? possibly... but it's a fun story and we kept the customer coming back and purchasing for years.

Thank you and I LIKED that story!

Yes one has to look at the situation, a $300.00 watch, an above average price, but not extreme.

Something did happen here? And handled well.

In the chemical dosing business the customer is often very wrong, in fact the customer is often not even the customer.
Let me explain:-
The guy who buys the dosing unit is probably a chemical supplier, who thinks he wants it looking pretty with bells and whistles.
The guy installing it (arguably the 'real' customer, because if he doesn't like fitting it, he'll fit a competitors product) wants, it quick and simple to install and program/set up.
The end user simply wants it to be reliable, in fact he doesn't really want to have to do anything at all to it, other than to change the chemical drums.

What the customer wants, thinks he needs and really needs are 3 different things.
What is really needed is simple and quick to install and set up, and relaiable.
Please please please no interface to a laptop

Yeah but wouldn't it be nice if we had an option to enable/disable the 'no product alarm', and a programable delay so we can set how long it waits before alarming?
Oh yes and an option to stop the pump or not on alarm?
...arrrrgggghhh beam me up for pities sake
Del (true examples)

Thats where you stop the salesman trying to make a sale and bring in someone prior to that. that asks questions about the customers process and needs.

The customer's perception is always right (for them), but no they are not always right. The saying reminds us to always try to understand the customer's needs & perspectives.

Here's a good article on this subject. http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2011/sb20110620_

In my business that statement is laughable. Our customers may know their business but rarely know the legalities of getting a part/product properly imported. I can't count the number of times we have had goods arrive at the border for clearance with no preadvice only to have to tell the client that they cannot import that item, or that they are lacking reams of documents required for a certain product. Call me before you order something and I will give you top notch service.

Worse is the client who will instruct us to intentially misdeclare goods to avoid paying duties or other fees. and we know that our competitors will jump at the chance to "service" the client that way so we knowingly break the law to provide good customer service.

I have tremendous respect for clients who call me first to inquire about bringing in a new item, and I will work tirelessly to help them get all the necessary ducks in a row so the import goes smoothly. For those on the other end of the spectrum I have no time to spare and wish the border had a whistle blower number to call.

I would add to the insightful comments here, that the customer has expectations. Expectations change over time. The things we "expect" to be due us in this generation is different from what our parents expected in their time... and so on.

I'm for responsibility on all sides. If both (or more than 2) parties listen to each other with the spirit that s/he may have a point, then both sides can learn and usually come to an amicable agreement. But sometimes there is just no way to reason with an angry person.

Also, in business, size does matter. On the retail side, sometimes corporate rules can't be bent as easily as in a sole proprietorship. The person you are dealing with might wish very much they could help you, but feel they can't transcend the rules without fear of reprisal. But most large retail companies (such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot, etc.) are very liberal in this regard. It's very seldom they refuse to issue a refund, replacement, or credit.

I will put it this way "How to Satisfy the Customer":-

1.Study his requirements in details prior to sale.

2.Check if your product will meet his requirements technically & commercially.

3.Check the order throughly and see it is as per mutually agreed terms & conditions.

4.Ensure that product is delivered as per schedule.

5.Check up with customer if he is satisfied with the performance of the product or needs any help.

This will help in satisfying the customer and customer getting full value for his money.