Why Is The Customer Always Right?
Not Always True Unless You’re In Sales
It’s an old adage and one which may sound wrong at first glance. If your customer says they want a return on an item they have just stolen, for example, they are not right at all. So the logic is not immediately accessible in this simple equation. It takes a few things for granted. In the instance “customer”, the phrase refers to a paying individual who is lawful and in their right mind. In the instance “right”, it is in the context of their line in the hierarchy. A customer is the source of the money you are contracted to earn and therefore your citizen director. It is important to note, therefore, these exemptions which help us to further apply the term. So how can we examine the technicalities? Let’s look at why the customer is always right by investigating their power in our business.
How Does The Customer Feel
The experience of the customer is a huge part of why they choose to buy from you. This means that customers need to feel safe and valued while doing business with you. Presentation and etiquette vastly improve the customer experience, as well as well trained staff in a variety of roles. Customer experience goes further than the shop floor or the telephone call, or the social media page. When in conversation with their friends and relatives, your service will be much more likely talked about if the experience was particularly good, or bad.
Word Of Mouth Marketing
Word of mouth is a type of marketing. The best advert is a well-liked face asserting quality. Look at the TV ads the big companies use and you’ll notice they try and find faces that look like people we like. They’re either famous, beautiful, friendly, or loveable. The only better way to deliver the message is to use someone they personally know. So it’s really important to make sure that customers go home feeling good about their experience with you. If people go home and say bad things about you, they are building walls in your doorway. It will ultimately cost the business more to address the negative views that people take with them.
We Are All Marketers
Marketing though? It sounds rather capitalist and wrong. This is a common misbelief. Unethical capitalism is wrong, and that makes use of marketing. In the right place and in the right way, marketing is actually an essential part of a successful employment venture. If you want to earn your own money and perhaps even employ other people, you will need to use marketing. This costs money to produce, experts in the field don’t often go cheap. Even if you do it all yourself, the advertising budget is a big drain on resources. So we have to make every penny count. How do we do this? Take a look at where the money comes from. The customer is always right. We design our marketing for the people who we know will make use of our service.
Gentle Persuasion
Understanding the incentives that will attract like-minded people who want to use your service means that we have to know what kind of people our customers are. These will likely be different people from all parts of life, however, they all have one thing in common. They are all walking through your doors. There will be a reason for this that is beyond the obvious. Of course, they all want what you’re offering, but why? And why you?
Staying In The Good Books
If the customer becomes disgruntled or unhappy with your service then they will prioritise you less. This means they may stop using you all-together or they may reduce their payload. It might be that they stop paying their bills on time and don’t answer your calls. An unhappy customer has all kinds of methods at their disposal to demonstrate their feelings and negative ones tend to inspire more results, unfortunately. This means that their experience and satisfaction have to be ensured. (Recommended Read: 100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience) If they come to you with a genuine complaint then you’re being offered proverbial gold. Don’t throw it back in their face. It’s heavy but worth it.
Make It Good, Make It Right
Resolution always costs more than desirable, profit margins require that goods and services are transferred in a positive and forward way. If something is returned, for whatever reason, the resolution has to outweigh the inconvenience. This is the only way a customer can maintain a positive experience. This safeguard will sometimes inspire jack-the-lad types, of any gender, who want more than what they pay for. In these situations, the value of a customer has to be weighed up with the compromise they are looking for. A ten year veteran on your subscription list may qualify for a 10% reduction for example if they look like they want to cancel.
Summary
So in the web of business, service, and marketplace, the customer plays an important role. Their presence is essential and so is their co-operation. No-one is forcing them to interact with you and do business with you, and in the realm of the marketplace, they wear the crown.
