Is the customer STILL always right?

Nov 21, 2013

 

Is the customer STILL always right?

 

As a business owner, there are a number of things that contribute to the success of your business; but no one can deny that the most important still lies in the satisfaction of your customers.  Customer service has changed its face in today’s social media world.  One bad review via Twitter, Facebook or Yelp can create an all out public relations nightmare.  However, is the “customer is always right” still a viable business practice?

Here are a few reasons why the customer is not, in fact, always right.

Unhappy employees = unhappy customers

There has to be a balance between employees and customers.  “The customer is always right” favors the customer in every situation, even if they are wrong.  If an employee thinks that you won’t support them when a customer is rude or flat out wrong, it can cause resentment.  When an employee knows that he is truly valued he is happier, more energetic and motivated.  The happy employee will build a sense of pride in their work and who they work for.  Your biggest assets are your employees.

Unfair advantage

Putting “the customer is always right” into practice allows abusive customers to make unreasonable demands because you have given them the right to.  This only aids in making the work of your employees that much harder and it becomes nearly impossible to reign in the customer.  It also allows for the rude customers to get better treatment than those customers who came in and weren’t rude. Shouldn’t these customers be the ones you want coming back?

Bad customers are bad for your business

In every business there is that one customer who will never be satisfied no matter what you do.  They will take every opportunity they have to badmouth your business, complain about it, and complain to everyone they know about it.  Ironically they keep coming back.  Cut them loose! Politely let them know you cannot be of service to them and recommend they use a different company.  The loss of one bad customer is far better than the loss of many customers if you continue to service them.

Excellent customer service should still be one of your top priorities amongst the quality of your products and services.  Just remember that putting your employees first will correlate to them putting your customers first.


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