Whether or not you started your career in retail, we're all more than familiar with the phrase, "The customer is always right". Yet as more and more credence is given to the importance of programs that enhance what it means to be an employee at a given company.
If management is continually siding with disgruntled customers, won't that detract from employee morale? Maybe make them feel like they're being sacrificed for a buck? Does that really enhance customer service? Or just make employees so grumpy they make customer service worse? All legitimate questions.
Sometimes the customer is simply wrong. Here's a great anecdote where a CEO simply stands behind his company and product:
One woman who frequently flew on Southwest, was constantly disappointed with every aspect of the company’s operation. In fact, she became known as the “Pen Pal” because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint. She didn’t like the fact that the company didn't assign seats; she didn’t like the absence of a first-class section; she didn’t like not having a meal in flight; she didn’t like Southwest’s boarding procedure; she didn’t like the flight attendants’ sporty uniforms and the casual atmosphere. Her last letter, reciting a litany of complaints, momentarily stumped Southwest’s customer relations people. They bumped it up to Herb’s [Kelleher, CEO of Southwest] desk, with a note: ‘This one’s yours.’
In sixty seconds, Kelleher wrote back and said, ‘Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.’”
Here are the top 5 reasons why the customer can in fact be wrong and why it needs to be recognized:
1. It makes employees unhappy
Sometimes, they just need to know you stand behind them
2. It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage
By letting them "always be right", you're empowering the picky, the cheap and so much more.
3. Some customers are literally bad for business
Some customers perpetuate such awful experiences, it isn't worth the company's time or money to deal with them. You have to be willing to refuse service or to sell.
4. It results in worse customer service
If your employees don't feel supported or aren't happy are they going to deal well with customers who may not be happy and need help? They need to be confident in management's attitude toward them in order to deliver a good product.
5. Some customers really are just wrong
And here's how Herb deals with them...
Herb Kelleher [...] makes it clear that his employees come first — even if it means dismissing customers. But aren’t customers always right? “No, they are not,” Kelleher snaps. “And I think that’s one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don’t carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, ‘Fly somebody else. Don’t abuse our people.’”
Now, I'd be happy to put up with an unhappy camper for this guy, wouldn't you?
If management is continually siding with disgruntled customers, won't that detract from employee morale? Maybe make them feel like they're being sacrificed for a buck? Does that really enhance customer service? Or just make employees so grumpy they make customer service worse? All legitimate questions.
Sometimes the customer is simply wrong. Here's a great anecdote where a CEO simply stands behind his company and product:
One woman who frequently flew on Southwest, was constantly disappointed with every aspect of the company’s operation. In fact, she became known as the “Pen Pal” because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint. She didn’t like the fact that the company didn't assign seats; she didn’t like the absence of a first-class section; she didn’t like not having a meal in flight; she didn’t like Southwest’s boarding procedure; she didn’t like the flight attendants’ sporty uniforms and the casual atmosphere. Her last letter, reciting a litany of complaints, momentarily stumped Southwest’s customer relations people. They bumped it up to Herb’s [Kelleher, CEO of Southwest] desk, with a note: ‘This one’s yours.’
In sixty seconds, Kelleher wrote back and said, ‘Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.’”
Here are the top 5 reasons why the customer can in fact be wrong and why it needs to be recognized:
1. It makes employees unhappy
Sometimes, they just need to know you stand behind them
2. It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage
By letting them "always be right", you're empowering the picky, the cheap and so much more.
3. Some customers are literally bad for business
Some customers perpetuate such awful experiences, it isn't worth the company's time or money to deal with them. You have to be willing to refuse service or to sell.
4. It results in worse customer service
If your employees don't feel supported or aren't happy are they going to deal well with customers who may not be happy and need help? They need to be confident in management's attitude toward them in order to deliver a good product.
5. Some customers really are just wrong
And here's how Herb deals with them...
Herb Kelleher [...] makes it clear that his employees come first — even if it means dismissing customers. But aren’t customers always right? “No, they are not,” Kelleher snaps. “And I think that’s one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don’t carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, ‘Fly somebody else. Don’t abuse our people.’”
Now, I'd be happy to put up with an unhappy camper for this guy, wouldn't you?
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