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The maxim "The customer is always right" was originally coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge who was a founder of a department store in London in the 20th century.
The purpose of this phrase is two-fold: firstly it serves to assure customers that if they choose to use your service and products they'll get red carpet treatment every time, and secondly it forces your employees to give good service.
I had a chance to question this axiom when I was violated by a client who didn't like my perfume as it had vanilla key notes. The client began the meeting with a dramatic oxymoron (something about an atrocious smelling perfume) and proceeded to smell everyone around the boardroom table, including my boss, before eventually outing me.
I was horrified.
I was further devastated when I was told, by my boss, not to take the matter personally, and a colleague suggested that I never wear that perfume again.
The irony of course was that in my personal capacity, I'm the client's client and had bought that fragrance at a Red Square store. After pushing for and getting a verbal and written apology from the said client, I resigned and vowed never to shop at Edgars again
For me this was a perfect example of how certain customers abuse their status. Alexandra Kjerulf, an author and human resource experts, came up with five reasons why the mantra "The customer is right" is wrong.
Two reasons stuck in my mind:
Good service, bad service
Let me start with the latter because it does impact on the former. Customers by nature are hedonistic beings, but I believe there are no good or bad customers just those that are bad for business.
For example, a friend who is a marketing specialist has horrid tales of clients who are sexist and racist. She's noted that time and money is spent on the boorish clients rather than the ones that are reasonable and cooperative.
She says it's no longer about whether the company can deliver on their work promises, but more about golf weekend with clients where employees are meant to carry "huge bottles of Vaseline to wax their behinds". Although bad-mannered clients are bringing in substantial amounts of money, she believes the company is losing revenue and skills because of the high staff turnover as a result of the clients’ abusive behaviour towards employees.
She herself is so unhappy and frustrated about the conditions there that she's decided to jump ship. Many companies fall short of protecting their staff from psychotic clients by not empowering their people with tools to deal with them or fail to stand up for them when a customer steps out of line. And they do.
Example number two: A social contact was called a piece of useless fat crap by a customer, and when she retaliated, she was sent to a disciplinary hearing and given a warning.
When she sought help from HR she was told rude clients are part of her job hazard and she should grow a tougher hide and a sense of humour. She had been with the company for five years, won several awards and hadn't once received a complaint from clients.
Sacrificing good employees for bad business isn't the way to go according to successful American CEO Hal Rosenbluth who believes that companies should put the customer second and their staff first and watch them kick butt.
Perhaps the real problem isn't the phrase "The customer is right" but rather that companies have taken it too literally. The phrase should rather be an attitude that one has towards customer, but not to those customers who are undeserving.
What do you think?
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| I see you used some hectic references, not bad Sbu - you can keep it simple though. But I think I get your point! | ||
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| mxhosakazi on 03 Jul at 12:57 |
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| Love it | ||
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| luyalicious on 03 Jul at 13:13 |
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| The customer IS always right..but an aggressive, rude customer is not. Employees who are unhappy over rude clients are simply not assertive enough. Nobody has to tolerate rudeness and aggression but for an employee to retaliate in kind is unacceptable. Assertiveness is the better option. Simply state that you refuse to deal with them if they can't approach the subject rationally and that they should call you back when they are calmer. If it is face to face, say that and walk away. Everyone has a cellphone. Tape the conversation if necessary and if they take it further with your boss - take it further with client's boss. I am still employed, but have had two of my client's employees fired. It is up to YOU. Of course, you can do that only if you have given good service. If the customer is rude because you are incompetent, you DESERVE to be fired. | ||
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| jenny on 03 Jul at 13:22 |
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| You are taking one extreme to another extreme. A company should find a balance between spending money on a client to receive his/her business, keeping that cleint happy and keeping their employees happy. If you sacrifice one for the other your company will fail. | ||
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| HVR on 03 Jul at 13:35 |
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| Yes clients can be rude but i don't see you mensioning the rudeness of employees, i am a very nice person but have bad luck meeting rude shop attendants and i just have to live with that cause i don't want to get them into trouble and in any case i'm black they wouldn't listen to me anyway but really you should not speak only for employees but for the clients as well don't take sides. good article!!!!!!!!!!!! High Five | ||
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| Malilis on 21 Aug at 10:45 |
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| Well, for us (my company) it is pretty cut and dried. If a customer is out of line, we warn them politely. If they do not heed it, we tell them to leave. If they don't, we call the police and the customer gets blacklisted for life. | ||
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| John on 23 Aug at 06:37 |
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| Having spent years in client service in advertising and marketing, I am now probably the world's worst when it comes to demanding faultless service - but pettiness from clients like objecting to your perfume is ridiculous. Your superiors should be shot for even taking notice of their comments. Experience has taught me that dealing with clients is like dealing with kids - let them walk all over you and the abuse will never stop - they need, and will respect - boundaries. With this attitude, I can proudly say that I never lost a client. | ||
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| Blue Fruit on 18 Sep at 11:16 |
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| I've had so much bad service, especially from restaurants, it's atrocious. I think any complaint that's lodged has to be done with courtesy and looking for results related to the service provided. That customer's complaint was completely unwarranted. | ||
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| Kele on 07 Oct at 14:44 |
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