*NEWS*IS THE CUSTOMER ALWAYS RIGHT?/2004-10-16

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Date: Monday June 24, 2013 12:11:52 am
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  • Anonymous
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    Is the Customer Always Right?  

    We Have all heard this expression: "The customer is always right." Well, contrary to popular belief, I don't think so. In fact, most times THE CUSTOMER IS USUALLY WRONG! But here is the thing most people forget: THE CUSTOMER IS IN CHARGE. When you say no to a customer, you can also plan on saying goodbye to his or her business. Customers are people too, and they want to feel special, important, and be treated with respect. I'm sure you'll agree that it's hard to get exceptional service or be treated nicely. Unfortunately, we spend so much on advertising, promoting, and marketing to get customers to notice us-then we treat them poorly when they spend money at our place of business. This is wrong, yet we do nothing about it. Ninety to ninety-seven percent of the people that do business with us are decent, reasonable people that just want to be taken care of.

    But what about that two to three percent of our customers that are just plain miserable! You know those whiny, nonstop complaining customers that have nothing better to do than ruin our day. These are the same people that talk down to us, are abusive in their language, yell, scream, and basically treat us like dirt. SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

    Remember the Little Rascals with Spanky, Alfalfa, and Buckwheat? They used a gesture where they put their hand under their chin and waved it at the other person. It was called "the high sign." And the gesture meant so long, goodbye, get outta here. We should thank them for a gesture we can still use 60 years later but are afraid to. Yes, you heard me correctly, give "the high sign" to those lousy customers, move on, and concentrate on the good ones.

    The following will help you have fun and not let that pesky, little two to three percent of your customers drive you to drink:

    • Take the emotion out of the problem. If you are caught in the middle of a problem and you are being treated poorly-get the data, paperwork, and files and take them to your superior or the person who can make a decision based on the facts.
    • If the business is not profitable because too much time is spent hand holding or reacting to complaints- do some math. If it looks like the future has no potential, it's time to "86" them or to part ways.
    • If you do say goodbye to the business, how will you make up the lost revenue? Do you have the business in future prospects or will it be too hard to find a replacement? Will you have to spend too much time and money to replace them?
    • Like a marriage, most problems are attributed to a lack of communication. You must meet the client and go over his or her concerns. Then go over your objectives as well as your companies' objectives. This gives you a start fresh.
    • Remember the platinum rule made famous by the author Tony Allessandra: "Treat people the way THEY want to be treated." Even the best companies screw up once in a while. Besides, it's hard to keep ALL of your customers happy ALL of the time. But respect is a different matter. If you want to be treated with respect, you must be respectful toward others. Yes-at times it sure feels good to say goodbye to a "problem" customer. When you do, you're free to devote more time to taking care of the good ones that are fun to work with.







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    • * Post was edited: 2004-10-16 10:41:00
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