CUSTOMER IS NOT ALWAYS KING, IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT!

The centricity of customers and customer service excellence in any business cannot be gainsaid.  The customer is the lifeblood and heartbeat of any business, the person who matters most in securing the business sustainability. Customer service excellence is subsequently not an option but the only option and a critical competitive advantage for any business

Customer service is variously defined as the experience you deliver to the customer, the promise your business keeps to the customer, how you follow through for the customer, how you make the customer feel when they do business with you, how you satisfy and delight the customer and ultimately how ultimately the art of proactively and reactively turning the customer into a raving fan and ambassador of your business.  

Top on the list of core business philosophy anchored in the centricity of the customer is the maxim that the customer is king which is aptly captured in the words of Sam Walton, “There is only one boss. The Customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the Chairman on down, simply by spending his (her) money elsewhere”.  Simply, the customer not only has the choice about where to spend their money but also has a variety of choices, solutions and options at their disposal. Businesses have no choice but to ensure progressive customer service to keep up with the ever rising customer expectations and to stay afloat in face of competition.

Customer service experiences in the course of usual business hustle in the service sector however come along with incredible lessons that leave an indelible mark and in their wake shake up, bring into question and debunk much touted business foundation norms. The customer may in essence be the boss but the reality is that not all bosses are good bosses or worth working for. Customer service should therefore not denote blind adoption of the customer is king, always right policy as this is not always the case! The more practical rule in business….Customer is not always King! Customer is not always right!

You and not the customer are the expert. The customer that presume to know your business better than you and/or how you must run your business or do things “right”, that make it their business to dictate that things must work a certain way–their way…The customer for whom your customer service is never good enough no matter how much you bend over to accommodate their demands…Cannot always be right nor should they be let to believe they are always right. What needs to consistently get across to such customers is that “you are the master of your game!”

“Everyone is not your customer. You are not every customer’s cup of tea”! There is the complainer customer who is often a great asset to the business. This customer may seem difficult because of the incessant complains but they complain as they underscore insights that drive improvement and prospect for more business and as they remain loyal. There is on the extreme end the customer that behaves like a selfish tyrannical obnoxious bully, is abusive and disrespectful, makes unreasonable demands, demands that your universe must revolve around them and their needs and is quick to threaten dire consequences to coerce things their way, often causes commotion among your staff, and/or creates stress for your business…This customer is toxic to the business, is not worth the hallowed ‘customer’ status and/or handling with kid’s gloves…Is definitely no king no matter how much they bring in. 

There comes a time when you must choose what you have a right to do and do what is right – Put your foot down to stop the customer in their tracks before the situation becomes untenable and to protect the dignity of your business.

Finally, there is the critical internal vs external customer divide. Your internal customer comes first, the external customer second. Putting the internal customer first delights the customer, they in turn put customers first, offer delightful customer service and do everything in their power to ensure quality and service that keeps the promise to the customer. 

In as much as excellent customer service is by nurture not nature and not all internal customers perfectly fit the bill, the toxic external customer often contribute to bad customer service by the internal customer. Hence, in the event of conflicts between the two, you are better off maintaining loyalty with the internal customer rather than investing your energies in giving undue advantage to the toxic customer unrealistic demands - and delightfully move on.

The bottom line - Customer is King! 

The King is sometimes wrong! 

“If you want good customer service be a good customer”.