If you’re continually telling your employees or the vendors with whom you work that the customer is always right, you need to stop saying ‘the customer is always right’ and there are many good reasons to stop that right now. Some of them you may never have thought about.
We truly think that believing the customer is always right leads to poor customer service because your employees won’t care how they treat them because if they offer stellar service or poor service, the experience for the customer is always the same.
Stop Saying ‘The Customer Is Always Right’
However, I think businesses should abandon this phrase once and for all — ironically, because it leads to worse customer service.
Here are the top five reasons why “The Customer Is Always Right” is wrong.
If your employees are NEVER right because the customer is ALWAYS right, why should they give it there all? There’s no reason. You should be loyal to your employees and if you are, they will probably offer better service to your customers simply because your employees are feeling heard and valued. You certainly don’t want to reward poor service, but it’s more expensive to a business to replace employees than it is to treat them well and in turn they will perform at higher levels.
This mantra gives horrible customers carte blanche to be rude to your employees and to complain no matter how high a level service you offer.
Some customers, no matter how well you treat them will still complain and will also think they have you over a barrel and you will be forced to give more and more away to a customer to whom you should show the door.
You’ve been there yourself.
You KNOW there are sometimes that customers are just plain wrong and they will holler to the rooftops that “the customer is always right.” Your customers need to know you value your employees and that you welcome their input and that you trust your employees’ opinions on a customer interaction.
Make your employees feel valued and heard and you won’t have to worry about whether the customer is right — you know they will likely be happy and you know your staff will be happier. What measures do you have in place to show your employees they are valued even in light of a yelling customer?
Being an entrepreneur is hard work. There is no denying that. Being an entrepreneur takes an individual who is willing to take a chance and to jump in and make things happen. Because it’s not easy, there are ways that entrepreneurs can be mentally healthy that can assist them in reaching newer and higher heights of success in their endeavors.
Do you take care of your mental health? Do you make your physical and mental health a priority or are you too focused on business success that other areas of your life are suffering? You need to find a balance. It is crucial to business success and life success.
Ways Entrepreneurs Can Be Mentally Healthy
If you’re not certain if you’re mentally healthy, here are a few areas to consider.
Do you feel sorry for things you’ve tried that “failed”? Entrepreneurs need to look at things they’ve tried, not as failures, but as experiments from which they can learn, move forward, refocus and try again. You can’t have an “oh woe is me” attitude if you want to thrive as a business owner.
You’re not willing to face change head on. If you’re mentally strong and mentally healthy, you will embrace and jump into challenges and changes. Don’t focus on the “fear” of the unknown, instead focus on the welcome feeling of taking on a new challenge — it’s a chance to grow.
Don’t get lost in the weeds of things you simply cannot change or control. Is the price of your equipment going higher? Not much you can do unless you look for a new supplier. If you mail a physical product and the price of shipping is going up, look for a new vendor or find ways to creatively absorb or pass along the costs. As an entrepreneur there are many things beyond your control — just as there are things in your life beyond your control. You need to know which battles to take on and which to let go.
Be resentful of your competition. If your competitor is doing “so much better” than you are, you need to look and see if they are truly doing that much better or are they “faking it until they make it”? If you don’t have insider knowledge you don’t know how they are actually doing. What you can do is focus on your own successes and learn from your past experiments and move forward.
Do you ever take time for self reflection? Mentally healthy people seek solitude as a way to reflect and recharge their mental and physical batteries. Meditate. Take a walk. Enjoy nature. Pet a dog. Eat a healthy meal — that is not eaten in front of the computer screen.
Take time to appreciate and celebrate your achievements. Learn from your mistakes. Keep moving forward toward your entpreneurial successes!
Are You Smart About Tech For Your Business? Tech can be our friend or tech can be a bane of your business’s existence. Whether you’re bogged down in email or if your site gets hacked or your website or computer get hammered by ransomware, technology can make running your business easier and more effective if you have a plan in place.
Here are a few things you will want to look at right now and take care of so you’re using tech to its best effect for your business.
Are You Smart About Tech For Your Business?
Make sure your social media pages, website and domain name are in your name. Don’t hire a company to build your site or your pages and have everything in their name you need to own it from the get go even if you’re hiring a pro to build and monitor it.
If you have tech — social media pages or a website or a cash register, learn to use it. If your entire staff doesn’t come to work one day would you know how to keep your business operational? You need to know how to do it all, even if you don’t always have to.
Make your passwords safe and don’t keep them in a location that’s easy to get to. Also, don’t keep a file on your computer that reads, “passwords.” Use a password program like Dashlane or Last Pass to generate strong passwords and store them for you. Make certain your password for the password program is extremely long and strong and keep it in a location that cannot be easily accessed.
Keep documents and information off site. You may want to upload documents and other items to the cloud and make off site backups. If you’re a paper heavy office, scan that information in and take a copy of it all off site.
If you have an employee leave the company, make certain you immediately revoke his or her rights and access to your website, their email and any other sensitive information. Change the passwords on social media and keycodes on the doors.
Technology is great. You just need to use it correctly and safely!
It’s so exciting when you start a business. You’re enthusiastic. You’re pumped about everything you do and everyone you talk with. What happens, though when the excitement wears off and you’re not making as many sales as you thought you would? When that happens you may be wondering how to take your business to the next level. We can help and we certainly understand what you’re going through — been there, done that!
How To Take Your Business To The Next Level
Just do it! It’s easy to get stuck in procrastination because you’re a perfectionist. You surely don’t want to put an inferior product or service to market, but if you’re ready to launch, done is better than perfect. You can always tweak items to make them work better or perform at a higher level.
Prepare to feel that let down. It’s normal. You just need to power through and look for the opportunities ahead.
Provide free samples in return for honest feedback and/or testimonials.
Make sales. You need to be willing to pick up the phone or knock on doors and make sales.
Build your lists. Start a newsletter. Get sign ups from your website or ask current clients whether you can add them to your list so they can be the first ones to know about special products or services you’re running.
You may need to experiment with pricing. You don’t want to undercut yourself, and you don’t want to lower yoru prices to simply compete with the business down the road. You need to make a profit, but if you’re in the start up phase, it may make sense to offer discounted pricing.
Where are you stalled with your business growth? Are you having issues with moving from one level to another? What can we do to help?
