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?