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Your Customers Are Not Always Right

While the saying "the customer is always right" is meant to encourage good customer service, it is not always accurate. When dealing with customers, the goal should be to resolve issues and finish interactions strongly so that customers feel comfortable returning. Even if the customer is wrong, they should be treated with dignity and respect. A story is given as an example of a hotel that, though the customer was mistaken about their reservation, ensured they still received excellent service and were satisfied with their experience.

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Jackson Leonard
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12 views2 pages

Your Customers Are Not Always Right

While the saying "the customer is always right" is meant to encourage good customer service, it is not always accurate. When dealing with customers, the goal should be to resolve issues and finish interactions strongly so that customers feel comfortable returning. Even if the customer is wrong, they should be treated with dignity and respect. A story is given as an example of a hotel that, though the customer was mistaken about their reservation, ensured they still received excellent service and were satisfied with their experience.

Uploaded by

Jackson Leonard
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Your Customers Are Not Always

Right, But They Are Always The


Customer

Shep Hyken ,  
 CONTRIBUTOR
I write on customer service, customer experience and related topics.   
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

There are some slogans and sayings we learn at a very young age that
frankly aren’t completely true. Every adult has heard a child say
something like, “You can’t make me. It’s a free country.” In business
one of these not-quite-true adages is, “The customer is always right.”

Of course, the idea behind this teaching is that you should relate to
all customers as if they are right. The rub comes when you run into a
customer who is obviously wrong. And, then what do you do?
Especially when you can’t find a solution to make the situation
“right.”

Let me give a quick disclaimer before we go further: Occasionally


there are customers who you will want to “fire.” Fortunately, there
aren’t many and I’ll briefly discuss how to handle them in a moment.
But let’s start at the beginning of the process.

In every customer interaction, you want to keep your desired end


result in mind. That result is that the next time the customer needs
whatever it is that you sell, they will come back to you. In other
words, finish strong.

So when you sense that you have a problem, disagreement, or


complaint, focus on that end result. Regardless of who’s at fault,
when the interaction is over you want to leave the door open so the
customer will feel comfortable coming back in. This is obvious if
you’ve made a mistake and are righting the wrong. And if your
customer happens to be wrong, that could be even more important.
The key to finishing strong is to let the customer be wrong with
dignity and respect.

I was once standing at the check-in counter of a major hotel and they
couldn’t find my reservation. I knew I was in the right city. I knew
the name over the door was the hotel where I had made my
reservation. After a bit of research, we discovered that my
reservation was for their “sister” hotel just a few blocks away. They
were right; I was wrong. But they didn’t make me feel bad. They
could have simply told me to take a cab to the other hotel, but
instead, they put me under the care of a friendly and helpful bellhop
who drove me in the hotel’s van to the correct hotel.

What was their desired end result? It could have been to inform me
of my error and give me rudimentary directions to the right hotel,
but it wasn’t. The employees wanted to be sure I would be a
returning customer, and one who would recommend their hotel to
others.

Mission accomplished.

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