Business
Top 5 Reasons Why 'The Customer Is Always Right' Is Wrong
June 21, 2022
By Alexander Kjerulf
The phrase "The customer is always right" is typically used by businesses to convince customers that they will get good service at this company and convince employees to give customers good service.
The phrase "The customer is always right" was originally coined in 1909 by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge's department store in London.
However, 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.
1. It Makes Employees Unhappy.
Gordon Bethune is a brash Texan who is best known for turning Continental Airlines around "From Worst to First," told the following story in his book of the same title from 1998. He wanted to make sure that both customers and employees liked the way Continental treated them, so he made it very clear that the maxim "the customer is always right" didn't hold sway at Continental.
In conflicts between employees and unruly customers, he would consistently side with his people.
2. It Gives Abrasive Customers an Unfair Advantage.
Using the slogan "The customer is always right," abusive customers can demand just about anything -- they're right by definition, aren't they? This makes the employees' jobs that much harder when trying to rein them in.
3. Some Customers Are Bad for Business.
Most businesses think that "the more customers the better," but some customers are quite simply bad for business.
4. It Results in Worse Customer Service.
Rosenbluth International, a corporate travel agency bought by American Express, took it even further. He argues that when you put the employees first, they put the customers first. Put employees first and they will be happy at work. Employees who are happy at work give better customer service.
5. Some Customers Are Just Plain Wrong.
Herb Kelleher agrees, as this passage From Nuts!, the excellent book about Southwest Airlines shows:
Herb Kelleher [...] makes it clear that his employees come first -- even if it means dismissing customers. But aren't customers always, right? "No, they are not," Kelleher snaps. "And I think that's one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don't carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, 'Fly somebody else. Don't abuse our people.'"
So, any business needs to put its people first, and watch them put the customers first.
Read the full article here:
Share this post on:
RECENT POST
June 14, 2022
May 31, 2022
May 24, 2022
May 17, 2022
April 26, 2022
April 20, 2022
March 29, 2022
March 22, 2022
March 15, 2022
March 8, 2022