The Customer is Always Right - True or False?

I was recently asked the question "Is the customer always right?" when presenting at the Maidstone Muesli Mafia networking group. It also cropped up during a recent training course I was running for a 4 star Hotel.

Interestingly it's also a question that's just been posed by our good friend in Australia, Jurek Leon, and I've included some of his thoughts here too.

So, is the customer always right? It was only about twenty years ago that customer service gurus were teaching the following two rules:

• Rule 1: The Customer Is Always Right!

• Rule 2: If The Customer Is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule 1.

I disagree. There are some serial fault-finders out there and some serial complainers. I would find it hard to apply the above rules to them! We also have to remember that customers are human beings who get things wrong sometimes - they are not always right!

If you've ever read Jan Carlzon's book "Moments of Truth", you'll be familiar with his concept of "flattening the pyramid" to give front line staff more power to serve the customer well (and deliver a Moment of Truth!). This relies on having flexible rules in place. Richard Branson agrees, having recently written in the New York Times, “If your company is going to stand out from the rest because of its truly excellent customer service, staff should treat the (company) rules more as flexible guidelines, to be followed as the situation demands. The customer is not always right – and neither is the rule book.”

The customer is not always right - and neither is the rule book. How about that for a great new mantra! Jurek interprets this beautifully and says that when we hear "The Customer is always right", what we should really be thinking is that "It doesn’t pay to prove the customer wrong". He then goes on to suggest two new rules to replace those above:

• Rule 1: It doesn’t pay to prove the customer wrong.

• Rule 2: Give customers the benefit of the doubt and always treat them with respect.

Now that makes good sense to me! What do you think?