I recently had the privilege and opportunity to participate in one of the top 15 hospitality podcasts, “Don’t Look Under The Bed,” where we discussed my obsession with customer service. During our discussion, Robin asked me a question, “Is the customer always right?” To put the question into further context, it was specifically about what has been termed the “Revenge Traveler.” This is the traveler who has been cooped up too long and they are ready to get out. Once they are out, they are acting up, being rude and unreasonable.
Years ago, I remember hearing the phrase: “The customer is always right.” Hmmm (I thought)…that can’t be true. The customer is NOT always right, but the customer is ALWAYS the customer. Let me explain.
The Customer is NOT Always Right
If you work in the banking industry and the customer overdraws their account because of a mistake they made on their ledger, they are not correct, but they are still the customer. If you “serve ice” and the customer is near their limit, do you give in just because they demand you to? No – because they aren’t right, but they are still the customer. If you work in healthcare, retail, call centers, hotels, restaurants–the list could go on–you have experienced first-hand how customers are not being “right,” but they are still the customer. When the customer is expressing that THEY are right, there are 3 things that need to take place:
- De-escalate
- Educate
- Culminate
De-escalate
Do your best to make sure the customer does not create an environment or scene that could cause issues for anybody else. This could mean pulling them to the side or bringing in a supervisor while also ensuring you are doing what you can to not let the customer’s emotions get out of control – especially in front of people that are not involved in the situation. Listening to the customer and showing empathy can go a long way; listen with caring ears and show you care (even if you’re pretending).
Educate
Explain to the customer why he or she are not correct. Education could involve your policy, governmental rules, intent of the rules or something similar. The goal of education is to make sure what you are communicating to the customer is understood by the customer. What we say and/or show may not be what they hear or see. Have them repeat to you how they understand what you have communicated.
Culminate
This is ultimately where we want to go, bringing the situation to an end. We can’t predetermine the outcome, but we do our best to make it end in an amicable manner. There are times when the outcome means we must agree to disagree and sometimes go our separate ways.
Go for the Win/Win
Is the customer always right? NO, the customer is not always right but the customer is always the customer. Our goal is to de-escalate, educate and culminate. Sometimes the culmination is win/win and we have a long-term customer. Other times, it ends with us not being able to come to a resolution and we lose a customer.
Growing up in Texas and Louisiana, I would hear the domino players saying, “All money is not good money.” We should keep that saying in mind when dealing with some customers. We can’t break the law, compromise our integrity, or ruin future business because we believe the customer is always right.
