The short answer to this question is no, they are not “always right.”
But should they be treated like they are? In most cases, I believe the answer is yes.
This philosophy has helped me throughout my career to develop meaningful relationships with business partners, clients, and customers alike.
However, I didn’t always believe this.
Getting My Start
My first real job was when I was 15 years old. I started working at the local Papa Murphy’s Pizza. And I wasn’t very good at talking with people. I was really afraid of people getting upset at me.
But I had a manager that changed my perspective. He said, “The customer is always right. Even if they’re wrong, they’re right.”
What he meant by that was that if they were upset about their order or not being able to use a coupon, we should bend over to help them out.
I asked him why, and he said that if we did that, they would be more likely to come back and spend more money.
My 15 year old brain at the time didn’t care. It just wanted to get off work to go hang out with friends.
But what that manager taught me stuck with me.
College Job
In college, I got a job working at the IT support call center, conquering another fear of mine: talking on the phone to strangers.
At first it was overwhelming learning all of the campus services and lingo – it was like drinking from a firehose.
But I quickly got the hang of it and started to focus on my customer service skills.
And then one day I got a call from a notorious campus professor. This person had a reputation for having really difficult problems that couldn’t be solved and getting really upset.
Well he had a really difficult problem, as usual, but I tried to maintain my cool and go above and beyond to help him out.
I couldn’t figure out the solution immediately, but I told him I would work on it and get it resolved and then personally call him back.
I was surprised at how well he took it, because that was unlike the stories I had heard.
During my time in that job, I had many phone calls with this faculty member, and I didn’t have any experiences like the ones I had heard.
It was because when he would call in with the most outlandish requests or minuscule problems, I didn’t get frustrated or upset. I treated his problems like they were my problems, even if I knew the answer was going to be a “no, we can’t do that” or “that’s just the way it works right now.”
Was he right in a lot of his questions or problems? Sometimes no. But did I treat him that way? Absolutely.
Multi-Million Dollar Partnerships
Fast forward several years and I was managing several strategic partnerships worth millions of dollars. It was quite the jump to go from an SEO manager to being the face of the company at these big brands in many different industries. 😅
But the skills that I learned in those customer service jobs set the foundation for how I treated those partners.
There were many stressful situations that needed transparency, delicacy, and tact. But at the end of the day, I wanted to make sure that those VPs and executives felt like I was on their side.
Because of this approach, I was able to grow the revenue for my company as well as for our partners, many of whom made my company their exclusive partner.
There was one company with whom we had a very weak partnership. The person who previously held my position said that it just wasn’t a priority for them.
So I worked my tail off to get my foot in the door.
Eventually, I was able to show them how valuable our company could be, and they gave us a lot more effort.
Once they saw how valuable we were to their bottom line, they made sure that no email was ignored and no phone call was missed. It actually became a mutually beneficial relationship.
Conclusion
So is the customer always right?
Effectively, the answer should be yes. Even when they’re wrong, they should be treated like they’re right.
