“The customer is NOT always right;” does that surprise you?
The “customer is king” and “the customer is always right” are two well known sentences that are frequently used in the business community and not only. Although I have maximum respect for customers and advocate for customer centricity, customer focus, etc., I do not believe that the customer is always right and should always be treated like a king.
Many think that the customer is, or should be the king and that the customer is always right in the business relationship. Some people in the medical device business consider surgeons as GOD, not just the KING.
In the next paragraphs, I’ll explain where these ideas come from and how they influence our business relationships.
Furthermore, I’ll touch on the risks associated with this idea and why a business relationship based on these theories is fundamentally unhealthy.
The origin of “The customer is KING” and “The customer is always right.”
“The customer is always right.”
Marshal Field
“When a customer enters my store, forget me. He is king.”
John Wanamaker
Marshal Field and John Wanamaker were two businessmen who shared similar ideas, great dynamism, and creativity. They were early pioneers in retailing and the source of slogans still popular today that emphasize the importance of customer service and customer focus.
In the early 1900, when customer service was non-existent, these 2 quotes summed up the importance and necessity of the customer’s satisfaction over everything related to the business.
I think that to sell effectively, it’s important to know how customers expect to be treated by their suppliers and how suppliers expect to be treated by their prospects and customers. This gives a Win-Win and more balanced approach.
Why is the customer generally more important than the seller?
Usually, the customer is considered more important than the seller, and this importance is due to some economic elements and social conditions.
According to the law of Supply and Demand, the value of a product is defined by the relationship between its supply and the demand for it. Scarcity will increase the price, whereas abundance will decrease the price.
The same applies to customers and sellers; in our developed society, there is a surplus of sellers in many sectors; therefore, they have to work hard to convince customers to buy the products from them.
Conversely, in some developing countries, there is a surplus of customers, so customers have to make an effort to buy, and customer service is less developed.
In the medical device business, the surplus of sellers has been constant for many years. As a result, we have developed a natural conviction that the customer should be the king in the relationship. We accepted this situation as an immutable principle on which to base the relationship between the seller and the customers.
In fact, our customers expect to be pleased, pampered, and courted by sellers. And they want the sellers to consider their customer’s interests over theirs.
Considering a specific category of our customers, the physicians; generalizing; since they are used to speaking with people in need. So dependent on them, doctors are accustomed to top-down communication, and they tend to consider themselves better than their interlocutors.
All customers are equal, but some customers are more equal than others
This modified George Orwell proclamation is the basis of my reasoning. Unfortunately, not all customers are the same. Some customers contribute greatly to a medical device manufacturer’s success; others are marginal or even unprofitable.
A commercial organization should identify profitable customers and treat them correctly to develop a mutually beneficial relationship.
Critique of “the customer is KING” ideology
The idea behind the slogan “the customer is KING” has definitively a certain appeal and a reason to exist. However, since there is no reciprocity from the customer, it describes a WIN-LOSE business relationship where the customer wins, and the seller loses.
WIN-LOSE relationships are not long-term relationships and evolve naturally to a LOSE-LOSE relationship.
Some marketing and sales tactics are designed to prevent the seller from losing in this sort of relationship. For example, the razor/blades business model, very common in the medical device business, is an example of a strategy to lock the customers by eliminating their competitive alternatives.
The famous CEO of the southwest, Herb Kelliher, said “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.”
I agree with Kelliher; prospects and customers are all not the same, and they shouldn’t be treated the same way. You should treat the profitable ones “very well” and leave the unprofitable ones for your competitors.
Conclusion
A seller needs knowledgeable customers who pay a fair price for the value they receive and respect the brand and the company. Customers that are irrational and abusive are simply not good customers for the business.
The seller should treat customers with respect and take the required steps if the customers are trying to take unfair advantages by being dishonest, disrespectful, or having unrealistic expectations.
Have you ever dealt with problematic customers? What did you do? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe.