The Customer is Always Right

Business is made up of transactions, where one person pays for the services or the goods provided by another person. Whether it's buying a book at Borders or paying for a car wash or hiring a contractor to build a house, it's basically the same thing.

One of my friends recently asked me, "Why is it that the customer is always right? Since the customer is a human being, and human beings make mistakes sometimes, isn't is possible for a customer to be wrong?"

For years, I had thought the same thing. How can the customer always be right? What if the customer demands something outrageous or doesn't know what he's talking about, do I simply give that customer what he wants? Don't I owe it to myself to stand up for myself, when I know that the customer is absolutely wrong?

Yes, absolutely, I should stand up for myself. Yes, absolutely, I should tell the customer when he's wrong.

And yes, absolutely, there's a very good chance that as soon as I tell the customer that he's full of it, that customer will simply walk away from my business, never to come back again.

The bottom line is the customer is the one with the money. When the customer is right, he is the one with the money. And when the customer is wrong, well, he STILL is the one with the money. And my livelihood depends on whether or not he will give me money for my services or goods. Whether or not he is right, if he walks away from the transaction, I don't get his money.

So what am I supposed to do? I think there are three choices:

1. Always agree with the client even when he's wrong. I tried this at the beginning when I was just starting out and desperate for business. It gave me ulcers, and I stopped doing it.
   
   
2. Always tell the client NO whenever he is wrong. Whenever I did this and turned a client away, I had a harder time paying my mortgage, and that also gave me ulcers. I stopped doing this as well.
   
   
3. Work with the client and compromise.
   

I really like the third option, because I got paid more often when using it. Compromising does take more work at the beginning, and it takes a lot of diplomacy, patience, and clear communication, but in the long run it's a very good thing.

Because we are on the same team instead of against one another, working with the client allows the both of us to be right. It forces us to understand each other better. It forces us to see the other person's point of view.

Working with the client means that I'm working. When I work, I get paid. When I get paid, I am able to pay the mortgage, and I don't have to worry about ulcers.