Customers Come Last

"Customers Come Last!"

My Job Here is Done™ Transcript (for general use only – machine-generated and it may not be accurate.) 

Dave (00:01) I know, I know, I know.

Kelli (00:03) You better have a good comeback here or people will think you're more crazy than you really are.

Dave (00:08) Really... Customers come last! And people are going to get all freaky-deeky when they hear that.

Kelli (00:14) Well, some might, right? Others are instantly going to agree with you.

Dave (00:17) So the reality is that most businesses and tons of career professionals rely on happy customers to grow their business or make a living as they ascend the ladder of success. But there's a fundamental failure in thinking that the customer always comes first.

Kelli (00:35) You know what's worse?

Dave (00:36) What's that?

Kelli (00:37) When you put the customer first, you're actually screwing up your entire system of sales, account management, customer service, and employee culture.

Dave (00:45) Hey, you might be screwing up your entire business.

INTRO (00:50) Hi, I'm Dave, and I've been starting and running businesses all my life. And I'm Kelli, working for the man like a dog for decades. And you are YOU the driven career professional, clawing your way up the ladder of success, maybe running your own business? The next 20 minutes or so is just for you.

Chuck Fresh (01:09) Welcome to My Job Here is Done.

Dave (01:15) Welcome to the program, and thanks a lot for taking a break to give us about 20 minutes of your time today. I'm Dave.

Kelli (01:21) And I'm Kelli and we talk about career success and entrepreneurial business growth on this podcast. Subscribe or follow us on your favorite app. We don't want you to miss any new episodes.

Dave (01:32) And you can interact with Kelli and me personally at our website, MyJobHereIsDone.com, and on social media at myjobpodcast.

Kelli (01:42) Okay, I know you think there's a hook here, and guess what? There is.

Dave (01:46) There's always a hook.

Kelli (01:48) But this is really important advice because we have been conditioned to think that we have to put the customer first.

Dave (01:54) This conditioning is so deeply rooted in everyone's mind, like all of your employees, that you can test this just by going up to virtually anyone and saying, finish this sentence. The customer comes...?

Kelli (02:07) Yeah, but if you ask them what that means exactly, you'll get no real answer.

Dave (02:16)  They have no idea. In the end, your employees are just repeating sentences that they heard that sound good, but really are ill-defined.

Kelli (02:25) Before we get into why this is a bad way of making people think about customer happiness, let's look back on why we even had to come up with that saying in the first place.

Dave (02:35) Long ago, business leaders started to implement the saying, the customer is always right, mostly in an attempt to convince employees that they needed to have a customer-centric attitude at all times. We did a little research, and it appears from numerous references on the Internet that this well-known phrase is first attributed to a one Harry Gordon Selfridge, who in 1909 was the founder of Selfridges department store in London.

Kelli (03:05) Selfridge used this saying to try to convince people visiting a store that they would have an excellent customer experience as well as to contemporaneously hint to employees that they needed to provide exceptional customer service.

Dave (03:18) Wait, does the acting contemporaneously provide better customer service or no?

Kelli (03:25) Yes. It's a good thing. Okay, so ironically, this backfired and the thought process of, the customer is always right, actually caused a worse customer experience.

Dave (03:37) Why? Because the customer is not always right. And customers often need to be educated on what is right for them or be told no and offered alternatives.

Dave (03:49) If your employees only know the words to this sentence and not what the sentence means to the business, they'll likely go about defining it very simply, and when they see the customer is actually wrong, they'll either just agree ...

Kelli (04:05) ... And possibly lose all interest in helping further.

Dave (04:07) Right, or they'll get upset with you, leadership, because you're allowing customers to do things, buy things, or push employees around to the point where the products or services you're selling actually can't be supported or sold properly.

Kelli (04:21) In the end, using this saying sends a couched and confusing message to everyone.

Dave (04:26) If "the customer is always right" is actually always wrong, then is it correct that customers come first? Well, again, a hard no.

Dave (04:37) Saying the customer comes first suggests that everything should be dropped for the customer. That sends an equally bad message to your team.

Kelli (04:46) Again, I bet any employee of yours will finish that sentence if asked 'the customer comes...', but they will not know what that means to the business. It's just too simplistic to lead with that and to hope your team just gets it.

Dave (05:01) Leadership should spend more time defining how to create actual processes and training that help employees create an environment where they place a coordinated effort, maybe a contemporaneous effort.

Kelli (05:14) Yeah.

Dave (05:16) On making the customer a first priority.

Kelli (05:19) If the customer is the right fit.

Dave (05:21) Right you are. And we have some ideas on this to share in a moment. But first, a quick story.

Dave (05:26) I was CEO of a fast-growing company that was hiring all types of talent very quickly, especially in sales. And it was not uncommon for my executive team to be in a lot of trainings almost every day. And I remember this day like it was yesterday. I had just received my first Palm Pilot.

Kelli (05:45) Oh, boy, you're dating yourself.

Dave (05:48) Maybe a little bit, but I was fascinated by it. Does anybody have any surprises on that? (laughing) 

Dave (05:53) I was setting it up and I passed by one of the large conference rooms and noticed a meeting of about 20 people going on being led by our VP of operations at the time. I always liked this guy because he was very articulate and very entertaining. That day he was talking to a new group of salespeople and I walked in and sat down.

Kelli (06:13) I was always worried when we were in meetings and someone suddenly from leadership showed up.

Dave (06:18) Yeah, I get it. And it happened that day. Everybody went quiet and everybody was just smiling at me. And I said, as you were, people. Nothing to see here. And I just went in the back and sat and listened.

Kelli (06:30) Yeah, I bet that was really comforting.

Dave (06:34) Well, the meeting continued, obviously. And as I played with the Palm Pilot, I was listening to our VP of operations with kind of half an ear. And he was going through his vision of how the company looked at sales, selling, and customers and how proud we all were of the tremendous customer satisfaction we were able to achieve.

Dave (06:54) He was sharing how we looked at each customer's problems and needs and how we had processes in place to address those needs. He was emphasizing that we win for everyone when we stick to the plan and don't deviate and that although custom work may be needed, it was always the exception.

Kelli (07:14) You know, when I listen to you tell the story, which I've heard before, I always think to myself that your team had a lot of confidence and pride in what they did and that you were growing the company on the premise of doing what you do best and sticking to it.

Dave (07:27) Yes. And that's a good segue.

Dave (07:29) You're right. We were very focused, and that's how I tried to run all of my projects. And the VP of Operations was a master at making that happen.

Dave (07:41) Okay, so I was half-listening, and I heard him say to the group, I need you all to remember something. I remember hearing this in slow motion: "the customer is always right."

Kelli (07:56) Oh, boy.

Dave (07:57) And I'm thinking to myself, Jeez, that's lame. And then I hear him finish his thought, the customer is always right, however, not everyone need be our customer.

Kelli (08:09) Wow. You know, every time I hear that it stops me dead in my tracks. There's a lot to unpack there.

Dave (08:14) Yeah. And I could go on for hours about this, but what he was saying was, that we want the customer to always feel that they made the right decision by selecting and sticking with us.

Dave (08:25) But some potential customers just won't fit in. They won't or can't consume our products and services in the way we provide them. Their culture or business model may not fit well with ours. There are literally dozens of reasons why not everyone should be our customer at the time or your customer.

Kelli (08:45) If you take on customers that require you to break the trends of what you do well, or if there are special or unusual needs, force employees to have to do unusual things just for them, or for any reason that makes them stand out in a special, ill-defined group, that customer alone can cause your employees to fail at their jobs. They'll disappoint that customer eventually or even compromise all of your customers in some way.

Dave (09:10) Yeah, we're saying it's okay to say no. And in our company culture, we allow that when customers do not align with our skill set.

Dave (09:21) So the VP of Ops during this conversation was saying that we're not going to become "Anything for a Buck Enterprises" and that we will only take on customers that allow us to feel as if they chose the right vendor. And that's where I think the customer is always right.

Kelli (09:41) Makes sense.

Kelli (09:42) So we flipped this on its head a bit for your consideration. Instead of thinking or defining that the customer is always right, as in everything they say, need, or do is right, you and your team just have to accept that as a cost of doing business as a leader. Turn it around, define the meaning of the customer is always right for your team.

Kelli (10:04) For example, we want our customers to always feel that they made the right choice to invest in us and in our products and services.

Dave (10:12) So that's a completely different and helpful message, one that's teachable, process-driven, and easy to understand. But you have to define it to your team, train to it, and support it so it becomes inherent in your business.

Dave (10:26) So what about the other classic saying customers come first?

Kelli (10:30) So there's a conundrum here. As a customer, I want to always feel that way. I want to hear those words. I want to come first when it involves doing business with my vendors. But as an employee who supports all of the customers, I think I feel a little differently.

Dave (10:45) How differently?

Kelli (10:46) I've watched leadership strain employees to the point of them having real distress with a loss of process in areas of customer support because the business brought on a difficult or poor fit customer.

Dave (10:57) Yeah, I get it. And in my experience, 90% of the time, I mean really 90% of the time, the selling system talent knew that the prospect would be a bad fit before they signed them.

Dave (11:10) The business did not have the proper checks and balances in place to avoid this. And it's not necessarily the fault of sales. Bringing on a poor-fit customer is hard on everyone. Not to mention that you will likely fail that customer's expectations as well.

Dave (11:26) The support teams look at this as the classic 'oh they'll just do anything for money' ploy and it's absolutely not good for culture.

Kelli (11:34) Trying to make excuses after the fact, saying things like I know this customer is not really right for us, they can be difficult and I wish it were different, but we have to keep this customer happy. So just do whatever it takes, make them your priority, just do what you have to.

Dave (11:51) Yeah, boy, I've heard that so many times. Every once in a while though, it kind of has to happen.

Kelli (11:57) Everybody gets that once in awhile stuff. But when that type of thing is the norm where teams are suddenly shuffling things around, as you like to say, odd context switching to try to correct for off-process problems, that's when it becomes a huge problem for the team.

Dave (12:14) Yeah. And that's when other customers suffer as well. It's when employee retention suffers and good employees suddenly leave. When leadership sends the overly simple message that customers come first, employees may feel like they come second or even further down the chain, and you're setting yourself up to fail.

Kelli (12:35) Here's a potentially better way of looking at this. The customer will always feel like they come first when the employees who care for them know it's them who actually come first to the business.

Dave (12:47) Right. if you choose to make your employees come first, give them the tools they need, the training to enable them, and the leadership to support them. they will automatically make the customer feel as if they come first.

Kelli (13:01) We suggest that you drop the use of these two phrases if they're in your company's vernacular, those being the customer is always right and the customer comes first. the reason we suggest this is twofold first duh. Right. Everyone knows the customers are the reason that the business is able to employ people, and two, your employees work for you, not the customer. So treating them like they're the most important part of your business will naturally make the customer feel as if they come first.

Dave (13:30) Right? Kelli spot on. But to add to that, as leadership, we have a balancing act that we need to maintain here. we need to attract new customers. and sometimes the prospect just doesn't quite fit the standard mold. What then? The entrepreneur in us says, sell them. We'll figure it out later, and that's how we grow. But your employees and teams are not entrepreneurs. they will not naturally inherit your confidence or your ability to adapt. and this is what will get you in trouble down the road.

Kelli (14:03) Remember the saying the customer is always right. Not everyone needs to be my customer.

Dave (14:08) So the question Is, as a leader, as an owner of a business, are you willing and able to say no to certain prospects? That even though they will pay you, in the end, they may damage your processes, depress employee morale, and stunt long-term growth?

Kelli (14:25) We hope you can. Because we also know this, you will eventually have to start saying no in order to survive and thrive.

Dave (14:32) Yeah. Here's another short story to illustrate this point. A business that I know well was about to take on a very big and extremely complicated customer. And all during the negotiations, it was clear to everyone that the business would struggle to meet this customer's demands. The sales leader and the owner were fixated on getting this client, despite being told by literally everyone included, that the business was just simply not set up to handle them. And actually, far from it. The amount of angst and concern was significant from the employees who were directly involved in coming up with a support system for them. It was very much out of our wheelhouse. At the time, it was a clear and present risk, but now the owner just kept on pushing it.

Kelli (15:18) There had to be a reason for this. It just doesn't sound like a common occurrence, right?

Dave (15:23) Yeah, it was all about sales and short-term gains. That's why they did it. And look, we get it. We understand when a business is under pressure to perform. Hey, you may be close to breaching bank covenants on performance metrics. You may also be so cash flow short that you're worried about making payroll and you just have to do whatever it takes. But this was not the case in this situation. And as predicted, it's been a nightmare for everyone, including the customer from day one. And I know the costs associated with trying to make this work in that business are chewing up all the profits that this customer would have ever provided. And they have the risk of losing this very unhappy customer completely.

Kelli (16:08) Here's a side penalty of unhappy customers. They don't do referrals. And when a customer asks for references, you can't use them.

Dave (16:15) You're hired. Okay, so a few tips are in order before we call this a wrap. One is to replace these old sayings of the customer is always right and customers come first. With clear guidance to your team, with good processes and pride that we are committed to doing a great job for ourselves and our customers.

Kelli (16:37) Think about these things. You can't boil the ocean.

Dave (16:40) You can't?

Kelli (16:41) No.

Dave (16:42) How do you know you can't do it?

Kelli (16:46) Because I tried.  Here's another one. Don't bite off more than you can chew, okay? Because you'll choke.

Dave (16:51) Yeah, you'll choke.

Kelli (16:53) That's what happens. Then you have to call the ambulance. That gets messy. Here's one more.

Dave (17:06) Okay?

Kelli (17:06) The light at the end of the tunnel just maybe a train coming right at you. Nobody wants that.

Dave (17:14) Nobody wants that.

Kelli (17:17) Your business succeeds and your career success improves when you concentrate on doing only what you do best. If you want to experiment otherwise, do it in a controlled fashion. Don't mix it in and experiment with your daily business methods.

Dave (17:31) And remember, the customer is always right. However, not everyone needs to be my customer.

Kelli (17:39) Thanks very much for listening today. We hope you enjoyed our story about customers that don't come first. More and more people listen each week just because of you spreading the word about our My Job Here Is Done podcast. So thank you very much for telling a friend about us.

Dave (17:55) And please tell your friend they can follow us anywhere and everywhere podcasts are available using their favorite app or at our website MyJobHereIsDone.com.

Chuck Fresh (18:06) I'm the announcer guy and I sound as good as the story you just listened to. My Job Here is Done is a podcast production of 2PointOh LLC. Thank you and your awesome ears for listening. Want to get involved? Have your own special story to share? Tell us all about it and you might get some airtime, just like me. Browse over to myjobhereisdone.com ya, squish that all together into one word, and look for the My Story link.

Chuck Fresh (18:35) Until next time, My Job Here Is Done.