Where did the "customer is always right " philosophy come from?
 

Because, clearly, this is not always the case. Just curious .

I think it comes from mature markets in which the fear of losing a sale gives some people the heebie-geebies.
In my presentations, I stress the customer isn't always right, if they were they'd be running our businesses. However, the customer should always be treated with respect.

In real life, sometimes you just have to say, "I'm sorry, but my product will not meet your needs." :D

Best
Les

I recently went to Bentonville for business and while looking through the Wal-mart museum, they talk about how Sam Walton was a huge believer in that saying and had some examples of it.

One of them was a thermos that a lady returned to Wal-mart, which they accepted, even though that model of thermos was made 8 years before Wal-mart even existed.

I understand the basis of the saying, but I couldn't help but think what a stupid philosophy it is for a business to take it that literal.

It is a political thing, only folks with right wing political views are customers as they are the ones with the jobs to earn the money to buy stuff.

.... left wing folks don' have no money.....unless it is given to them by the government...

Very, very much in jest....





A serious answer would read something like:

You can make the best widget or give the best service in the world, but unless the customer wants it, you won't sell bupkis. So the trick is to find out what they want and ensure your sales pitch appeals to their notions of what is "right" for them....this lesson was learned ever since the first hooker initiated the oldest business in the world...

Dennis

Or something like that....

Hahahahahahahahaha!

The customer is right (even when they are wrong) because in general they have the ability to cost you more in future business than the cost of swallowing the one time occurrence.

It's more true today than ever.

One bad review on YELP or a social media outburst can ruin a business.

For many products, the cost of getting a new customer can be astronomical. And of course losing a customer costs money as well, losing future profit. Lastly, as Scott points out, word of mouth to other existing and potential customers seals the deal: the customer is always right.

Sadly in RE the customer isn't always right. I finally had to part ways with a buyer because he was downright un reasonable.

Sid, forget him. Let someone deal with him, but he will soon find that there's will be no one to play with.

it came from a complete moron.

someone else's customer is always right.

I worked at Sears Roebuck in the late 60's. Yes, I am that old. Division 9. Tools. No matter what, we'd take anything back and exchange it. I remember a breaker bar, 1/2 drive. Head looked like a twistee ice cream cone. Manager kept it on his desk.

Customer is always right.

That's what I did. He texted me a few weeks after and said no body wanted to cut a deal. I said yes I told you it's a strong sellers market. But hey, wtf do I know?

It came from a consumerist generation full of population with entitlements. We pay for something we think we own all


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The customer is always right. Sometimes he's even right for you.

I have no problem whatsoever dumping a difficult customer who's "not right for me" onto the competition. Let him be their problem and cost them time and money. That's "right for me" too.

I was told that back in the 60's John W. Nordstrom personally took back a set of used tires from a female customer even though Nordstrom's did not sell tires. Supposedly after this example of customer service the woman & her high society friends would not do business with anyone other than Mr. Nordstrom

Yup, I miss the Craftsman lifetime warranted tools, as a poor teen I never bought a breaker bar, just exchanged the the ratchets.

I once cold called a guy using a competitor's service. He immediately made all sorts of ridiculous price demands before I could even do any real discovery and see which product was best for him. When I started asking questions, he said, "You obviously don't want my business, do you?" I said, "You know what? You're probably better off sticking with your current provider. Have a good day." I know his staying with them saved me a lot of headaches and he was probably no picnic with his current provider either.

X 911


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This is it. The customer isn't always right, but you have to let him think he is.
When I worked at a hardware store some guy came in and wanted 75 screws. We had one box left and it had 75 screws in it. The price of an individual screw was 4 cents and the price of a box of 100 was $3. I told the guy since he was emptying the box I'd just let him have them at the box price of 3 cents each. He went ballistic. How could I charge him the box price when there were only 80 screws? Ripoff! So I charged him $3.20 instead of $2.40 and he was happy as can be.