It is only those who have never directly dealt with customers that say the usual cliché like “customers are always right”. However, it may be obvious that even when you know that customers are not right, you simply allow the customer have its way because you know that your whole financial existence is hinge on the customer.
You are driving that car because that customer allowed you to; your yearly vacation outside the country is because of the customer; all those skyscrapers in Lagos is built by the customer; that job that defines your family’s financial health is because of the customer; that your startup company will only survive because of the customer; all the state revenue like taxes are from customer; your precious church is surviving because of the customer. From my sentences above, this phenomenon called customer defines the existence of the whole world.
Are customers that powerful that they can define almost everything? Of course not! This is the bull that most customer-centric enthusiasts sell to the world. In the banned TED speech by Nick Hanauer where he theorizes from left standpoint that the rich (entrepreneurs in particular) don’t create jobs but the customers do. Feeding the idea that the middle class citizen known for their spending habit, be the ones that should be giving tax breaks to spend more hence create more jobs.
On the surface, ideas like Hanauer’s look grand – it actually feed the “customer is the king” phenomenon. However, this is not entirely true. Customers buy something from you because they value whatever they procure. If you are the only one that creates that market, customers will have no choice but to buy from you. Customers actually became the “king” when competition sets in – this gives the customer the choice to buy from wherever he/she deems fit.
Please, kindly go to the Nigerian Passport Office and ask for “customer is king” treatment or try to get the new driver’s license on the same premise. The American Embassy in Nigeria speaks volume. Simple! Customer must not always be right when you create a valuable market that is difficult for competition to penetrate. The steel giant, Andrew Carnegie, created jobs NOT the customer; John D. Rockefeller, creator of the first oil company in the USA, had no single competitor and try reaching the customer service of Facebook.
This article is expected to let you see that “customer pleasing” strategies will not always increase your bottom line. In fact, these strategies are the results of most small businesses closing shop. Small businesses try to please customers by reducing prices or they accumulate cost by building unnecessary customer friendliness tools e.g. putting AC in your office when your price point cannot pay for it or allowing customers to get away with things in the hope of customer friendliness.
Let me give you a personal example: Imagine a customer books for a training space and did not show up for the training. The customer never informed you earlier on so you went ahead to make preparation on behalf of this customer – food booking, amount of facilitators, study materials and worst still turning down a potential customer because the training space is filled. Now imagine 4 out of 10 customers pulling this stunt – You are likely to make a big loss. The customer(s) calls two days after to reschedule the training. How do you solve this issue – “Customer Friendliness” lens or “win-win” strategy?
I would definitely go for the latter because the sustenance of my business depends on it. I am a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt versed with the skill of pleasing the customer but with the sole purpose of improving my financial bottom line. My entire life career has been based on serving customers. I know all the clichés about maintenance of customer being less costly than the acquiring one. I also know small business with regards their limited resources. Trust me, a “win-win” strategy is by far better than “customer is king” approach.
