A common saying in business, particularly retail, is, “The customer is always right.”
The original purpose was internal. It was an easy and powerful message to those working on your team.
“We are here to delight our customers. You will delight us by delighting our customers. Also a warning: we will choose them over you if you make us.”
Seems like a noble goal.
However, the cat got out of the bag. Now customers know and try to use it for their benefit. We’ve all seen a surly or childish knucklehead mistreating the front-line worker in the name of “the customer is always right.”
But that’s an easy one to refute. If the customer is being an asshole, most businesses would not automatically defer. Nor should they.
The customer may not be right in other more important situations as well. If you are building a product or running a business, ask yourself, “who is this for?”
For every customer that isn’t on that list, they won’t be right.
Will you serve vegan options in your southern BBQ restaurant?
Will your manufacturing company build custom items or off-the-shelf only?
Will your accounting firm serve individuals or other businesses?
You get to decide who your customer is. Delight them and respectfully forget the rest.
