Rules of Business Relationships, Part 7 - The Customer Is Always Right Is Always Wrong
B2C might be different, I don’t know. But in B2B, the old adage “the customer is always right” is always wrong.
B2B marketers bend over backwards to proclaim how they will do anything for their customers. Hogwash. Companies are in business to help customers, sure. But companies are also in business to make money. If a company develops a customer base which doesn’t generate profits, it won’t be long before the company isn’t helping anybody.
Strong, long lasting business relationships thrive when both parties identify and nurture complementary, long term profit objectives.
(Pardon my cumbersome phrasing, but I refuse to use the expressions, “symbiotic relationship” or “synergy”.)
Come to think of it, this business relationship rule does apply to B2C. Consider the home mortgage loan crisis. Banks began offering massively discounted loans to consumers who sucked them down like candy. Should banks have offered these loans just because homeowners wanted them? Give the customers what they want, right? As it turned out, the loans were in nobody’s long term interest. Smart lenders knew this from the beginning. Those lenders aren’t writing off millions of dollars of bad debt and forcing their customers into foreclosure.
In B2B, customers, at least reasonably enlightened ones, want their suppliers to make money - otherwise suppliers won’t be around to take care of them. Suppliers want customers to make money as well - otherwise they won’t be around to purchase more stuff.
In all cases, customers need to understand how their suppliers make money just as much as suppliers need to understand how they can help customers save it.
Imagine the kind of conversation you could have around that. How could such a conversation not serve to create an unbreakable business relationship?
Brad,
The customer is certainly not always right in the literal sense; and yet that customer’s perception of the company’s ability and desire to meet his or her needs in large part determines whether or not the company will still have a customer tomorrow.
I believe that, while the customer may not always be right, it is always right for the company to carefully consider the customer’s needs and even sometimes unreasonable demands–not by giving the customer that which will prove detrimental to him or her in the long run, but by demonstrating empathy for the customer’s needs and conveying a sincere desire to meet those needs in the best way possible. That’s what creates customer loyalty, satisfaction, and word-of-mouth advertising. It’s also the essence of what I believe the phrase, “The customer is always right” was always meant to convey.
Thanks for letting me add my two-cents worth!
Jeanne
Jeanne, I agree. In the sense you mean,the customer is always right. Often times, sales people placate customers by giving them what they want instead of delving in and really exploring their true needs. That’s a point I was trying to make with the example of the mortgage loan problem. But as you say, sellers have to be diligent at all times and have a collaborative mindset.
Brad,
Your point is (and was) well-taken; and though I may not have expressed the fact clearly enough, I actually meant to agree with your assessment of the discounted mortgage loan story related in your post, while at the same time discussing a second important aspect of customer relations. I’ve no doubt that you and I agree on the major principles of customer relations, though we may at times express them somewhat differently.
Jeanne