Is the customer always right? by Malu Dy Buncio

There is an adage that everyone knows and that is “THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!”  Obviously the customer is ‘always right’ because the decision to hand over their hard earned money for your product or service lies with the customer.

Recently however, I encountered a prospective client that got me thinking about whether this adage is indeed always true.  As a consultant, I was being asked to submit a proposal for ananticipated strategic planning session for a company.  Actually I had submitted a proposal the previous year for the same company but the planning session did not push through.

Last year after several meetings with this client, it became clear to me that the head of the company had already decided what the course of action should be for the company.  I remember thinking to myself that in this case, a strategic planning process would not be effective.

This year I received an urgent call back from the same client.  When I met the client, I was pleasantly surprised that the head of the company seemed to be more open to strategic planning. However, as the meeting progressed, it became clear that the client wanted to design the planning session in a way that I knew would not give them their desired results.  In fact, the desired process would give them the same old strategies they were implementing year after year.  I explained why the proposed design was flawed but my explanation fell on deaf ears.  In fact, the atmosphere became quite hostile when I usedthe words “in my experience with other clients . . .“  The client’s response was “well I know my market.”

I realized then that this client and I were not a good fit, so I politely said  ‘then perhaps you would be better off working with another consultant.’  To which the client quickly replied ‘yes’.

I have no regrets letting this project go because I don’t believe we would have achieved fact based conclusions and strategies.  The management style of the client was quite autocratic and would have resulted in him overruling conclusions and strategies he did not agree with.

I did however, think about the concept of ‘fulfilling the needs and wants of clients’ after my meeting with this client.  In Interior Design School I was taught that if you have a client and if the design they desired did not match your vision or your idea of good taste, just follow the client’s desire.  The client is always right.  After all, they will be the one to live with the design.

Should I have taken the same attitude? Should I have just taken the client’s money and followed his process and let him live with flawed strategies?  Perhaps-  but my work ethic cannot take that attitude.  It is not a coat of paint or color scheme.  These strategies would have determined whether the company would survive and whether people who have invested the best years of their lives working for this company would still have a job in the future.

So is the customer always right?  Yes because they do have the final decision in whether to hand over their money for your product or service.  But manufacturers and service suppliers also have the right to design their product or service in a manner they believe is correct.  In addition, manufacturers and service suppliers also have the right to decide who they will sell their product or service to.

Malu DyBuncio is the Chief Business Development Strategist of Mansmith and Fielders, Inc., (www.mansmith.net). She was the former country head of Avon Philippines and Avon Indonesia.  She will be conducting the Dynamics of Direct Selling seminar-workshop on September 20-21, 2011.  For inquiries on our programs, please call (63-2) 584-5858/412-0034, text 0918-81-168-88 or email info@mansmith.net. Please also send your marketing and sales, strategy and innovation questions to mentors@mansmith.net.