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There are a lot of over-the-top maxims in the lore of Customer Service.  Many of them sound good, and look good on the printed page, but frankly, they do not properly serve the customer or the vendor.

For instance, The Customer is Always Right.   Please!  The customer is not always right; sometimes the customer is dead wrong AND being foolish about it.  Quite honestly, sometimes the customer is way off base, and needs to be educated.  Now, this is not a license to treat this customer like an idiot.  To the contrary, this is an opportunity to acknowledge your customer’s presence, thank them for coming to you, and to help them understand exactly what it is that you can do for them.  

If the product or service they desire is so different than anything that your company offers, you do them, as well as yourself, a disservice by trying to force-fit your product/service into their needs.  Even if the customer insists that the product/service he needs can be purchased through you.  This is often a supreme test of your patience, diplomacy, and maturity as a service provider. 

Some insightful person once said, “Diplomacy is the delicate art of letting the other fellow have your way.”  I’ve also heard this definition: “Diplomacy is the art of telling a man to go to hell in such a way that he actually looks forward to the journey.”  I think that both of these definitions can come in handy, but for different reasons.

If a customer comes to you seeking a specific product or service, and it is something that you know you do not offer, you can always say, “Sorry pal, can’t help ya.”  However, that attitude is not going to win you any awards for humanitarianism or customer service.  But a little probing into the customer’s actual needs, behind that product or service, can lead you to something that you do offer.  Like the old hardware store story: Nobody needs a quarter inch drill bit; what they need is a quarter inch hole.  By paying some attention to your customer, however, and asking some questions, you may find that you have an alternative solution to his problem.

But this is a place to tread lightly.   You need to be certain that what you are offering your customer is, in fact, a fair alternative to what he requested, and will fill the need that he has.  You don’t sell the guy who needs a quarter inch hole a stick of dynamite.  Nobody likes being sold something that they don’t need, so don’t be so shortsighted that you go for the one sale, but do not serve, and gain, a customer. 

The best policy, in a situation where you just can not meet your customer’s needs, is to help him find someone who can, even if this means referring him to a competitor!  Yes, you may lose this “sale,” but you will have gained the respect of the customer as being one who is helpful in resolving his problem.  And that is a reputation that will serve you well.

Another common problem occurs once you have contracted with a customer to provide some work, and the customer decides in mid-project that he wants some modifications.  In the interest of customer service, you may often take a deep breath and say okay to all of his requests, even though it can cause you extra work, extra materials, and put the project off its deadline, or reduce its level of quality.  However, this attempt at providing excellent customer service typically serves neither the customer nor the vendor.  The customer ends of with a piecemeal product, thrown together in a hurry to accommodate his last minute requests.  The vendor ends up delivering a substandard product, because what he initially had been creating has been modified beyond recognition by the customer’s last minute requests.

This is a perfect opportunity to allow the customer to have your way.  If you did enough up-front presale work with the customer to ensure that what you can offer is exactly what he needs, then you can remind the customer of that, and assure him that his initial decision was the right one, and convince him to trust his own first instincts.

However, not all customers are reasonable, and willing to pacified by logic.  Because of this, it is always a good idea to have clauses in your agreements with customers, stating that any modifications to the initial specifications can be subject to additional costs and or time.  You don’t always have to enforce those clauses, but there will be times that you are glad they are there.  Again, this allows the customer to have your way.

 Then, there are those wonderful customers, who refuse to listen to logic, refuse to pay more or accept delays in turnaround, yet still demand what they want, when they want it, even if you have never offered what it is they want.   There comes a time when you must realize that you cannot serve this customer, as much as you may try.  You can’t win ‘em all.  Sometimes you have to let them go.  And sometimes, you are more than ready to let them go!  But as tempting as it may be to tell this customer to go to hell, remember to try to do it in a way that he looks forward to the journey. 

Customer service is not about always giving in to the customer, and the customer always being right.  Customer service is about treating each customer with courtesy and dignity (even when they don’t deserve it), and if you can’t help them, then point them in the direction of someone who can.    In this way, you have served the customer as best you can, and have not tarnished your reputation by delivering an unsuitable alternative, or a hastily-made modification, or by being rude and leaving the customer high and dry. 

This is customer service at its best.

by Charles E. Dennis

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