The customer is always right?

Some clichés have a bit of truth in them, but others fall flat on their faces.

Marshal Field, founder of Marshal Field and Company, based his stores customer service upon that slogan, believing that one should always put the customer first to make them feel special.

I can’t begin to refute the idea behind the statement.  Customers make our businesses what they are.  We can’t have a business without them, so we’d better make them important.

But it’s not the business owner who has changed the meaning of the phrase.  All too often customers take the phrase and attempt to prove it literally correct by dictating jobs they have hired someone to do.

In the graphic design industry, this is a common occurrence.  I’ve had many customers come in and tell me exactly how they wanted their design.  I had one person tell give me a list of things they wanted on their business card including their company name, her name, address, three phone numbers, email, a list of their services, 7 lines of text describing what they do and a picture of themselves (I did it and they were happy, but you won’t see that card in my portfolio any time soon).

If the customer is always right, why did I spend 4 years at a university and 1000s of hours of study to learn my craft?  Why am I currently in debt for thousands of dollars worth of student loans?  And more importantly – why would you hire me, a graphic designer, to design something you’ve already designed?

In any industry, you’ll find people who believe that they know more than you do.  They follow ‘The customer is always right’ as if it’s an iron clad rule.

The truth is this.  The customer is the customer.  They are the most important part of your business.  They should be treated well, made to feel important and cherished for who they are, but to allow them to dictate the way your business runs is foolish at best.  Who’s going to want to hire you when they see the horrible logo ‘you’ designed for your customer?

This holds true for any industry.  Chiropractors – If you let your patient dictate how their treatment is handled and they are still in pain, will their friends come to you?  Restaurateurs – Will you get repeat business if you prepare a meal differently than normal because a customer demanded it and it’s awful?  If you drive a taxi and a customer wants you to go the longest route possible, are they going to be mad at themselves or you when the fare is double what it should be?  In any business, I promise you that the customer thinks he is paying too much for too little.  Do you want to allow them to be right?

They may not always be right, but they will always be the customer.