Pauly and the Fatman

Is the customer always right? No, but the customer can almost always walk, and if you can’t afford to lose the business then you’d better treat a customer as if they were right.

Recently, I was eating at a local Irish pub in Stamford, Connecticut. On Monday I ordered a steak salad with roasted red peppers and toasted mozzarella. I got back to the hotel and discovered something that approximated a philly cheese steak. The service and food had been good, so on Wednesday I returned and in detail explained what happened to the manager. The manager proffered a free beer, and I ordered the salad again. (I like roasted peppers.) Oddly, enough after my explanation I was presented with a steak Caesar salad, which by the way wasn’t on the menu.

I pointed out the mistake, again, and requested the correct salad. By this time the manager was visible annoyed, so I paid for my dinner and left. On Friday, I mentioned the story to a bartender at the same place. The bartender had been friendly in the past, so I mentioned it as an oddity. Perhaps the item name should be changed. The bartender said that the kitchen service is good sometimes and bad at others.

Unfortunately, the same manager came in and apparently was told about my experience and boy was he ticked off. It was clear from his statements and posture that my presence was unwanted, so I paid my tab and left, never to return. Life is too short, right!

While living in hotels and traveling on business I eat out two to three times a day. Unfortunately for this eatery this will result in $100/week in lost business and a lot of bad will. How much the bad will costs is hard to measure, but I clearly couldn’t send my friends and acquaintances to an atmosphere where hostility is barely constrained.

This is experience got me to wondering: is the customer really always right? If you believe the answer is absolutely yes then the remedy can be tough to swallow. Suppose for example that a customer provides you with a set of clearly articulated needs and the customer simply feels that the wrong thing is delivered. In this instance you might swallow your pride and try again. What if the customer’s needs are articulated, you deliver, but the customer changes her mind? Well, if you don’t deliver then you may lose the business, but what if the change costs $100,000 and the customer wants you to absorb the expense, then what? Well, if you want repeat business then you may need to yield even if the customer is technically wrong.

After I left the pub I began to wonder on how many occasions I behaved like the manager and on how many I behaved like a gracious guest. As a consequence I began writing down some simple rules that I have accumulated over the years to help me navigate predicaments that could result in unnecessarily lost opportunity.

1) If the customer—anyone I am working for—pays for something they should get it at no extra cost. If I make a mistake it’s my job to make it right and be gracious about it. A mistake is a good time to bend over backward, but it’s probably more effective to bend over backward in the first place.
2) I will try to understand what the customer needs even if the needs seem to have changed, rather than trying to explain why the customer’s need is wrong.
3) Sometimes I may have special knowledge that is advantageous to the customer; I have an obligation to relay this information, but it must be done tactfully and timing and delivery is important. Like a doctor I can proscribe a treatment, but can’t make the patient follow it.
4) Before I disagree write down my thoughts and the customer’s thoughts, weighing both sides of the equation. It is important to put myself in the customer’s shoes.
5) Make sure bad news travels first, but be as diplomatic as possible.
6) Don’t lead with “no”. Deliver negative responses at the end of the response, if a negative response must be delivered but don’t equivocate.
7) If asked to give a response and it is no then think before answering. Asking can I think it over or when do you need an answer makes me seem thoughtful.
8) Empathy applies even in business. Try to put myself in the other person’s shoes. If my opinion differs then asking clarifying questions can lead the other person to an alternative understanding.
9) Don’t argue.
10) If things don’t go my way, don’t be a victim. Like Jack Welch implies in “Winning”: dust yourself off and try harder the next time.

All of these things take a little longer and won’t necessarily help in a crisis situation. Thankfully there aren’t that many crisis situations. This is why patience is a virtue. The results are so much better with empathy, understanding, and candor delivered diplomatically and respectfully, but it surely does take extra patience.