Customer behavior should be judged before naming them 'King'
The world famous marketing adage – ‘Customer is king’ is one of the most misused and misunderstood sayings of all time. Funnily enough, both – customers and companies have an equal part to play in it. While companies have smart marketing techniques and sell fallacies to large masses of people, the masses also take undue advantage of the top notch services provided to them by companies.
But if you are an entrepreneur – you have to understand that customer behavior is not something you can generalise. Just by thinking that they are always right and they need to be served well, irrespective of how unreasonable their demands are – you are making some of the worst decisions that you can. Here are some of the consequences:
1) Unhappy employees
While obsessing over providing the best service to customers, you provide unreal expectations to the clients. This is bound to put pressure on your employees and leave them unhappy. The best way forward is to be realistic in your approach and provide the customers with the expectation that is possible to achieve. You might want a sales deal to go through, but be fair to your team that is working on the project and is actually going to deliver the final product or service. This, not only keeps your client well informed, but makes your employees happy also. It will also help you establish the right rapport with your clients.
Dealing with unhappy employees is not something you want to do.
Unfair leverage to the non-deserving customers
The customer gives your company business but he/she doesn’t own you. You get paid because of a service or a product that you are providing the customer. It is, in short, a give and take relationship. Some customers look to have an edge over the company, and they are bad for business. You are not only being unfair to the employees, but also to the other customers who are dealing with you fair and square.
Unhappy customers
Not just unhappy employees, but unhappy customers too. The unreal promises that you have made to your customers – both deserving and non-deserving are most likely to not be fulfilled. Even if you manage to make it happen once, you might not be able to do so consistently. This means you are anyway going to have unhappy customers simply because you made them the prime priority with everything. This is normal customer behavior.
It has been proved that when you put your employees first, they put the customers first. A happy employee is a more productive one. Here are some reasons why you need to give importance to your employees:
- When the employees are given importance, the other people, including the customers become important for the employees
- Employees have more energy and enthusiasm to work
- They are in a happier space; work becomes fun for them, so do the discussions and the interactions
- They remain motivated.On the other hand, if you consider your customer as always right, your employees might think:
- They work for an organization that doesn’t value them, their skills and their expertise
- They are misjudged and mistrusted
They will always be below the customers despite their loyalty.
Unhappy employees are not good for your business. You don’t want the good employees to stop caring for your organization, do you? And as important as good customer service sounds, a healthy relationship with your employees and giving them the space for growth should be prioritised.
Analyse the customer behavior, and then decide who you want to make king between your employees and them.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)
