Is the Customer King no Matter What?

It’s often said that the customer is king. This phrase is very true in many ways. For instance, we all know that without the customer, there is no business. The customer is the reason for any product or service and so the customer may exercise this privilege to the extent that he derives satisfaction from whatever he purchases. For this reason, customer complaints must be addressed speedily, politely and with utmost care and sincerity of purpose. In certain customer centric organizations, employees have been known to be fired or severely penalized at the slightest provocation of a customer. These kinds of organizations place a high premium on customer satisfaction and so are willing to go the extra mile to achieve same. Employees are required to deliver exceptional service with or without adequate working tools necessary to deliver. Organizations must learn to create a balance between the desire to meet customer expectations, profit maximization and employee satisfaction.

So is the customer really a king no matter what? My take on the matter is that the customer is king to the extent that:

·         His rights and privileges must be seen to be protected at all times

·         His satisfaction, comfort and protection ranks foremost in every decision the service provider considers

·         Satisfying the customer does not contravene organizational policies, moral standards, professional requirements and state laws.

To the extent of meeting these requirements, there may be times when a customer’s request will have to be turned down. It therefore becomes the responsibility of the service provider to politely explain the situation and offer an alternative solution if any. Turning down a customer does not in any way mean a customer should be treated differently in terms of quality service delivery. Where policies can be tinkered with, care must be taken to get proper authorizations and ensure that both the customer and the organization is properly protected but where the reverse is the case, the customer must be made to understand why his expectations cannot be fully met. Where a customer becomes completely unreasonable, you must weigh the financial cost of losing the customer against the cost of keeping their business.

Valentine Okolo
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