A lot of people believe that the customer is always right… it’s an old saying that seems to have gained momentum.

However, I’m not so sure that I would agree with it. I think it’s a little dated for our current business environment. I’d agree that the customer is a lot smarter nowadays. Many of our customers travel and experience things around the world, all of which shape their perceptions and expectations.

Plus, they can access a ton of information on the internet which makes them a well educated customer. Often, more knowledgeable about their specific requirement or product/service they want than the people we have helping them. But does that make them always right?

I’m not advocating total anti-customer anarchy… what I’m talking about is focusing on the business rather than the customer. Sometimes, it may be in the best interests of the business to look at the customer as right, sometimes not.

Sam Walton, the late founder of Wal-Mart once said “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

While this is very true, it can be misleading as not all people can be your target customer. And this is where the “what’s in the best interests of the business’ strategy comes in to play.

Sometimes, the employee is right, or sometimes its the Manager that’s right and not the customer.

So, I’d suggest that anybody who believes the customer is always right, should rethink their stance.

I spend a lot of time listening to people… when somebody is talking, its only polite to listen. Plus, its important to focus on what somebody is saying so you can properly digest it and respond accordingly. But… why can’t people just get to the point?

I’d say that in probably 90% of the conversations I have, people just ramble… they try to impress me with their knowledge of the buzzwords of the day, dropping some names of people that they (allegedly) associate with, and often repeat what they say, but using different words.

When I speak, I try to get to the point… because my time is important to me, and so is your time, at least to me. It’s not that I think my time is worth more than yours, but its more a matter of trying to get all the things I want to get done in a day, and respecting that you might have a lot of things to do too.

When I talk to my clients (or prospects), I make sure my message is clear and concise. I know they don’t have time, and I also know that they appreciate when my message is to the point. What they really want to hear, concisely of course, is ‘what’s my point’… why am I telling them what I’m telling them.

I often talk about ‘telling it like it is’ and part of that means to be concise. If something sucks, then say it sucks (maybe use the appropriate word). If the person wants to know why, or asks for more details, then offer them up. It seems like everybody wants to give me the whole story and make me guess that what they’re really saying is that it sucks.

So the next time somebody asks you a question or you’re telling somebody something, get to the point as quickly as possible.

Surprisingly, I see this more often than I would’ve imagined. Many people think they know sales, and even those that know they don’t know, pretend they know… isn’t that weird?

Its as if they don’t understand that sales is just as much about customer service as customer service itself. And if you can’t master the basics of sales, then you’ll damage your customer’s experience. In most cases, this damage is permanent, as in lost a potential sale permanent!

The other day I called up a company that had a pretty impressive client list and that’s done some excellent work, looking for a quote to possibly do some work for one of my consulting companies. I knew exactly what I needed and asked specifically for that.

The sales person decided to tell me about all the other things they could do (mistake #1 - never assume you are smarter than your prospective customer) and proceeded to try and upsell me (mistake #2 - never try to sell your customer something they don’t think they need).

I don’t think she even took the time to understand what I needed or explore my problem that I was looking to address (mistake #3 - never offer a solution to a problem that hasn’t been acknowledged). Sure, I might need the services she offered, but I need lots of other things.

The difference is… what am I interested in buying? Often, what I need, and what I want, can be pretty different. And that is the point. Very rarely will your customer know what they need… but they will often know what they want :-)

To turn a prospective customer in to an actual customer, focus on selling them what they want, not what they need. Then, once they’re a customer and you have a relationship with them, they might be more interested in listening to you tell them what they need.

So a few days pass and I get an email with a quote for 20k! Here I was thinking I needed this small thing for about 1k, and somehow this sales person thought it wise to push my budget twenty-fold. Imagine my surprise, and frustration! Generally you want to make the sale as simple as possible… be easy to do business with.

Needless to say, I’ve got a pretty bad taste in my mouth and probably won’t be doing business with them.