Hello and welcome to the Lawn Hustle, season number one, episode number eight.
I asked a few days ago on social media for some ideas for a podcast.
My nephew that lives in Pensacola, Florida, messaged me on Messenger and said,
Hey Uncle Andy, I have an idea for your podcast.
He said you should tell a joke.
So Roman Butterfield, this is for you.
God did one I say to the other I just between me and you.
Something smells.
Thank you for joining the podcast today.
In this podcast, I want to ask you a question.
Is the customer always right?
Now we would want to answer that question immediately and say yes.
But I believe the question deserves to be looked at a little deeper and maybe with an
open mind.
With that being said, let's get started.
There was a man by the name of Harry Gordon Selfridge.
He is credited with coining the term.
The customer is always right.
The term and its original frame of reference meant to treat every customer with respect
and dignity.
That was something not very common in that timeframe.
Selfridge founded the department store called Selfridges in the United Kingdom.
Early on in his business, he realized that their business depended on happy customers.
The staff of his department store was told to treat every customer as if they were always
right.
Even if it was obvious they were wrong.
It showed the customers they were special.
The change in the employees attitude brought shoppers into their store.
The more foot traffic in a store means more sales, which means more profit, which means
more success.
While it is true that customers deserve to be treated with respect, with dignity, with
kindness, the fact is the customer is the customer.
Is not always right.
Here's some reasons the customer is not always right.
If you have that mentality in your business that no matter the situation, the customer
is always right.
It can be demoralizing to your team because in every situation and no matter what business
you are in, we're all going to have situations where the customer becomes unhappy, becomes
frustrated.
And if they're right no matter what, it's demoralizing to your team.
It's frustrating.
It can pit management against employee because the employee will start thinking that management
is always against them.
Your team members will start thinking management or my crew leader, they don't have my back
in any situation and it can become frustrating for team members.
With the idea that the customer is always right no matter what, it becomes a culture
killer.
It can kill a working environment and destroy cohesiveness and destroy the attitude of
we're working together to make this business successful.
Number two, when your team members are spread to thin trying to satisfy that one customer
that has unrealistic demands or unrealistic ideas about their property and all we're doing
is running around like firemen trying to put out all of these little fires from this one
customer.
It consumes all of our time and we don't have the time or the energy to concentrate on other
clients and give them the same effort that we give this one client.
I would say to you don't be a fire fighter.
Learn how to realize maybe this customer is wrong.
Number three, the phrase the customer is always right even if they're wrong was never meant
to be taken literally.
It was never about letting the customer get whatever they wanted no matter what.
It was meant to give the employees the chance to listen with empathy in a time when customer
protections were virtually non-existent.
Employers today have more options, more choices.
They can take their business elsewhere if they are unhappy with the services they receive
because in the lawn care business you will always have the chuck with a truck or the
$20 guy.
Sometimes customers are just wrong.
No one, I repeat no one can be right 100% of the time.
That includes you.
That includes me.
That includes our clients.
So when there is a situation where it's obvious the customer is wrong, it could be they're
wrong because they are misinformed.
And it becomes our job to explain our position.
It becomes our job to educate the customer as to why it needs to be done this way.
Number four, to say the customer is always right leads to unrealistic expectations and
it sets you up for failure.
And in this business, failure is not an option.
So when the customer is obviously wrong, what should you do?
Number one, show empathy.
Sometimes they just want to be heard.
And if you give them an ear, it can defuse the situation.
Listen.
Put yourself in their shoes.
Focus on their concerns.
Not just focusing on whether or not you think it's a valid concern.
Number two, be kind.
Help the customer help themselves.
Give explanations as to why you do and how you do what you do.
The actual quote was right or wrong.
The customer is always right.
In other words, we're going to treat that customer with kindness, empathy, we're going
to listen to their concern.
We're going to try to come up with a solution together and we're going to work through this
and we're going to find a common ground for both of us to stand on.
So let's be real.
The customer isn't always right.
But they're not always wrong either.
So in the lawn care business, a few examples of when a customer could be wrong.
When I started my business, most of my clients were used to mowing their yard themselves
and they would drop their deck down to the dirt and mow.
And the yard looked terrible.
But when they hired me, I had to explain to them, I do not cut my grass.
This short, I leave my grass three to four inches.
And then I would educate them as to why.
Number one, longer grass is healthier grass.
Number two, longer grass chokes out weeds.
Number three, longer grass stripes better, looks better.
You have better curb appeal for your property.
And as I educated them and they saw the result of my work, they would come back to me one
by one.
You know, we agree with you.
The yard does look better like this.
Another example, I want you to put mulch down, but you need to put a weed barrier down under
the mulch.
Back the train up.
We don't put barrier down under mulch.
Because all the weed needs just a little bit of dirt to germinate and grow right through
that mulch.
We need to sell them on good weed control.
Add them to your weekly or monthly schedule for bed maintenance, de-weeding beds.
There's money to be made.
So when you educate them and they see why you do what you do, they come to realize
you know what, he's right.
So educate your clients on your position.
Explain.
But hear them out.
Let them talk.
Show empathy, show kindness, be respectful.
I have never lost a customer because I educated them on my position.
And I would say you probably have never lost one either.
So the customer's not always right.
They're not always wrong.
You're not always right.
And you're not always wrong.
There's going to be situations where we're going to have to come to an agreement and
work together.
Customer satisfaction is the number one goal of a good business.
You want your clients to be happy.
And that means you might have to explain your position.
Thank you for joining the Lon Hustle.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
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Join us again next week.