Do You Agree With This Business Philosophy?
 

"Treat your customers like they own you, because they do."

Mark Cuban, co-founder, HDNet; owner, Dallas Mavericks

DH

He uses hard words but its true without the customer we are nothing. I learned that when I worked for Mercedes.

i would say there is a large degree of truth to that...

now get me my coffee bitch!!! :)

Duke

How about this one:

Build the largest solo girl network on earth, then realize that although you're making millions you're also spending millions. Lay off your Vice President. Fire your photographer too. Then stop paying the models at the beginning of 2006 and live off content that you've shot ahead of time until it all runs out. When it's gone, maybe you'll just retire or something...

Sound like a good business plan?

Yep, it's harsh but I really believe in the philosophy that the customer is ALWAYS right.

DH

Yes Massa Duke! :1orglaugh

DH

Pretty much yes.... That's why I try not to get into businesses where I have to deal with customers...

In this industry there have been a lot of people who just burn thru customers for the quick turn of the buck. It's part of why we have a bad reputation in general, and it's also responsible for where we are with things like Visa regulations.

In any other business, customer is king.

We've always used this methodology with our customers and we have guys that are still recurring dating back to the late 90's on some of our sites as a result. Those are no accident or simply forgotten cancellations as they update their cards when they expire. It doesn't cost near as much to go to the extra effort to treat a customer well, deliver what you promise and keep him coming back for more than it does to acquire a new customer....especially one that'll recur over and over.

Very wise words.

Some really good points here :thumbsup

DH

I am from the east coast. Florida to be exact. and the main supermarket there is Publix. they have signes all over the place that say that the customer is always right. I have seen people take a loaf of bread with 4 slices left in it, and it got moldy, they take it back, and publix will replace it, or refund the money.

If you pick out an item, and take it to the register, and it rings up a higher price, and you show them the price on the shelf listed, they will give you that item no charge. NO matter what the item is.

That is CS!

Actually sounds like a pretty good plan to me :thumbsup

No staff to worry about, no content to worry about, expenses are at an all time low. You run on a barebones operation until the income drys out entirely and retire a very rich man.

DH

Sears has very similar customer service policies. They want that customer for life :thumbsup

DH

Sounds like an exit strategy to me. What else is someone to do who wants out of the business with little-to-no possible buyers?

Probably right. Not a bad exit strategy either.

i'm customer-centric to a fault and it is sound advice to realize the customer owns you but i don't agree that the customer is always right.

:winkwink: Yeah thats sounds about right. I have been in this biz 4 years now. i have had like 5 clients. Still do biz with each one. I believe that 100%. Have to treat employees good too, they treat the customers right. ;) :winkwink:

500% :thumbsup

Business survives because of them so I guess costumers should be valued that much..

Nice line there.. :)

If a customer doesn't want to deal with you anymore because they feel they were wronged, guess what... Who cares who was right or wrong, you just lost yourself a customer.

Understand what I am trying to say :)

DH

I have had three successful bricks-and-mortar businesses. All of them were customer driven and I strongly believe that is primarily why they were successful.

Obviously that is not the only way to do business, but in the long run it is almost always the best way to do business. It is also usually much easier to sell what people actually want, than to have to convince them to accept a substitute. You can fool some of the people... etc...

And in my experience, businesses which treat their customers badly are nearly always poorly run. Without customers driving standards and forcing constant change and improvement, management becomes complacent and inefficient.

But, and it is a big but, there are far more businesses which claim to be customer driven, but are not, than businesses which are too short-sighted and unambitious to understand the sense of putting their customers first. To paraphrase Tom Peters, co-author of "In Search of Excellence", there is a world of difference between companies which exist by their slogans and companies which only use slogans to paper their walls.

that is correct but that has no bearing on the fact that the customer is not always right.

I have always thought the real meaning of that cliché is that a customer is a customer, so the question of wrong or right is irrelevant. The only thing which matters is whether or not you want to keep them as a customer.

here's an example:

a customer buys a product that has a rebate, mails in the rebate and returns the product-

that customer is not right and is not a profitable customer

The phrase wasn't meant to be taken in a literal sense. Of course customers aren't always right, but they should be treated like they were. Educating your customers is a GREAT way to keep everybody happy.

I have been told with this a hundred times, because technically customers sign your paycheck.

I thought that way for years, also. But these days I've changed it to:

The customer may not always be right...but their wishes must always be adhered to.

that was exactly my point