Procurement Intelligence Unit

Thinking of a customer interaction and how they drive value, leads one to imagine the alternate opportunity what can a supplier do to shed light on value, we survey our customers, how often do we spend time surveying our suppliers for their insights into value...great article Ian.

I have stopped buying Volvo cars.
There is nothing wrong with them I have had Volvos for 35 years my husband too.
But last time I went to buy a Volvo the salesman told me he and his sales staff were very busy so come back in the afternoon.
I was off to a wedding fairly obvious from my attire so I could not go back that day.
So I bought a Mercedes from a local garage. Their sales staff saw to me straight away.
I will probably have another Mercedes next time too as the Volvo garage in our town no longer exists. My husband now has Skoda cars their sales people are very attentive.

Well, as a customer I always want to be right, no one likes to heard you are wrong. As a business person, I have my doubts! Customers tent to live by this quote" customer is always right" until you prove that they did not provided the right information, that what they request is suitable to what they buying. for example if a customer buys a low cost car they cannot expect to have the same features of a luxury car, so if he demands that is that customer right?
Any how, I do not believe every customers must be serve with the best to our ability.... 

I However agree with Ian, this statement has been long overstated; the business has since moved from the time where there are fewer suppliers or fewer buyers. The advantage is not to the customer everyday nor is it a favor to the business but commerce is a combination of the two and the fair trade is each one speaks and the other listens. This way we will improve the market and explain some misunderstandings at a matriculated level than to just say the customer said'....' them we apologise. 

This article is correct! The point about the customer being 'right' is not to do with them being factually right or being able to communicate clearly - that's where business start to lose the plot. Whether you as a business understood the customer correctly, does not make them wrong. This is about the customer being valued by a company for their ability to pay for 'the right thing'.

Of course the customer is never wrong. They are doing the paying - they are rewarding you, the company, for supplying the right thing. Therefore it's up to you, as a company, to establish what it is they will pay for and whether you can give it to them.

I think a lot here depends on whether a company's attitude to business assumes that a customer is a statistic on a spectrum between stupid and desperate.

The customer is king of how to satisfy their needs, not the company. Hence the company must focus on what those needs are, NOT what they want them to be because it suits their staff, their systems, their budgets, etc. Unfortunately this is what the case usually is with businesses. Rather than focusing on customer 'needs', businesses focus on the customer and forget the need - what are they saying, when did they say it, how did they say it, prove it, record it, etc. Set up so many rules about dealing with the erstwhile customer that you never actually understand what they need.

That's all wrong, and as a customers we know that too well.

Indeed, hell hath no fury like a customer scroend. If you keep your customers happy, then they’ll keep coming back to you. If not, then they’ll look for other options. Poor customer service is one surefire way to lose good clients.