Customer Service

Protect Your People, Your Other Customers, Your Company, and Yourself

“The customer is always right.”

Well…

The best practice in our professional lives is to work to delight our customers. It is good for our repeat business and our reputations.

But we have a few caveats for this rule.

• Don’t let your customers mistreat your people. People who yell at or demean your team-members should not remain your customers.

• Don’t let your customers get you to do anything illegal. You can’t “fudge the dates” or sign off on approvals or certifications that are not valid, especially if those papers have legal consequences.

• Avoid facilitating the bad behavior of others through your business. This might mean refusing to allow a racist group to hold their meeting in your venue, or not printing custom shirts with homophobic slogans, or not training a person with malignant narcissism to allow them to manipulate others more effectively. Don’t help people do bad things just because they are paying you.

Do the right thing. It might cause a short-term loss, but it will be a long-term gain in retention of staff, protection from legal exposure, and the reassurance that your actions are making the world a better place (or at least not making it worse!).

(Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash)