Linda Jenkinson Web Content Design

Like me, you may have grown up hearing “The customer is ALWAYS right.”

That timeworn platitude can be very placating for customers, but very aggravating for the businesses they patronize. Well, generally it’s true, but you can take the platitude to a point that harms your business. Yesterday that fact was brought home to me in a way I won’t soon forget and reminded me of a lesson I learned several months ago. Here’s what happened yesterday.

We took our Airedale, Bailey to the vet for his annual rabies shot. The vet technician asked if we needed flea control. We told her we were using BioSpot, since it was less expensive than Frontline and Advantage. We added that it was the same thing as Advantage, only cheaper.

“No it’s not”, she said.

“Same active ingredient,” I retorted.

She didn’t say another word about it.

I felt triumphant until I got home again. Then her buttoned-lip began to bother me so I decided to do some online research on pet flea control. The first article I read told me about a woman who’s Dalmation went into grand mal seizures after a second application of BioSpot. Another article told of an English Spaniel that died after three months of suffering due to this product. I continued my research and found that BioSpot and many other OTC flea control remedies are under investigation by the EPA because of the thousands of complaints that include cases from critical illness in dogs to death.

Why did that vet tech shut her mouth when I needed her expertise to guide me to the proper solution to my problem? Maybe simply because, no matter how ill informed the customer is and how demanding or abrasive they are, “The customer is always right.”

So far, Bailey is fine but we’ll be watching him real close for the next thirty days. I only hope that my ignorance and unwillingness to listen won’t harm him. I won’t blame the vet tech no matter what the outcome. Yet, I do wish that she had been more assertive in showing us the error of our ways, providing us with real value for our pet med dollars.

Several months ago, that platitude also cost me a major client.

A web developer who had used my services for dozens of projects over two years asked me about selling SEO content packages. I could have told him that SEO just starts with content, that it’s much more complex and takes constant maintenance as competitors continually vie for top Search Engine positions. But I didn’t. I was afraid that I might offend him and lose his business. Rather than tell him what I knew to be true, I allowed him to believe his strategy was right even when I believed it wasn’t. I didn’t stop to think that he depended on my expertise, perhaps even more than on my agreement, to show him the way to maximize his web development profits.

Instead, I gave him a price on a five-page package. He went out and sold his SEO Content packages, telling his customers that he could get them top Search Engine positions based on content alone.

I had plenty of work for another year. Thing was, about six months into that year, his customers began complaining about falling Search Engine rankings. They wanted their old content revised and weren’t entirely happy about having to pay a new fee for the revisions. I did some of them for free and discounted others, but at first I didn’t tell my client the truth—that in order to achieve top search engine rankings his customers needed fresh additions of original content and quality backlinks. Rehashing the old content just wouldn’t do the trick.

After three months of discounted and free revisions, working for this once excellent client became a money losing proposition. I tried to shimmy around with plucked-from-the-air excuses of why rewrites weren’t working. Finally, I had to bluntly explain what I should have told my client at the get-go. Of course he wasn’t happy and of course he has taken his business elsewhere.

Maybe if I had shared my expertise with him at the beginning I would have lost his business anyway. I would have also lost a whole lot of stress, aggravation, and the resulting repercussions. Yet, had I explained my position, we probably at least could have agreed to disagree. Lesson learned.

The customer is always right…except when they’re not. When they’re not, they may depend on your expertise to guide them to the appropriate solution. Don’t make my mistake. Have the good sense to tell your customers what you know.