{"id":5406,"date":"2014-09-14T15:45:02","date_gmt":"2014-09-14T22:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recruitloop.wpengine.com\/?p=5406"},"modified":"2016-03-01T14:26:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T22:26:29","slug":"acronym-confusion-why-the-customer-isnt-always-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/acronym-confusion-why-the-customer-isnt-always-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Acronym Confusion: Why The Customer Isn\u2019t Always Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My very first job was working at a petrol station (that\u2019s a \u2018gas station\u2019 to anyone reading this in the USA!).<\/p>\n

After handing me my uniform and name badge on my first day, the owner said to me \u201cNo matter what happens around here, the customer is always right<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

After 25 years I can now confess that even if all the customers were supposedly \u2018right\u2019, there may have been a few occasions that if someone was particularly rude to me, then let\u2019s just say their tyres may not quite have been pumped up properly. Or I might have \u2018accidentally\u2019 left something nasty smelling under a seat if I was asked to clean their car!<\/p>\n

In my first professional<\/em> role (one that didn\u2019t involve pumping tyres or cleaning cars), this poster was stuck up on the wall behind me, so that every time I got up from my desk I was reminded of the importance of a strong customer service ethic.<\/p>\n

\"Customer<\/p>\n

If you can’t quite make out what it says, the copy under the word “Service” reads: “Service is the lifeblood of any organisation. Everything flows from it and is nourished by it. Customer Service is not a department … It’s an attitude<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

Personally I have always prided myself on my own customer service ethic, and I have always built teams committed to delivering nothing but an awesome level of service to our clients.<\/p>\n

But one thing I have also learned (often the hard way!) is that no matter what all the adages or motivational posters say, the customer isn\u2019t<\/em> always right.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

A few months ago I shared a few of my most bizarre firing stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Letting a team member go is never an easy thing. But parting company with a client (telling them politely<\/em> that you no longer want to work with them) isn\u2019t always the most pleasant experience either.\u00a0I\u2019ve done it many<\/em> times \u2026 and believe me always<\/em> with a very valid reason.<\/p>\n

If a customer is going to be \u2018right\u2019, then this \u2018right\u2019 needs to start with a mutual respect of the professional relationship and not with what I have often referred to as a \u2018doormat relationship\u2019 when you feel like you\u2019re just being walked all over.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0SLA: Service Level Abuse<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

A successful Service Level Agreement<\/em> is one where both parties agree on certain activity levels, how often feedback will be provided, or how various milestones will be measured.<\/p>\n

There have been many occasions where even after the implementation of a traditional SLA, I have had clients fail to provide any feedback or not return service quality check-in calls for weeks, only to then come in all guns blazing claiming we have failed to comply.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry but that\u2019s unacceptable.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0KPI: Key Performance Irritation<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Key Performance Indicators<\/em> are typically set in place as a way for the service provider (the sales rep, account manager, Us<\/em>!) to adhere to certain deliverables or metrics.<\/p>\n

We all try our best to maintain these \u2013 but it\u2019s not always easy when our client decides to become the \u2018master goalpost stretcher\u2019.<\/p>\n

If a KPI is set in place then that\u2019s<\/em> what we\u2019re working towards. It\u2019s extremely irritating when the client changes their expectations unrealistically and often (not so politely) drops that bomb on us and expects us to jump to attention.<\/p>\n

You might be able to tolerate this once or perhaps even twice. But any more goalpost stretching could be a hint that it\u2019s probably time\u00a0for the full time whistle.<\/p>\n

That’s always been my theory anyway.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0TOA: Terms Of Avoidance<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

We\u2019re all aware of the importance of having Terms of Business or Terms of Agreement<\/em> set in place.\u00a0The idea behind such documents\u00a0is to define payment terms and any other \u2018contractual\u2019 obligations.<\/p>\n

Assuming both parties \u2018sign\u2019 the terms, why do so many clients then suddenly feel they have the right to blatantly disregard them? We chase invoices; they ignore our calls. Many clients breach the terms and then deny it if we (dare to) raise it.<\/p>\n

Then even with some invoices being overdue by several months<\/em>, some clients still have the nerve to demand that more work be delivered.<\/p>\n

Ah \u2026 that would be No<\/em>.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0PSA: Pretty-much-anyone Supplies-us Around-here<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Throughout my career I have unfortunately learned not to trust the concept of exclusivity or a Preferred Supplier Agreement<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Far too many times it\u2019s been a case of nothing other than \u2018all talk and no action\u2019. I can vividly remember all the way through one particular tendering process the client was talking about an exclusive partnership. We submitted our proposal, we dropped our fees (far too much!) and we then supposedly \u2018won\u2019 the work.<\/p>\n

We started working with this client only to discover (a few weeks into a 2-year arrangement), that they in fact had many \u2018different levels\u2019 of PSAs in place.<\/p>\n

I was sitting opposite the client when I raised my concern. \u201cLook, Paul, we really want you to work with us but it is what it is. And if you don\u2019t like it I guess you\u2019ll have to walk away<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

We did!<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0BCP: Brutality Coping<\/em> Plan<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In another recent post<\/a> I talked about how one of my previous managers really went in to defend me in front of a particularly hostile client.<\/p>\n

What I didn\u2019t mention in that post, was that this client actually came back a few years later wanting to work with us again (oh the irony!).<\/p>\n

Something didn\u2019t sit well with me when he asked what BCP I would put in place for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry. What exactly do you mean?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBCP. Business Continuity Plan<\/em>\u201d, he replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what BCP means<\/em>\u201d, I continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I don\u2019t like working with one of your consultants, how quickly will you have another one trained and up and running?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

I immediately had flashbacks to how rude he had been towards me when I had been his consultant years earlier.<\/p>\n

I decided there wouldn\u2019t be a BCP. We wouldn\u2019t be working with him.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0RFT: Request For Time-wasting<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

How many times have you jumped at the opportunity to submit a proposal as part of a traditional RFT?<\/p>\n

We all get excited if we\u2019re invited to take part in a Request For Tender<\/em>. But the way a prospective client treats a potential supplier during the RFT process can be a pretty good indicator of how they will treat you once the agreement is up and running.<\/p>\n

A few years ago I submitted a proposal for what looked like an exciting new client opportunity. The document\u00a0was sent off well before the deadline but then\u00a0we didn\u2019t hear anything.<\/p>\n

Naturally we assumed we hadn\u2019t been successful. Then several months later we received a call congratulating us on a successful submission!<\/p>\n

Working on our first project with this particular client, we provided them with some amazing candidates within a week of being briefed on the role, and once again all we received was radio silence. About a month later they called insisting on interviewing each of the candidates \u2013 all of whom had already found other jobs.<\/p>\n

This quickly became a common theme.<\/p>\n

Sayonara Mr Client.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always prided myself on my customer service ethic, and I\u2019ve always built teams committed to delivering an awesome level of service. But one thing I have also learned is that no matter what the adages say, the customer isn\u2019t always right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,26,30],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAcronym Confusion: Why The Customer Isn\u2019t Always Right - Zippia For Employers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One thing I have learned (often the hard way) is that no matter what the adages or motivational posters say, the customer isn\u2019t always right.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/acronym-confusion-why-the-customer-isnt-always-right\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acronym Confusion: Why The Customer Isn\u2019t Always Right - 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