Simon Sinek: Actually, the Customer Is Not Always Right | Big Think

Actually, the Customer Is Not Always Right
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This will be music to the ears of anyone who's ever worked in customer service. Is this old managerial adage doing companies more harm than good? The tired, old adage many businesses run by is that "the customer is always right", but Simon Sinek is here to tell us we’ve got it all wrong. All companies must make and increase profits to survive, but what’s missing is the understanding of it as a linear process. Rather than staring at the end goal, it literally pays to see it as a chain effect. When managers put their employees first, employees are empowered to deliver the ideal customer service a top company would strives for. Through an anecdote about one service industry worker who is employed at two differently run establishments, Sinek illuminates how the best managerial method is to prioritize the wellbeing of employees first. Simon Sinek's most recent book is Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.

Simon Sinek's most recent book is Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.
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SIMON SINEK :

Simon O. Sinek is an author best known for popularizing the concept of "the golden circle" and to "Start With Why," described by TED as "a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?"'. He joined the RAND Corporation in 2010 as an adjunct staff member, where he advises on matters of military innovation and planning. His first TEDx Talk on "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" is the 3rd most viewed video on TED.com. His 2009 book on the same subject, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (2009) delves into what he says is a naturally occurring pattern, grounded in the biology of human decision-making, that explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others.

He has commented for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, FastCompany, CMO Magazine, NPR, and BusinessWeek, and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, BrandWeek, and IncBizNet.
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TRANSCRIPT :

Simon Sinek: I think it’s funny when we are given advice to always put the customer first. That means employees come second inherently if you’re going to put customer first. Customers come and go. Obviously we want to work to keep them loyal but its employees who spend more time at work than they do with their families. It’s employees who are asking to give their blood and sweat and tears to advance our vision. And so it’s a leader’s responsibility to take care of the people first and the people will take care of each other and the customer. Any leader who prioritizes a customer literally saying I care more about an external constituency than I do about the people who are actually working here. The funny thing is a company like Southwest Airlines, a company like Costco that are renowned for their customer service as matters of policy do not believe the customer is always right. They do not believe that the customer comes first. The irony is is these great customer service companies actually care first about their own people, their employees and they expect their employees to care about their customers.

Let me tell you a story, a true story. Some months ago I stayed at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas. It is a wonderful hotel and the reason it’s a wonderful hotel is not because of the fancy beds. Any hotel can buy a fancy bed. It’s because of the people who work there. Now when you walk the halls of the Four Seasons and someone says hello to you, you really get the sense that they wanted to say hello, not that they were told to say hello. So in the lobby of the Four Seasons they have a coffee bar and one afternoon I went to buy a cup of coffee and I happened to be served by a barista named Noah. Noah was wonderful. He was fantastic. He was friendly. He was funny. He was engaging. I think I ended up giving a 100 percent tip. And so as is my way I asked Noah do you like your job here? And Noah said I love my job here. So I followed up and said what is it that the Four Seasons is doing that would make you say to me I love my job? And without skipping a beat he said throughout the day managers will walk past me and ask me how I’m doing. They’ll ask me if I need anything to do my job any better. He said not just my manager, any manager. And then he said something magical.

[stewiegriffin]

"Whoever said 'the customer is always right' was almost certainly a customer."

[christophermiller]

I've been in the customer service industry for over a decade... omg I've been waiting to hear ANYBODY say how I feel. the customer isn't always right. making an employee feel valuable will reward the guest as well. :)

[ganjiblobflankis]

Happy employees provide better customer service. Management undermining their staff makes for unhappy employees.

[Xuhtig]

Customers are almost always wrong, in my experience.

[MrCMPUTR]

"Do you need anything to do your job better?"
Yeah a raise....
"We're moving in a different direction and no longer require your services"

[racaciaruth]

When employees love their job/environment and leadership, the organization thrives and the product is great and customer will know it!! This is beautiful Simon.

[palacsintakat]

I work at walgreens, and this theory is proven even in the same organization. The day managers are absolutely horrid. Rude, cranky, inefficient, lazy. The night managers are nice, friendly, hilarious and caring. I'm going back to day shift next week and actually CRIED and almost had an anxiety attack! After being on overnights for the past few months I came to love my coworkers like family and scurry out the door as soon as the day managers came in. Not I have to be thrown in to their chaos again. I'm changing jobs soon to work at a hospital, and I just have to say, for such a shitty, barely-paying job, the managers are really what make you come in to work.

[vb]

Its important for a company to remember one very important thing.

You, the boss, you don't earn the money, your employees do. Of course the company is nothing without customers... but its is also nothing without employees. Keeping both employees and customers happy in an everchanging ecosystem is the real job of a boss/manager.

[himesama]

me: loves it when i'm able to resolve a customers issue 100%.
also me: wants to send this to every customer that was every wrong.

[listofromantics]

I do believe modern, Western corporate priority is...

1st. Shareholders
2nd. Shareholders
3rd. Shareholders
4th. Shareholders
5th. Executives


...and tied for a VERY distant Last Place are Customers, Employees, and Everyone Else.

[FinaleCadence]

This is very well spoken, great information here!

[shawnakay]

Would it be awkward if I sent this to my bosses 😂

[BenKuyt]

It's absolutely true, for every dollar you put into your employees personal, emotional, and physical care, you will see approximately 4 dollars in gross margin.

My boss asked the accountants and investors where he should invest, and 4 out of six said ask the employees what would make their lives happier within reason.

[robertobrien]

At least three books with the title "The Customer Is Not Always Right" have been published within the last 10 years.  And at least one other with the same title was published 20 years ago.  All have the same theme -- and I've been saying it for more than 30 years.  Why have companies and managers been so slow to see this ?

[Glayceb]

I will loose my job, but im sending this to my boss ! Love it !

[infernogames]

I used to work at McDonald's and yeah, customers will change their minds every five seconds, even after they order their food. Some come in knowing that they can fuck up an employees day by being intentionally vague, just to complain to a manager, who will then start berating the employee. Had my manager stuck up for me in these situations and maybe not called me an idiot I would've stuck around more than 6 months.

[Robinson]

Very inspiring and motivating. Yes Customer is not always right, but he should be treated right. This is what I learned throughout.

[Glayceb]

You said everything that is always in my heart about my work place. Thank you ! Im sending this to my boss !

[UToobJunkie]

so god damn refreshing to hear. so simple, yet so profound

[yozonssales]

The expression isn't about individual customers and their individual questions, complaints, wishes or the like. It has to do with your overall business. If you think your product or service is awesome, but customers don't, then they are "right" in that your business is not serving their needs. If you think it's worth $10, but customers will only pay $5, then you are charging too much or will go out of business hoping they'll adapt to you.