Be Careful Who You Condemn
By: Scott Brown

We all know customers are not always right in fact often theyre completely wrong. But if we allow our customers shortcomings to be the focus of our employees attentions were destined to fail.

The inclination to complain about a customer happens to all of us from time to time. After a customer irritates us in some way and eventually walks away or hangs up the phone, we immediately look for a nearby co-worker so we can share our negative experiences.

Hey Bob. You wont believe this jerk that was just on the phone

It becomes a bonding experience for co-workers, but unfortunately it alienates the customer. And when a frontline worker sees a manager dismissing a customer as stupid or an idiot it becomes clear to them that its okay to classify customers. Some customers are good and some are just plain dumb. They then feel that they have the ability to determine which customers are worth their time and which ones are not.

This can be a very destructive culture for a business.

So as a manager, you cant allow your employees to see you disrespect a customer in any way. As I have already mentioned customers can be wrong and yes, sometimes even dumb. But thats not our concern at least not in this article. Its your job as a manager to keep your employees focused on finding new ways to keep customers happy and to look for problem areas that upset customers so you can prevent problems in the future.

Its no secret that you and your employees are going to have problem customers, but its your responsibility to keep your employees focused on the fact that they have a job for one and only one reason to serve the customer. Without customers, no one has a job.

Keep employees focused on whats important. The good news is that YOU are the one who decides whats important.


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About the Author

Scott Brown, is an insightful and entertaining speaker on management and customer service and creating a culture of service in organizations throughout the country. He is also the author of Who Cares? Creating Service The Right Way The Only Way. You can subscribe to Scotts FREE newsletter by visiting www.SBServicePro.com
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