Whether you are a business owner or you are a customer service agent or manager, I’m sure this question have entered your mind, Is the customer always right?

We are taught from the first moment we train with any company this endearing slogan and sometimes, we really may not feel like it has any merit.

Well, when it comes to working with the public and especially when you are selling to the public or performing services for them, we have to assume that they are right, even when they are not. It is how we keep customers coming back for more, even when they are at fault, to begin with.

It all depends on how you approach the situation, what the outcome will be. Let us consider that we are a business owner and we are dealing directly with an unhappy customer.

It is first of all important for us to find out what the trouble is. Maybe it is a miscommunication; maybe the product that they received is incorrect or faulty.

Your first duty is to the customer and your first step is to actively listen. Do not listen to the tone with which someone is speaking to you or the manner in which they write you an email.

Read between the lines and find out what the actual issue is. Then, regardless of who is wrong or actually right, apologize.

If someone is complaining about something, they have been inconvenienced. Wherever the fault lies, you need to assume responsibility. Let us just say this is the grown up thing to do.

You must act quickly to calm your customer. Once you have genuinely apologized, work quickly to make amends for the situation.

You have to be a quick thinker. You have to be always searching for the correct way to handle a dispute so that it causes the least financial impact on your company but makes the customer happy. Resolution is essential and timeliness of that resolution is supremely important.

Do not let a customer abuse you. There is every room in the world for understanding and being upset but as a customer service agent, manager or business owner, you do not and cannot tolerate an abusive situation.

Work quickly to calm the fires before they blaze out of control, bring resolution and ask for return business.

The point I wanted to say is - let your customer know that you do not wonder about this - “is the customer always right?”

You know they are and you are willing to do anything to make their experience with you a pleasant one.