CUSTOMERS ARE RARELY RIGHT!!!

[~Sam~]

Am I the only one who thinks that the original posters biggest lack of judgement was to actually start the thread?

After all it could have been me who made that call or one of my mates.

Yes and no. I work in a customer facing environment and am fairly sure (as the OP stated) that the actual conversation was a little different to the way in which he reported it.

Some of my customers are pretty belligerent and there have been times when I've vented to a colleague and changed the details slightly to reflect my feelings or add humour - it isn't a true reflection of the customer experience (which, I can assure you I always strive to make the best possible) but it helps me to move on to the next person and to retain my sanity! It also helps me to still enjoy my job and to continue to provide a good service.

Should he have posted? It may have been a slightly misguided thing to do - I don't tend to vent about my customers anywhere other than with my immediate colleagues. He may also not have considered just how many of his customer profile may be on here and reading. Had he done so on a diferent forum the responses may have been different (not necessarily overwhelmingly in his favour but different).

However, I kind of read it with a pinch of salt and think that there is a lot of pedantry about posts of this nature, so I wasn't exactly up in arms over it....neither the customer nor the vendor is always right, after all!

 

[Somelier]

I work for a small business selling optical equipment (not cameras) and we frequently tell people that what they are wanting/asking for is either not available or simply not suitable. We have gained a reputation over the years for fair play and get many recommendations for being honest and not bull-sh**ting.

Many customers come to us because they know they will get good advice and go away with the equipment that suits their needs and not just sold to them for the profit.

Incidentally, that bit of glass that goes on the front of a camera is a lens, NOT A lens! There, a bit of honest advice.

 

[andyroo1986]

To those on their high horse, could James have won in your eyes?

Won? It's business, not a game. If he wants to play games, he can do it with his own time and money. I'm sure if it were his own business his attitude would have been different. Simply saying, 'the manufacturers don't supply that product, but this alternative product may suit your needs,' would have sufficed. Then he could tell the silly story amongst the forum and we could all have a good giggle about it.

 

[Somelier]

Won? It's business, not a game. If he wants to play games, he can do it with his own time and money. I'm sure if it were his own business his attitude would have been different. Simply saying, 'the manufacturers don't supply that product, but this alternative product may suit your needs,' would have sufficed. Then he could tell the silly story amongst the forum and we could all have a good giggle about it.

So you would sell them a useless piece of equipment that didn't really work? If so, please tell me where you carry out your business so that I can give it a wide berth!

 

[faddius]

So you would sell them a useless piece of equipment that didn't really work? If so, please tell me where you carry out your business so that I can give it a wide berth!

Yes, if they refused to take any sort of advice I offered, its their money after all and their do as they like with it. How would you feel if people started telling you how to spend your money, imagine going into currys wanting to buy a large tv for your bedroom and the sale assistant refusing to sell you one because they felt the tv would be too big for a bedroom? Same principal.

Why would you need to give a business like that a wide berth unless your in the habit of going in and insisting on buying thing that you dont need, require or will not work?

 

[onomatopoeia]

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!

pffft. The customer is often wrong, lies, exaggerates, omits or misinforms. Nineteen years of writing, maintaining and supporting computer software has taught me these things.

If someone loses it with me and starts screaming the odds at me down the telephone, I cut them off. No amount of money spent gives anyone the right to behave in the way. Ever. No argument, no compromises.

If they ring back they end up speaking to my employer. My employer backs his staff.

 

[neil_g]

pffft. The customer is often wrong, lies, exaggerates, omits or misinforms.

 

[Daryl]

Is that what they are called???? blimey It will be the Graham Norton 100m-400mm next!!!!

Thanks Petal, you are awful.... but I like you!!!!!

 

[andyroo1986]

So you would sell them a useless piece of equipment that didn't really work? If so, please tell me where you carry out your business so that I can give it a wide berth!

A petal hood that fits is hardly useless, especially if the use the customer wants is for it to look good, regardless of whether or not you think that is right. If he was asking me to sell him some toast to use as memory, the situation might be a little different...

 

[G2EWS]

Hi James,

I can see that you started this thread as a great attempt to give us all a laugh. However, it was always going to get some criticism and I am sure you must have realised that.

However, I would like to offer a little advice which you can take or leave. For the record I have taught sales and been at Sales Director level in a plc. I currently have my own company with some 15,000 customers.

So with my credentials in place let me explain what I think should have happened and what I would have taught as a response to the customers request for a petal hood.

Your reaction should have been,

Now they are very good sir. May I ask why you wanted one? (This immediately puts the customer at ease and on your side)

At this point you know the reason ie because his mate has got one.

It is now your job with a mixture of pleasant exchanges to explain that whilst these hoods are exceptionally good sir, they are made for specific lens. Now your lens which is of high quality works much better with ................... you get the drift.

It is always about making the customer feel they are receiving a service, not from someone who knows it all (I am not suggesting that this is your manner) but receiving help from a considerate supplier.

This can work in any industry and I made it work in the car sales market which is notorious for hard nosed sales people.

Hope that you take this for the advice that it is meant.

Best regards

Chris

 

[HoppyUK]

Maybe the customer is right.

He wants a "cool flower hood" and not the round one he's already got. That'll be the ET-83II off the 70-200L 2.8 (as James suggested in post #8). Fits perfectly, and same length as the standard 100-400L hood, so will work perfectly too. And he'll obviously look the business

RRP of £50, with at least 50% profit margin.

 

[swanseamale47]

I'm afraid I won't be shopping in your place. When I want to buy something I don't want to be told it's not right for me by the assistant I want to buy what I want, not what you want to sell me, after all not all assistants get it right.
I'm sure your intentions were good, but when the guy pressed for the item you should really have sold him it, he's only going to buy it somewhere else and you just lost your firm a customer or two. In a recession thats probably not a great idea.... unless you already have too many customers?.

 

[Pieface]

I'm afraid I won't be shopping in your place. When I want to buy something I don't want to be told it's not right for me by the assistant I want to buy what I want, not what you want to sell me, after all not all assistants get it right.
I'm sure your intentions were good, but when the guy pressed for the item you should really have sold him it, he's only going to buy it somewhere else and you just lost your firm a customer or two. In a recession thats probably not a great idea.... unless you already have too many customers?.

I hope you aren't the type of guy who would complain when something doesn't work then.

 

[HoppyUK]

I hope you aren't the type of guy who would complain when something doesn't work then.

And what if he is? He's the customer, he made the decision, he's paying, so will always be right.

A good salesperson will always give the benefit of their (hopefully valuable) opinion, but never cast a judgement.

That is the fundamental concept of sales the OP has overlooked.

 

[Mikebert4]

Tbh, I think the OP probably tried his best to give great service by letting the customer know that he'd be wasting his money.

Also, customers aren't always right, but they have the money so sometimes we tolerate their little inaccuracies. Then post the idiot conversations on forums to get shouted down have a good old laugh.

I grined, OP. One born every minute etc etc

 

[Pieface]

And what if he is? He's the customer, he made the decision, he's paying, so will always be right.

A good salesperson will always give the benefit of their (hopefully valuable) opinion, but never cast a judgement.

That is the fundamental concept of sales the OP has overlooked.

And if you bought something against the advice of a salesperson, and then complained and ruined it. Who would be the one out of pocket?

 

[Nikon Man]

I would have told him to go to Wyevale for the flower shaped type, they have an excellent selection there.

 

[andyroo1986]

[Moss from the IT Crowd] He wants a petal shaped hood for his 100-400L! That's outrageous![/Moss from the IT Crowd]

Because that's how it sounds... fair enough if he was calling up to ask for a brillo pad to clean his sensor with, but for the sake of a few notches cut from a hood, It's hardly an illogical suggestion?

 

[turbotoes]

I've got a petal hood for my 100-400 L, and it works just fine. It's my most used lens, rarely used without the hood and I live in a very sunny part of the world.
I bought it because it was in stock at the time I needed a hood and my 2nd hand 100-400 came without it's original one.
So petal hoods for the 100-400 do exist and do work.