Bill Gamble

While still working in the Norwalk, Calif. store, I was talking with Bill, a wonderful and caring man, and telling him about how badly this customer had behaved, when he said, “Danny, don’t you believe the customer is always right?”

My response was, “You’ve got to be kidding, right Bill!   I can show you example after example of customers I’ve had to deal with who were obnoxious because they were either confused, or just plain WRONG!”

“But Danny,” Bill said, “If you don’t start out by seeing your job as helping the customer, especially when they get confused or flustered, then you are always going to find yourself getting upset with them.”

I’m sorry to say that gem went right over my 20-year-old head!  I spent many an hour over the next year or two arguing that same point with Bill.  I’m proud to say, I never won the argument!  

But here is the deal…Bill was right.  If you win the battle, like I wanted to when I got into that shouting match, you will lose the war, because that customer sure wasn’t going to leave happy after I lost my temper and started making him look bad.

So, no matter if you’ve heard it a thousand times, listen to it one more time…PLEASE!

The Customer is Always Right is the only way to treat each and every one of them.  You must instill this in every one of your associates and they must “live it” every day.  And when the going gets tough, that’s when you must really remember… 

The Essential Lesson:  The Golden Rule isn’t B.S., it’s Gold

Our job is to delight every customer and we cannot do that if we don’t treat every one of them the way we want to be treated…Stew Leonard and his family and crew at their world famous dairy/store in Norwalk, Connecticut put it very well on a 6 foot granite boulder in front of their store for the past 30+ years and they still live it to this day:             

Rule #1 The Customer is always right

Rule #2 If the Customer is ever wrong, please re-read rule #1

The dairy continues to grow and expand year after year because every associate shares this simple but powerful philosophy.