The Customer is Never Right
Well, most of the time
Have you worked retail? How about hospitality? Customer service perhaps? If you have worked in one or all of these, you know the saying – “the customer is always right”. If you are like me, you know that is kinda bullshit. I have worked in all of the industries that I mentioned and while the customer can be and has been right, they can be very wrong.
This saying is meant only to placate the customer for a higher satisfactory score. Running a business, being a freelancer, or being a consultant could also follow this motto. But just imagine if we makers/ creators did that. We would be working endless hours, making countless changes, and doing pointless grunt work. In my early career in freelancing I did just that. I made what my clients wanted no matter what. This made me work way more than planned, exhausted me, and made me feel like my work wasn’t my work.
After months of working like this I remembered a restaurant that I worked at years before. There was a prestigious chef that worked there for about a year. While running the kitchen he did not allow modifications at all. If you didn’t want that side, that garnish, that sauce – too bad. If you were allergic - order something else. If you didn’t or couldn’t have it – just order something else or leave. He would even come out from the kitchen and tell them to their face if they fought it. His food was amazing. Everything from fries to lamb was perfect. He did this because he would not compromise his vision for anyone. That is when I decided to do the same.
From that point on I told the client my vision before creating it. If they liked it great, if not – too bad. We are freelancers and consultants for a reason. We hold a skillset that makes us good, great, and unique! Sure there is a place for brainstorming or white boarding the idea or story with your client, but never a place for a yes-person.
Never hesitate to push back if what you are creating does not align with your values or style. If your work doesn’t look or sound like you, then why are you doing it? Give your clients a reason to work with you. Have your style shine though in some way on every project.
The customer can be right, but they are not always right, more often than not they are wrong. We are the chefs of our professions, we have the right to say too bad.
On another note, the first Async Chats went live! The first edition was kicked off with Chase Warrington, head of remote at Doist. He has a lot of experience in this weeks topic - Context Switching Destroys Productivity. If you haven’t read it yet, take a few minutes, it’s worth your time.