Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-11-27 09:34:53 - Graham Ellis
In our businesses, the customer is king; without the customer we wouldn't be where we are today, and a happy and smiling face should always be presented, and we should always do our very best to provide what the customer wants. Ian walked in to Well House Manor for the first time yesterday, and was met with a cheerful and welcoming "hello" from Rachel. We had a positive and useful half hour together, and Ian remarked on how at home he felt (and what a lovely place we have) ... and at the same time came up with a couple of ideas and tips to help make the housekeeping tasks slightly easier. For Ian has run a large restaurant, and a hotel too, and is now a mentor with Swindon College, with whom Rachel is studying for an apprenticeship, based with us. So Ian's views and inputs are welcomed - and some of those inputs will be constructive criticisms telling Rachel (who will then tell us) where we could make adjustments to make things even better. Of course, Well House Manor is a small hotel - so some things that apply at the 21 room hotel that Ian's most familiar with will not apply, or may be very altered, with us.
But ... the conventional wisdom of "the customer is King" should have its limits. There gets to be a point where the supplier of goods or a service has to turn around and say "no, sorry, can't do that".
An email the other day inquired about two courses in the New Year, and looked to be a potentially excellent booking. Questions asked were answered, and an amendment offered to meet one specific need. A quotation was sent out ... and we waited to hear back. And what we heard was "yes - I like that; can you send me a new quotation that I can submit, though, describing the courses as follows ..." and the description requested didn't describe the product we offer. That's the point at which we, as a potential supplier, have to turn around to our potential customer and say "no - sorry - no can do ...".
We can (and should, and will) go along with customer requests where we can provide a good product, in our mainstream, even if it involves tuning what we have. But we can (and do) draw a firm line if we're asked for something that we can't properly provide as it's too far outside our norm, or if we're asked to describe our product in a misleading way, or provide it in a way which would require us to break the law. Fortunately, the requests we get which are borderline (or over the border) are few, and a polite explanation of the border and why it's there can often result in a solution that's acceptable to all parties - and is legal, decent and honest.
So - my "sorry - no can do ..." was followed up in the next paragraph with "but I understand where you're coming from. We can describe the course, accurately, as follows if you like ..." and I'm now fully hopeful that we're able to provide what our customer wants, within our mainstream activity, and most certainly within the actual and moral law. Successful conclusion for all.