The age old question.

Is the customer always right? Some people will immediately say YES! Just as quick others will say NO! Some, like me, will say depends on the customer.

Customers are the life blood of every business. If it were not for the customers, you would not have a business. And there are businesses built on the premise that the customer is always right. There was a great story (not sure if it was fact or legend - but still a great story) where the customer returned some tires to a business and they gave them his money back - even though they did not sell tires.

To me, customers earn the right to be right. In other words, if they handle their account in a professional way, I will do everything I can to super serve them and provide them what they need. Additionally, if they run into hard times, I will do everything possible to be the partner that they need. It is easy to be a "partner" in the good times, it takes a real "partner" to walk with you through the valley.

On the other side of the coin, I do believe that there will be businesses, for whatever reason, who you should not do business with. When a business becomes unnecessarily demanding or demeaning to my team -- I will do my best to right the ship. But bottom line, if I can't, they need to find another place to do business.

So is the customer always right? Sure if they have earned that right. Have a great week.

Is your business a top seed? Be careful!

I love March. I love the NCAA tournament. The underdogs battling the favorites - David vs. Goliath. Which role does your business play?

When a much lower seed plays a top seed, the pressure is on the top seed. The coach of the top seed has to make sure his team is ready to play. They need to be sure that they are not overlooking their opponent. The lower seed can just go out and play. They have no expectations; they just have guts, desire, and the ability to work hard.

The business cycle is the same way. You started your business with guts, desire, and hard work. You had the guts to be different. You had the desire to super serve your customers and kick the competition's behind. You were willing to out work everybody.

Then you became the top seed. Have your guts been replaced with "why do we need to change?" Has the desire to super serve changed to "our customers love us?" Has the hard work been replaced by complancey. That is the fastest way for a top seed to get beat. In the tournament, it happens in one hour. Usually in business it happens over a longer period of time.

Spend some time this week truly analzying your business. Maybe it's time to find your guts, desire, and real work ethic.

How often is to often?

There are more ways to contact your customers now than ever before. You can advertise, text, email, etc - etc. How much is too much?

If you are advertising on the more traditional mediums of newspaper, tv, radio, remember the three things you must have for success; Reach, Frequency, motivating message. If you are sending emails, texts, etc -- you should be careful with the frequency.

I did some business on-line with a company, who now sends me a daily email. At first, I was glad to get them and even created it's own folder in my inbox. After about the third day of receving the email with a headline that referred to these are the lowest prices ever, I stopped opening the emails.

Our goal is not to talk to our customers. I have a sister in law that talks to me on and on and on. The goal is to communicate with a message of meaning. Be careful not to be a sister in law and talk and talk and talk about things that nobody is interested in. Communicate with them about how you can help them, and now you are getting somewhere.

Look at how many times you "communicate" with your clients. Do you need more? Less? Have a great week.

What do your customers want?

Everyday, people line up at a coffee place, order their coffee in some totally different language, and pay three times as much money. And most people brag about starting their day there.

(A side note, for full disclourse, I am not a fan of this place and I realize the troubles they have had with stock prices -- but they are a great example of customer service and for the point I am trying to make with this entry)

The people who are customers of this place are intelligent, nice, the type of people you really should know. (I have shared a quarter of a century of my life and rasised two kids with one) So why would they pay that much money for coffee?

The real answer is I don't know - it never has made sense to me. But what they tell me is the customer service, the consistent taste of the product and how they are treated; how after only a couple of visits, the staff recognizes them, calls them by name and knows their order. They can't wait to get there.

Here is another question. Why would someone spend more than twice as much on a motorcycle to get a certain legendary brand? That one I can answer but it may not make sense to you.

Because of that look and that sound. The look of the bike and the look in other people's eyes when you tell what kind of bike you own. That sound, when the other guys ask you to wait to start your bike until after they get theirs started becaue they can't hear when your bike is running, that's why. When you take off and feel that sound that's why.

Now, why do people do business with you? Find that answer -- it probably is not becuase of your friendly staff and low everyday prices. It's because. Find the because, give it to them and they will be back and they will bring others.