We have all heard the phrase “You get what you pay for”. This phrase should be remembered as… “You get what you pay for…sometimes”, especially when we are talking about service and the industry of my choice, the funeral service.

I feel that service is a perceived value and that service and customer service go hand in hand. We should understand that in business, the customer is not always right. I refer to an article from positivesharing.com that I would like to share. The top 5 reasons why “The Customer Is Always Right” is wrong:

One woman who frequently flew on Southwest, was constantly disappointed with every aspect of the company’s operation. In fact, she became known as the “Pen Pal” because after every flight she wrote in with a complaint.

She didn’t like the fact that the company didn’t assign seats; she didn’t like the absence of a first-class section; she didn’t like not having a meal in flight; she didn’t like Southwest’s boarding procedure; she didn’t like the flight attendants’ sporty uniforms and the casual atmosphere.

Her last letter, reciting a litany of complaints, momentarily stumped Southwest’s customer relations people. They bumped it up to Herb’s [Kelleher, CEO of Southwest] desk, with a note: ‘This one’s yours.’

In sixty seconds, Kelleher wrote back and said, ‘Dear Mrs. Crabapple, We will miss you. Love, Herb.’”

The phrase “The customer is always right” was originally coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge’s department store in London in 1909, and is typically used by businesses to:

1. Convince customers that they will get good service at this company
2. Convince employees to give customers good service

Fortunately more and more businesses are abandoning this maxim - ironically because it leads to bad customer service.

Here are the top five reasons why “The customer is always right” is wrong.
1: It makes employees unhappy
2: It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage
3: Some customers are bad for business
4: It results in worse customer service
5: Some customers are just plain wrong

In my opinion if you can understand service then you can also understand that what you offer has great value. You deserve in business to make a profit. How great is that profit?

I have been involved in the funeral industry for over 20 years. The last 15 years in the beautiful city of Boca Raton, FL. I have seen it all. From the richest of the rich to the poorest of the poor. I have assisted a few customers who you could just not please. My only thought would be, when will this customer realize that the only guarantees in life is that we will all die and that you leave this world the same way you came in. Sometimes we ask ourselves these two questions. When and if they will finally get it? And when will customers and business owners realize that mistakes will happen. The real question is how important is that mistake?

Thanks to the internet, unlimited information is now available to almost everyone. Consumers are now better informed than ever before. Refining our Customer Service techniques is one of the only things we can provide to combat cheap pricing…If you want to charge a million dollars for your service. You sure better treat your customer like a million dollars. And people will pay it if they feel like a million dollars.

The bad taste left in your mouth from poor service lingers long after the sweet taste of a cheap price is gone.

Always remember: “Service is what life is all about!”

William J. Savino, “Bill” LFD
Vice President
FuneralHomes.com

Read the complete post at http://www.conceptualist.com/fedclick.php?ref=http://www.conceptualist.com/2008/05/03/guest-post-why-being-the-least-expensive-service-is-not-always-the-answer-by-william-j-savino-recall-media-group/&id=1990