The Customer is Always Right By: Karen Koza
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Who’s the Customer?
You Just Might Be Surprised

Last month, I wrote about customer service and how certain businesses separate themselves from the pack by performing small services designed to delight the customer, like the store owner who keeps dog treats behind the counter for customers with pets in tow or the online retailer who sends a personalized thank you for each order. Small actions like these go a long way in personalizing the experience, making the customer feel valued and validates why the customer chose this particular retailer over another.

But the term “customer service” needs to apply to a larger realm, outside of the typical buyer-seller relationship. A customer isn’t just someone who buys something from you; a customer is anyone you come in contact with. Don’t believe me? Allow me to demonstrate. I was recently working on an article for a women’s trade publication and I contacted the editor of a shopping guide web site (for purposes of protecting the guilty, I will not divulge the name) looking for her point of view on the topic of premium denim. Rather than understanding that I was querying her for a quote (and also ultimately promoting her site in front of a huge audience), she sent me a terse e-mail reply saying that “you should do better research as I neither sell nor market jeans”. I stared blankly at her reply in disbelief and suffocated my urge to send a snarky reply. Mind you, I had never been on her site before I did my search (or poor research, in the editor’s mistaken assessment), but before I received her rude and misinformed reply, I spent some time there and thought I might become a frequent visitor. After receiving her reply? Well, let’s just say that I will never visit the site and will never recommend it to a friend. In addition to losing the opportunity to promote her site, the editor also lost a potential customer or customers.

And that’s sad.

And because I am a New Yorker bent on having the last word, I did send an email back. Rather than employing some of the more colorful language that many in my city favor, instead, I opted to think of her as a customer. I emailed her back, very politely thanked her for her time and casually mentioned that, in the interim, I had interviewed another web site (ahem, the competition) so I was in a good position on quotes from editors and closed with wishing her every success.

I resisted the urge to send the poor mistaken editor the clip when it was published a week later.

A customer is not just someone who buys from you. Another point? I know someone (again, I will protect the guilty) who was headed for an interview and not wishing to be late, hopped on an elevator without holding the door for the person behind him, who was also rushing to board. I guess I don’t need to tell you that my friend met with this same exact person just a few minutes later in his interview. Ouch.

I guess I also don’t need to tell you that he didn’t get the job.

But I think that you get my point.

Every person you meet is a potential customer. Even if you think you have nothing to sell.

Because, chances are, at some point in your life, you probably will. Even if you don’t know it today.

Karen Koza is a freelance writer and marketing consultant in New York; she may be reached at Karenkozaconsult@aol.com. Keeping the customer credo in mind, she promises to thoroughly read your email and never send you a poorly informed reply!