RE: Is The Customer ALWAYS Right? - True Tales from the Trenches, #1
Thanks for relating this story. I have a similar outlook though I never really considered it to be a"customer's always right" philosophy.
I opened up a small business last year selling treats at festivals and events. A lot of my business is generated from sampling. Family and friends sometimes help us pass out samples. At the last show, a friend who happened to stop by grabbed a sample tray and started handing out samples. She came up to me and said she didn't want to hand samples to people that looked like they couldn't afford our product. I told her to please offer a sample to everybody.
Later, I was talking to my 9 year old daughter who loves to sample with me, and I told her this:
Even though sampling helps us sell stuff, your job when sampling is not to sell. We offer our sample as a show of good will. I want to offer that good will to everybody. So your job is to smile and offer everyone a taste. Don't be upset if they don't accept it. Don't try to convince them to buy it. I want every interaction with our business to be a positive one.
That positive attitude sounds like precisely the right approach in the realm of "treat selling."
Recasting what you've just said so sweetly, you are treating all of the people at your venue with grace and respect. You reach out to them with a free offer of good will, expecting nothing in return. Any positive responses you receive are completely voluntary.
IMHO, you've described the only way to do business. Thanks so much for sharing your excellent story!
May I suggest that you write this up as an article for your blog? And ask you to please, let me know when you do? ;)
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You know, you're right. I've been trying to figure out some good material to start blogging about my business. This is probably a good place to start.