Is the customer always right?

You better believe it! Does it really matter if you’re right? Yes it does, but not at the expense of making your customer wrong.

If I had to choose between being right and losing a valued customer and being wrong and helping my customer see the situation as their opportunity – I would be wrong every time.

There is such power in being accountable and admitting to others when we are wrong (if you dare), especially if you are learning and growing from the experience. This demonstrates you have real substance and character – and don’t indulge in the ‘grand delusion’ of being perfect.

Why do so many people need to be right? Because it validates, rightly or wrongly, who they desire others to believe they are. And in the cut throat dog eat dog world of business, being wrong can really cost you. It takes a bold and virtuous person to admit when wrong, particularly when their reputation and financial status is at stake.

Customers want to be right simply because they are paying for the privilege, (and rightly so!). So, if you tell a customer they’re wrong, make no mistake – everyone loses. You lose their patronage (yes, they will leave in the pursuit of being right) and you lose your ability to fulfil their needs and aspirations.

Some may respond, “Well I didn’t like or want that customer anyway!” and that’s ok, but be wary of the wounded customer – they talk, text, chatter and tweet, and before you know it, you have lost not just one customer but countless others.

When you’re right and your customer is ‘blatantly’ wrong, don’t take this opportunity to highlight their humility and boast your superiority – instead choose to take the higher ground and transcend their wrong into a right that benefits both them and you.

Two wrongs can indeed make a right, but it takes empathy and a willingness to see others from a different perspective. Understand the power of being wrong and use it as leverage to build long lasting relationships with righteous customers.

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Trent Leyshan is the founder and CEO of BOOM Sales! a leading sales training and sales development specialist. He is also the creator of The NAKED Salesman, BOOMOLOGY! RetroService, and the Empathy Selling Process.