ไม่สามารถเล่นวิดีโอนี้
ขออภัยในความไม่สะดวก
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ม.ค. 2017
- Actually, the Customer Is Not Always Right
Watch the newest video from Big Think: bigth.ink/NewVideo
Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: bigth.ink/Edge
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This will be music to the ears of anyone who's ever worked in customer service. Is this old managerial adage doing companies more harm than good? The tired, old adage many businesses run by is that "the customer is always right", but Simon Sinek is here to tell us we’ve got it all wrong. All companies must make and increase profits to survive, but what’s missing is the understanding of it as a linear process. Rather than staring at the end goal, it literally pays to see it as a chain effect. When managers put their employees first, employees are empowered to deliver the ideal customer service a top company would strives for. Through an anecdote about one service industry worker who is employed at two differently run establishments, Sinek illuminates how the best managerial method is to prioritize the wellbeing of employees first. Simon Sinek's most recent book is Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.
Simon Sinek's most recent book is Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIMON SINEK :
Simon O. Sinek is an author best known for popularizing the concept of "the golden circle" and to "Start With Why," described by TED as "a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?"'. He joined the RAND Corporation in 2010 as an adjunct staff member, where he advises on matters of military innovation and planning. His first TEDx Talk on "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" is the 3rd most viewed video on TED.com. His 2009 book on the same subject, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (2009) delves into what he says is a naturally occurring pattern, grounded in the biology of human decision-making, that explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others.
He has commented for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, FastCompany, CMO Magazine, NPR, and BusinessWeek, and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, BrandWeek, and IncBizNet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT :
Simon Sinek: I think it’s funny when we are given advice to always put the customer first. That means employees come second inherently if you’re going to put customer first. Customers come and go. Obviously we want to work to keep them loyal but its employees who spend more time at work than they do with their families. It’s employees who are asking to give their blood and sweat and tears to advance our vision. And so it’s a leader’s responsibility to take care of the people first and the people will take care of each other and the customer. Any leader who prioritizes a customer literally saying I care more about an external constituency than I do about the people who are actually working here. The funny thing is a company like Southwest Airlines, a company like Costco that are renowned for their customer service as matters of policy do not believe the customer is always right. They do not believe that the customer comes first. The irony is is these great customer service companies actually care first about their own people, their employees and they expect their employees to care about their customers.
Let me tell you a story, a true story. Some months ago I stayed at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas. It is a wonderful hotel and the reason it’s a wonderful hotel is not because of the fancy beds. Any hotel can buy a fancy bed. It’s because of the people who work there. Now when you walk the halls of the Four Seasons and someone says hello to you, you really get the sense that they wanted to say hello, not that they were told to say hello. So in the lobby of the Four Seasons they have a coffee bar and one afternoon I went to buy a cup of coffee and I happened to be served by a barista named Noah. Noah was wonderful. He was fantastic. He was friendly. He was funny. He was engaging. I think I ended up giving a 100 percent tip. And so as is my way I asked Noah do you like your job here? And Noah said I love my job here. So I followed up and said what is it that the Four Seasons is doing that would make you say to me I love my job? And without skipping a beat he said throughout the day managers will walk past me and ask me how I’m doing. They’ll ask me if I need anything to do my job any better. He said not just my manager, any manager. And then he said something magical.
Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/videos/simon-sin...
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 73 | คู่เอก "วรพล vs พันฤทธิ์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rrOljlqse3A/mqdefault.jpg)
"Whoever said 'the customer is always right' was almost certainly a customer."
Or just an idiot boss that never worked with customers a single day of his life.
Happy employees provide better customer service. Management undermining their staff makes for unhappy employees.
I'd add happy, well-paid / compensated employees provide the BEST customer service.
Sometimes the best way to fix morale problem is to fire all the unhappy employees
Agreed. The employer has no obligation to make al employees happy@@timothygibney159
I've been in the customer service industry for over a decade... omg I've been waiting to hear ANYBODY say how I feel. the customer isn't always right. making an employee feel valuable will reward the guest as well. :)
Customers are almost always wrong, in my experience.
the kicker is, they KNOW they're wrong
Really? I think it depends on the product and the industry. For example Telecom companys have massive numbers of customers so all they are interested in is extra revenue and they become blind to the possibility that their practices may in fact jeopardize their customers, (unless you are Comcast where apparently if you listen to that audio from the customer there is in fact no possible way to cancel your account). The barista in the Four Seasons and his management team both recognize that they have a limited number of customers and especially in Vegas all sorts of equivalent competition and the barista knows that his behaviour and the associated product line and price/cost break assists him; ie: he knows that as a rule when he sells a coffee for $11 he probably getting $4 or even more in a tip whereas does it matter how fantastic someone is in a Dunkin' Donuts?
The problem I have with the 'customer is always wrong' attitude is that except for those who are attempting to get away with something most times the employees and management are working from a different mindset than the customer, "I just want a computer monitor and not an extended warranty because if this one breaks after a year it will already cost 40% less anyway." That said businesses from both management and employee DO NOT have the best interests of the customer in mind but rather their own survival. So when you think "why didn't he buy the extended warranty as it would have garnered us more revenue but also protected the customer's purchase" I am thinking "I know why I don't want the extended warranty so why is that business so pushy and almost rude because I don't want it."
Except they pay your paycheck and you are a cost to your employer
"Do you need anything to do your job better?"
Yeah a raise....
"We're moving in a different direction and no longer require your services"
When employees love their job/environment and leadership, the organization thrives and the product is great and customer will know it!! This is beautiful Simon.
I work at walgreens, and this theory is proven even in the same organization. The day managers are absolutely horrid. Rude, cranky, inefficient, lazy. The night managers are nice, friendly, hilarious and caring. I'm going back to day shift next week and actually CRIED and almost had an anxiety attack! After being on overnights for the past few months I came to love my coworkers like family and scurry out the door as soon as the day managers came in. Not I have to be thrown in to their chaos again. I'm changing jobs soon to work at a hospital, and I just have to say, for such a shitty, barely-paying job, the managers are really what make you come in to work.
Would it be awkward if I sent this to my bosses 😂
Not if it's anonymous!
Shawna Kay
What's your bosses' email? *I'll* send it to 'em.
Send it to the fedex ceo. they keep saying that it's employees first, but then they don't pay a living wage.
-_^
Punkyfunky
I just sent it. I gave it the heading 'Employee relations' and preceded the link with "This video pertains to an improvement in direction."
me: loves it when i'm able to resolve a customers issue 100%.
also me: wants to send this to every customer that was every wrong.
I do believe modern, Western corporate priority is...
1st. Shareholders
2nd. Shareholders
3rd. Shareholders
4th. Shareholders
5th. Executives
...and tied for a VERY distant Last Place are Customers, Employees, and Everyone Else.
Nero Wolfe I think it's executives first. The executives will always act in their own self-interest at the expense of the shareholders. They will always take the short-term gain instead of the long-term growth.
Do you work for AT&T too??
For a publicly traded corporation: Shareholders are the customers.
This is very well spoken, great information here!
I have been saying this for so long.
Same, especially after gaining retail/fast food experience. There are a lot of customers who take advantage of workers and don't mind being assholes because "it's what we got paid to do."
The two thumbs down are managers from Walmart. Lol
Cary Northrop lol
Its important for a company to remember one very important thing.
You, the boss, you don't earn the money, your employees do. Of course the company is nothing without customers... but its is also nothing without employees. Keeping both employees and customers happy in an everchanging ecosystem is the real job of a boss/manager.
so god damn refreshing to hear. so simple, yet so profound
I will loose my job, but im sending this to my boss ! Love it !
Great video! Thank you!
At least three books with the title "The Customer Is Not Always Right" have been published within the last 10 years. And at least one other with the same title was published 20 years ago. All have the same theme -- and I've been saying it for more than 30 years. Why have companies and managers been so slow to see this ?
Very inspiring and motivating. Yes Customer is not always right, but he should be treated right. This is what I learned throughout.
You said everything that is always in my heart about my work place. Thank you ! Im sending this to my boss !
Omg!!! I wanted to send this to my boss too 😂
It's absolutely true, for every dollar you put into your employees personal, emotional, and physical care, you will see approximately 4 dollars in gross margin.
My boss asked the accountants and investors where he should invest, and 4 out of six said ask the employees what would make their lives happier within reason.
There have been a lot of good videos lately, keep it up.
I'm also a barista/cook in Vegas and love my job. Not 4 Seasons though. small time coffee shop. our to reviews are on our customer service skills and the owner definitely puts us first.
The expression isn't about individual customers and their individual questions, complaints, wishes or the like. It has to do with your overall business. If you think your product or service is awesome, but customers don't, then they are "right" in that your business is not serving their needs. If you think it's worth $10, but customers will only pay $5, then you are charging too much or will go out of business hoping they'll adapt to you.
Yozons Sales Good point, something that most people here are failing to take into account
uyghui ghbbjb it's cause too many people takes it literally.
Yozons Sales He's referring to how leadership prioritizes customers over their employees not their product or price point
Yozons Sales He's ref
erring to how leadership prioritizes customers over their employees not their product or price point
Love this paradigm shift on customer service... so often misunderstood and misapplied!
And I thought I was the only one who thought this way....if more companies thought like this we'd all be better off
Justin Sherrill As an employee, maybe, but as a customer, maybe not. Keeping employees happy can be expensive, and consumers are often not willing to pay higher prices just so the people who provide them with a product/service are happy. It can really vary depending on what a business sells and to whom it sells it.
Excellent video.
Yup. I have a lot of down time as a Security Guard. A lot of gate logs is the majority of the day. Former management let me have my laptop and do whatever as long as I got my responsibilities covered. Good. Cool. New management comes in. Everything goes to lock step. We are supposed to be smiling and actively waving. No electronics. So now I basically sit on my ass the majority of the day staring blankly out the window. Motivation took a pretty big hit and I've been updating my certifications to leave.
I agree until the end. It's not that profit or results are easier to measure, it's just that they are the priority. You have to actually care about your employees to make sure they are treated as people first and employees second.
Corporations are literally made to make money for shareholders, that is their purpose. Putting the customer first is only done because it is believed to be the best way of maximizing profit, nothing more, nothing less.
i deeply love this
I like Simon Sinek, watched his TED talks and others.
Right on
Boycott Kroger. They have a "Customer 1st" policy that encourages customer rudeness and imperiousness, and Kroger management treats their labor force like absolute garbage; minimum wage, no training, no backup loyalty or defense against abusive customers, etc.
@@drakecarter1780 How does it feel to lack a conscience?
@@drakecarter1780 I wish the very worst for you.
in my experience customers usually don't have enough information to be right
I used to work at McDonald's and yeah, customers will change their minds every five seconds, even after they order their food. Some come in knowing that they can fuck up an employees day by being intentionally vague, just to complain to a manager, who will then start berating the employee. Had my manager stuck up for me in these situations and maybe not called me an idiot I would've stuck around more than 6 months.
This is a semantical argument, but I'd say you're still putting the customer first if you're only making sure your workers are happy for the end goal of them treating your customers better.
Yep and its way way better
The video's title alone gave me life 🙌
I deal with primarily "internal customers' (employees of the company I work for) so it's not exactly putting employees second but would be putting my team second.
Fantastic! Too bad business /corporate America doesn't understand the importance of happy, healthy employees.
please tell my job this lol
💯
I can so relate to this being in the pool business. I have 42 pools I have to have chemically "perfect" and "clear/no algae" I only get paid to test the water and get the water balanced. Yet customers don't do shit to their ONE pool. THAT IS IN THEIR BACKYARD, never clean them, empty baskets, vacuum. Etc. Claim they're too "busy" ugh. Haha
This is talking about the views of management, not the workers. Every time I've known a person who is a shitty employee they always have the attitude of "the customer is not always right". Managers don't work with customers, they work with employees and the put the people they work with as "always right". The employees should do the same as they DO work with customers and should treat them as they are always right.
Reminds me of a sub shop in town. They'd act as if the customer was never right, and even try to explain (using faulty logic) why the customer was wrong. So I decided to never eat there again, and less than a year later they were out of business. Subs were great too so you know its purely shitty customer service which ended them.
I see Simon Sinek, I press like!
This is so true. I work in a really great company, the bosses are super kind but the manager are cranky, tempramental as fuck! I have to experience panick attack EVERYDAY bcs of him. Makes me want to quit.
Sinek and Branson are my beacons!!!!!
If you try to keep everyone happy you'll lose both. I've also seen work places that care for the employees more than the customers tended to have happier workers. A happy worker works twice as fast, doesn't hurt to make that happen.
Dexios S. Divine he isn't saying that they should worry about making everyone happy. They should focus on making the employees happy and in turn trust that the happy employees will make the customers happy.
Andii Neushul
I'm aware, just gave my opinion.
This is exactly what Deming said over 60 years ago.
Their complacency is our strength as the next set of entrepreneurs taking reigns. We see how their businesses have succeeded in the areas they deemed important. And see how we will improve such structures. From my time working in fast food to my times in construction. I've seen for myself how people are forgotten and discarded. How easily the people around you start becoming less than.... I believe everybody has that spark. It just takes figuring out how to ignite that spark to a flame. When a business values what they create as much as how they build the people up around the, will a business be truly successful. Ohana.... And we as human beings are just one big family. How we treat each other is just as important as how we make money. Money doesn't comfort you when you're alone. Gotta admit, I love the resistance building my dream. Means I'm heading in the right direction. :)
Yes, Wonderful!!
nice info.
although he shouldn't have given this barista Noah's name. i think barista ended up being fired from the 2nd hotel
Let me guess, who ever disliked this is a manager at caesars palace ;)
Where I work, the managers will come by and ask me how I'm doing as well as check on my work. Then, if I'm not going to get done in time, they'll try to get me some help. However, the employees are still generally unhappy. This unhappiness comes from the pressure put on us to put the employee first.
There's a man by the name of Jim Cornette, who's a relatively well-known figure in pro-wrestling. Somewhat recently, he did an interview in which he stated that, while he does still shop at Walmart, he's quite embarrassed to shop there because he knows that Walmart treats their employees bad.
On a side note, I've noticed that, as a customer, I tend to have more respect of a store that does not treat me as if I'm always right.
Normally the customer is always wrong.
@Target 😉
Try working at Home Depot ... employees and grease spots are on the same level , but incredibly rude customers who
are trying to put one over , get a red carpet treatment
Steven Garcia as a Home Depot employee☝🏽 I can confirm this.
Children appreciate having boundaries.
So True!! Shows them How to Behave in Interacting with others, Good for Their Growth, and Adulthood!
Thanks Simon. It is the frist time that I hear this words about taking care of employees. But I don't agree with you on the fact that is not a measurable thing the trust. You can't. Humanity and honesty and treat a worker like a human being and not a slave, is not measurable. Living according nature is not measurable. You live or not. The important thing is the process, not the result, like you say. If the process is correct, a better service gave to customer is the result. If you respect yourself, you will respect others then like result. Thanks and salutes.
slippery slope this one
when i worked for companies who were staff first, a culture was created among staff that the customer was there for them, not they were there for the customer
joeyinhk What was the line of business?
As a manager for a large retail chain, what can I do to make my employees happy? Even if I am undermined and have no support from my own bosses?
Try to maintain an effective rapport with your employees. Don't coddle them. Try to be as involved in their training and growth as employees. You have to figure out a way to motivate your employees. It's easy to say your profits are higher because of the customers. But why are you getting more customers? Your employees are doing their best. They are motivated. They believe their managers care about them and their well-being. Before I started teaching, I worked at Walmart until I found my teaching job. The store manager was a jerk who literally told the co-managers, assistant managers, support managers, department managers, and all employees (from deli to lawn & garden to inventory team to the cashiers) that to him they were just numbers and that he can replace them anytime he feels like it. If you are like that then your employees have low morale. That translates into lack of motivation which turns into poor customer service.
As a teacher, I try to ask myself "Why would any student want to take my class?" As a manager, you should ask yourself "Why would anybody want to work for me?" Be a leader. Help your employees. Provide feedback on where they are excelling and where they can grow. Don't just stand there and slave drive them or tell them that they are just numbers who are replaceable.
Love, Love, LOVE what i'm hearing here, Well Done, that Man!! Let's Hope it All Shifts, to where Staff AND Customers are Happy, Satisfied. No Need to Cow tow to Rudeness and Offensiveness. Some people get more rude and offensive to get their own way, Manipulate people. Escort them from the building, If there is No Compromise to be Found.
Tell them, that You would be Happy to see them again, if they are Polite and Respectful to Others. If bad behaviour were directed towards me personally, it would depend on the Severity of it. But Aimed towards other Employees, and the General Public, and that it has happened several times before, I Would have to take that person Aside, and speak Seriously to them.
djtrumpet, my Reply was aimed at.
Noah just got fired from Caesar's Palace
Nice bro
Eric Delay hahaha
Then he can stay at four seasons at a happier place.
Was that a joke?
"What gets measured, gets improved." Systemantics by John Gall
If only my current-but-soon-former employer got this...
we need to change this myth , i am sick to death with customers been very rude and when you try to even explain to them not to speak to you like that , they say get me a manager
This!, especially in retail is one of the best if not the best mindsets to have. Happy employees that are compensated and taken care of by there corporation properly, give back 100% more positive customer service then those that are not.
He sure screwed Noah at Caesars Palace
that's what we've been fucking saying! especially, myself!
"...that means employes come second inereantly"...What? No. It just means your profit margins is less... That's what it means.
Sounds like Deming's ideas in play.
I don't complain about poor customer service Unless it was something Major like the cashier refused to give me my change; Most customers are leading these miserable lives and issuing complaints over the dumbest things because they want to make others just as miserable as they are.
While I'm sure happy employees are likely to be more pleasant to deal with as a customer, I'm not sure if putting employees above customers (as part of a company's culture) is the most effective path to success. Amazon is an example of a company that prioritizes customers far above its own employees. Even though many Amazon employees may be unhappy, the company is still highly regarded as having some of the best customer service around.
and has never made a profit
dothedeed Not only is that not true (Amazon has posted profits for the last six quarters), but lack of profit would not be an indicator that a company isn't doing well. Amazon has long prioritized growth and marketshare dominance over profit, and it's worked very well so far. Their stock price is just one indicator of Amazon's success.
When I say "Amazon" I mean the retail site. The company's profits come from its web services - and that's not where most of its employees are.
dothedeed Two things:
1. Regardless of which part of Amazon generates the most profit, the "retail website" part of the business is also considered massively successful, and it continues to grow. At some point, it will no longer be necessary for Amazon to make such massive investments into its own infrastructure, so that part of the business will generate a lot more profit.
2. Even within AWS, Amazon's obsession with customers (sometimes at the expense of their employees' happiness) is maintained, and business is booming.
Given the subject of this video customers / employees - it is relevant. If cloud services and business to business marketing etc are the profitable sections, but most of its employees are in warehouses then its reasonable to look at them as separate entities. One would have few high paid employees ( four seasons) and the other lots of low paid employees dealing with bargain hunting customers (Caesars)
seize the means of production.
No. You are expected to make the customer happy. You were hired for that role and are expected to carry that out. If you cannot do that, then you will terminated. The employer owes you nothing other than minimum wage.
I agree with this so fucking much
The reasoning here, while sound, carries with it a perceptively reductive core. In "Being and Nothingness", Sartre wrote of a waiter whose synthetic happiness, had perniciously occluded critical character development. It was, to borrow from the author "de mauvaise foi" -- bad faith. Sinek has for us, valuable insight no less.
This guy likes to paint a broad brush in every situation. I saw his past video vilifying the millennials. Though I don’t believe the saying customer is always right but every situation has to be evaluated based within the bounds of rationality. I had seen my co workers treating some customers like shit and is quick to judge. That’s not good either.
Bezos should listen to this.
Daniel TTY Bezos is doing fine. There are lots of people who have, throughout the years, suggested that he's running Amazon wrongly, and yet he's proven most of those people wrong.
Actually the costumer is always right, coming from a business perspective. I will always rather terminate an associate as long as my costumers are happy. The costumer brings the money and keeps my business floating, on the other hand the employees are an expense. Why not keep that loyal paying costumer and remove the liability from the workplace. Your sales report will thank you later. In my business my costumers go first. THE COSTUMER IS ALWAYS 100% RIGHT.
I doubt you own a business
hey buddy I don’t have to prove myself to anyone. Nothing that you say matters to me. Im just in business for the money and that’s it.
Unfortunately his opening statement is untrue. The big box place states clearly in their mission statement, that is posted in most warehouses, that employees come after the members.
1. Obey the law.
2. Take care of our members.
3. Take care of our employees.
I wonder how Simon Sinek would address this. Monetary compensation and health benefits do little to bridge the gap of feeling needed or as part of a team or being respected by your managers.
I hope you changed Noah's name, otherwise you just threw him under the bus.
let the country regulate it, rest customer + hints
no luck in working in asia...
Judge kids by their grades. Sure! Why not? It's simple and easy.
The customer is always right. The customer of management is the employee
Someone's ignorant.
The customer is never right! If that was the case the customer would be the employee and the employee would be the customer
another great Judeo-Christrian value, take care of your own so you are better able to take care of others
What a complete pile of bullshit.
All these companies who put employees before customers results in their employees being arrogant and entitled.
Their employees don’t apologise to their customers for being late - they don’t apologise to their boss for being late, so why should they treat customers any different?
Their employees make their customers feel like they’re on the employee’s time and that the customer should be grateful for the time.
Silicon Valley is where this bullshit employees-before-customers culture came from. I work with tons of these companies and their attitude is fucking horrendous; don’t apologise, think they’re amazing, think they’re right and you’re wrong, act like time taken with customers is a massive waste of their time...
Simon uses one irrelevant example. Of course, if you tell managers to say, “how are you today?” To the their employees, it will naturally follow on. But this is nothing to do with employees before customers.
This example is like saying telephone operators with a sign stuck on their phone telling them to smile when they speak is employees-before-customers.
Utter nonsense. Simon Sinek has never had a career. His advice is worthless.
I find it extremely frustrating people try and take advantage of this customer first mentality. black people who abused return policies, or who feel their own some giant deal..... sorry just venting a little.
Only black people?
Racist.
This is nonsense. This customer IS always right.
please tell my job this lol