The Customer is NOT Always Right!

The customer IS NOT always right!!

Yesterday, Chanel and I had a moment of absolute clarity about who we serve, how we serve and why we serve them, as we fleshed out the plans for our membership, launching in July. And it's not going to be what you think it is!!

It came about because we've been feeling torn in 5, lately. We get a lot of well-meaning advice from our FB friends about how we could be “fully booked” every month if we did X,Y, Z.

And it's all great advice! For someone whose goals align with the effort it takes to sell and serve that many that. But we're not that someone.

Do we want to make a ton of money? Of course. It would disingenuous to say one started their business to stay broke. Mmm... let's call it what it is: it would be a lie.

No one starts a business without wanting to make great money. Maybe they start a hobby with that intent. But not a business.

Money aside, our primary value is sovereignty. Both of us had traumatic and disempowering childhoods that led us to behave like the poster children for people-pleasers. We people-pleased for decades (me a couple of extra decades! )

And what did that get us?

2 burnouts each. And 2 massive epiphanies about our priorities in life.

Hint: it's not spending every waking hour working! So “fully booked” sounds more like a nightmare to us.

We know the heavy, heavy price of people-pleasing and sidestepping your own boundaries. It's emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual. All the al's.

Replacing the 6-fig jobs we walked away from with the same stress and disrespect and long hours was NOT what we want.

Our mutual top goal in our business has always been to create time freedom while delighting clients and helping them create their own version of it. Time freedom comes from three things

1. Having enough money to be able to afford the life we want to live.

2. The operational support structures to carry the weight of the business running without needing our constant presence, so we can take time without letting clients down or feeling guilty.

And 3. And perhaps most important: having and holding our boundaries that demonstrate how much we value and respect ourselves, while honouring and respecting our clients as well.

And we've always known that's what our people want most too. (We just weren't quite sure how to articulate it.)

Sharing this goal with our clients is why we serve by helping you co-create simple client delivery systems that get your clients the results they paid you for, without the burnout-bound behaviours that make delivering your offer suck.

What really makes us so unique in our approach is our view on good customer service. That view is the north star of our 3-step process.

Most client experience people I've encountered still push the "customer is always right" BS.

And that's a big "hell no" from us.

Customers are actually rarely right.

Today, that phrase comes up when a customer is being demanding, picky, rude, unreasonable, etc.

It was originally devised as a method of giving sellers authority to avoid conflict and maintain customer satisfaction and relationships. Good intention. Bad result.

All it really did is teach generations of customers to act entitled to your time, your profit, and your feelings of self-worth.

And taught seller's that they have zero power over their business.

It's bullshit.

That expression suggests caving in to the whims and fancies and bad behaviours of shitty customers. Or letting THEM lead, rather than you.

In that formula, guess who always loses? Guess who always feels bad? Guess who's always giving away their own profit? Guess who has to work double to stay on track, let alone get ahead?

HELL NO!!

So, we are on a mission to help other business owners stop feeling like they can't say "no"!

Your customers don’t understand what they need half the time. You do.  Whether that’s because you are a service provider with expertise on the topic, have seen the problem countless times and have the experience implementing the strategies and tactics that solve it...

Or because you are the manufacturer of a product and know its purpose, its function and its limitations.

YOU are right in both of these cases, so why would you sacrifice your integrity to appease a customer - knowing doing so will only increase their dissatisfaction.

Even when it comes down to refunds or warranty claims. You have policies. You designed them to protect your business, to protect your people and to protect your reputation. You won't see Apple honouring a warranty claim that they know is user damage and you won't see a lawyer refunding their fees because they didn't win the case! (the lawyers who "only get paid when you get paid" don't take on cases they don't think they will win!).

So, when you are dealing with [unreasonable or unrealistic] client demands, it’s your responsibility to demonstrate your leadership because you know what is needed in this situation – you’ve seen it a hundred times. They’ve seen it this once.

That's why it’s your job to provide the systemic foundation for feeling SAFE to create and HOLD boundaries that are mutually respectful. It's for the people in the situation. You, your team AND your customer.

To have the tools to help you stop believing you have to sacrifice your needs for the needs of your clients.

To know the best words to offer when it’s getting hairy.

To have the confidence to say them.

Because THAT is the path to avoiding burnout and creating time freedom.

It's a big mission.

And we are here for it.

I'll be talking a lot more about building boundaries and communication strategies within your business that support you and your team as you serve your clients.

Because while our offer hasn't changed, our clarity about why and who have.

We work with business owners who don't know how to build systems that prevent and manage difficult client scenarios, both proactively and retro-actively. Who have trouble saying no and who are tired of always sacrificing their needs to get and keep a client.

The Pink Flamingo Club Mentorship.

Membership opens in August.  Sign up for our newsletter today, or keep your eyes on this space, to get the inside scoop and become a founding member for only $1000/year (or $100/mo)!

Make it a great day!

Danielle