The customer is "always"​ right.. so is your sales team wrong?

This is an article I wrote several years ago and posted on LinkedIN. I decided to re-post a few of the articles I've written because as many of us start to rejoin the workforce and adapt to our "new normal" its important to polish our skills and keep our employees top of mind. Now, more than ever, employees are facing unprecedented challenges. We as leaders, experiencing the same upheaval, will be looked at to help navigate through new territory.

Working in any capacity in the customer service industry means you are all too familiar with the concept that the customer is always right - even when they're wrong. So when, if ever, do you politely and professionally tell the customer they're (gasp!) wrong in order to maintain company policy? 

Recently I had a situation where a customer wore a pair of shoes for 2 months and then came in looking to return them "because they still hurt his feet, the sales girl told him to go down a 1/2 size from what he usually wears, and he was told they should break in already". Immediately the sales associate who originally assisted him went on the defensive because she is knowledgeable and fitted him accordingly. One on hand, the associate was frustrated because she assessed his lifestyle and needs based on what he told her and then sold him what she honestly believed was an appropriate style. On the other, the customer was frustrated because he spent several hundred dollars on a pair of boots he was unable to wear without being in pain.

So what to do? Undermine the associate, ignore company policy and accept the return to make the customer happy in the moment and get him out of the store? Or adhere strictly to the brand directive, side with the associate and have the customer leave dissatisfied?

 Well, there's actually a way to do both support your team and satisfy the customer.  First, I listened to the customer to determine what it was he actually wanted, instead of just throwing out an offer of taking the return. He really wanted a great pair of boots he could wear for various occasions in his life! I offered to do a complimentary exchange for him and looped the sales associate into the conversation. Then, we quickly reviewed the situation and I re-iterated what she stated in the original conversation with the customer so she felt supported. This also serves to confirm in the customer's mind the correct information and educates them.

He wasn't misinformed by us, he was simply hearing what we were telling him with the perspective of other companies he has purchased from in the past. He was listening to us, but convinced from his own previous experiences, that our product should fit a certain way.

By listening to what the customer really wanted, and ensuring him the sales team was knowledgeable and credible,  we were able to bend (we offered an exchange, not a refund) company policy and gain a happy, lifelong customer. Don't forget, customers tell their friends when they feel a company went above and beyond to make them happy -and that's just good business.