which customer is always right?

I heard an interview with Terry Leahy of Tesco the other day. It kept going on about how he'd transformed Tesco by instilling a believe that 'the customer is always right' through the organisation. Which is good and everything. I like Tescos. But that 'the customer is always right' thing is one of the most annoying bromides in marketing.

Because is doesn't get at the really difficult question - which customer is always right? There are some Tesco customers who think Tesco's shouldn't open in their village; are they right? There are some who believe Tesco should use much less packaging; are they right? There is at least one person who believes people called Russell should get free cheese on demand; am I right?

Of course we may all be right, but are we right in Tesco's eyes? Probably not. The tricky decision they have to make is - which of their customers is right? And this is a harder decision than ever now. It used to be fairly straightforward - the people who spent a lot, or had a lot of influence on the business were the people who were right, the heavy users and the influencers. But now, with the rise of the blogosphere etc, there are way more infuential customers than ever (and they're harder to spot) and with the increase in Long Tail economics, your heavy users are harder to spot too.

That's the hardest decision in marketing - which customer is king?

Of course this means you very often have to ignore your customers, even the ones who think they own the brand, and my favourite example of this is Radio 4. The BBC licence fee makes defining who their customers are kind of tricky but I think this forces them back to a really clear sense of direction and coherence for the brand which results in smart, brave decisions.

For instance, there's recently been a furore over Neil Nunes, a new continuity announcer whose Caribbean accent stuck through the mass of Radio 4 RP, subtly tweaking Radio 4's stationality (my favourite ever bit of jargon). In an instant the outraged citizens of Middle England grabbed their headed writing paper and fired up their dial-up modems to denounce this innovation in the usual 'I'm-not-a-racist' stylee. These are Radio 4's heavy users, these are the people who think they own the brand, these are the people who write the newspaper columns and what have Radio 4 done? Basically, they've ignored them. Brilliant. Just like they seem to be ignoring all the people having a go at the Sports Programme in the usual intellectual-snobby way.

Listening to your customers is important, but not as important as knowing who you are, what you stand for and what you want to do.

And lest you suspect I just love Radio 4 because I think I'm the customer who's always right let me point out that despite my protestations they insist on keeping Loose Ends, Any Questions and The Food Programme on air despite them being the most annoying radio ever broadcast.

Comments

[carol]

I never listen to the radio, Radio 4, that's the one with the Archers on it, isn't it?

[Ben]

What's wrong with Any Questions?

[russell]

don't get me started on Any Questions.

[rebecca]

'The customer is always right' belongs is one of the worst and most patrosnising denizens of the Disingenuous Marketing Speak Hall of Fame. Along with saying 'madam' and 'sir'/using the beloved customer's first name when you've only just learnt it all the time and the practised 'buy this' twinkle in the eye. It's outdated and totally dishonest sales speak. And it's based on the premise that we're all daft. That's why I don't like it.

I don't think anyone ever meant it, really, either. It's most often (and probably more appropriately) used in training staff for particularly unpleasant customer services roles like telesales, where people spend most of their time thinking 'the customer is always an arse' for shouting and hanging up. So I find it quite weird that Mr Leahy would use it for the public identity of Tesco.

Thing is, I don't want to always be right. In fact most of the time I think I want my shops/services etc to be more right about me about their products. I want Tesco to know more about their cheese/cereal/value beans etc than me. I'd like Sony to know more than me about sound systems. And I must be one of the very few 26 year olds who watches old 70's/80's BBC4 programmes and thinks 'whatever happened to the good old days when they told us what was good for us'. Series like The Shock of the New were tv at it's very best, I'm convinced.

I loved the recent panic on R4 about the spoof phone in they did on the subject of race. Everyone rang in spitting with rage and then when they found out it was a spoof they sniffed that it wasn't funny then? Was it?!

Old Ned Sherrin is a nightmare. And I know this makes me sound miserly but I wish they'd put You and Yours on at a more civilised hour. Like four in the morning. 'Part from that R4 rules.

[rebecca]

Just realised most of that made no sense as I was typing too fast. Obviously I'm not always right. Hardly ever, in fact...

[Rob Mortimer]

Its such a cop-out. Its one of those expressions used by people who think they understand marketing and targeting but don't.

A great example of this is Nintendo. If you look at what they are doing with their new console, they are completely ignoring what their customers asked and expect; and now they have had more positive press, more publicity, and higher expected sales figures than they have had in the past 12 years.
For them, focusing on what they believe they can do for their customers has worked much better than responding to what their customers want.

Pro-active is better than reactive, and "The customer is right" is so so reactive it hurts.