The Customer is NOT Always Right
As marketers, one of our main responsibilities is to know our clients’ business, their goals and expectations. I have always began every client engagement with at least one if not several meetings with the client to gain insight into their business, their competitors and most importantly, their take on who their customers are. We use this information to design a marketing campaign that will increase our clients’ visibility and hopefully grow their business. I am a firm believer that no matter how much experience I might have within an industry there is no-one who knows the business better than my clients themselves. They live, eat and breath their business everyday and their thoughts and insights into their business are essential for developing a successful campaign.
Though over the last couple of years, I have begun to understand that even though clients might know their business this does not mean that they understand how to market their business effectively. In this day and age, where technology and information seems to be growing and changing at epic speeds, I believe it is time for companies to realize that they “don’t know what they don’t know”. Brand marketing managers all the way up to CEO’s need to realize that what has worked in the past is not guaranteed to work in the future and that no matter how long you have worked in this industry, you do not have a firm understanding on how and where to market to your customers.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been struggling with how I can communicate with a tempestuous client that I disagree with them and strongly believe that the marketing road they want to go down will not deliver the results they are looking for. Ask anyone who has worked with me in the past and I believe they would tell you that I am not someone who is afraid to say what is on my mind whether internally or to a client. My challenge at the moment is this particular client I have never worked with before so I have no track record with them. How can I tell a client who does not know me from Adam come in and tell them that I am right and you the client are wrong?
It’s an interesting balancing act when you want to gain the confidence of a client, but know if you continue down the road they want, you will never gain their confidence because the campaign will not work. It is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. Do I raise my objections now and risk losing the client before we have even begun or do I deliver mediocre results and have to work that much harder to gain the clients’ confidence int he long run?
I welcome any and all thoughts.
I agree with your thought that customers are not always right…..but the existence of business depends on them. Without customers there wont be any business.
Hi Cord…
Well, I’m not exactly a business person (smile) but I understand the dilemma. I have always found asking the really good questions can open up a clients mind to other alternatives. IOW, not showing them how they are wrong, or defending my position or view, but just asking questions that may give them something about which to think. It certainly is a tricky situation when you disagree with a client!
Jen
Nirmal, not sure where you got the impression that I did not want customers. Yes, without customers there is not business. I will stick that into the captain obvious category. My point was that with everything moving at such speed, it is a challenge to continually pushing the envelope when your clients are not familiar with so much that is happening today.
Thanks Jennifer… I might need your therapy if things do not work out. How much do you charge for online therapy? This could be a whole new business model for you?
Hey Cord,
I think it comes down to an issue of integrity.
How threatened is your integrity if you deliver a mediocre campaign that they demanded but doesn’t deliver the goods?
How important is the success of your clients? How heavy is the burden?
There are no hard and fast rules. Our ethics and values change based on circumstance, contrary to what we believe/say. So I can only counsel that you weight it against your values and go with your gut.
There will always be clients.
But what they say/believe about you… that can change.
It’s been my experience that people fail to act because:
1. They are unaware there is a problem
2. They are not bothered enough by the problem to do anything about it
And since I know that you can come down on a client like a damn freight train, I’d recommend asking them lots of benign questions that steers them in the direction that you want them for the sole purpose of planting a seed and making them think about it.
Then the next conversation might have some of the solutions you have in mind.
Great points Jeremy… Me come down on them like a freight train? NO?
I faced this dilemma a few years ago with a prospective new client for my PR services. They were about to agree a trade show campaign that was going to be a disaster if they went with it but they had already committed time and money to the campaign. I asked a question about their clients. What were the biggest problems presently facing their clients (financial Advisers ) in running their businesses that they could help to solve. As they answered that question they realised that the theme of the stand was not addressing the key issues and a new idea developed cam from the booth designers that did work.
The key I think is to get THEM to come up with YOUR ideas – and the best way I have found is always to ask questions that leads them to come up with your ideas for themselves. The hard part for you will be framing the right questions – but focusing on outcomes is always a good move and putting yourself into the shoes of their clients may help you to see things better.