Today in class the concept of the “customer is always right” came up. This concept is certainly not a new one in sales or business in general. It is often attributed to Marshal Field who owned the department store of the same name. Field felt the saying was key to his success as a merchant. In fact, he took the saying to an extreme hiring men whose sole job was to be fired to please irate customers. This is perhaps a bit further than Pink or Professor Sweet would wish to take the saying. But none the less the saying is valid for most cases.
Some exceptions were brought up in class and most were valid and usually quite funny. My father’s first mall food court restaurant was home to a similar incident to some of the ones in class when an older man became irate that they had switched from frozen French fries to fresh cut fries. But these are limited exceptions in the grand scheme of things.
Regardless, in sales we need to put the customer needs first through listening and attunement to customer needs. Attunement seems like a very important concept not to consciously practice but unconsciously integrate into day to day life. Before I took this class I learned about the concept of mirroring others to make them feel more comfortable, they cross their legs you cross your legs type of thing. Doing this too obviously can seem forced or like a show of dominance which is not the object of good customer focused sales. But on the subconscious level we can subtly imitate and learn from our clients to better understand them. By using empathy and common sense we can try to understand when they are somehow not “right” how they would come to that conclusion and how we can fix what we are doing to help them better. Preferably without firing some dude.
https://slate.com/culture/2015/10/steve-jobs-movie-was-the-customer-is-always-right-really-coined-by-a-customer.html
SchrieberBE23 
FrenchJA21 
andersonsa22
I can relate to this post because of how many times working in retail, I’ve gotten these types of thoughts from customers with the most insignificant problems. Luckily with a little patience, I can usually use what they’re saying to me to fix their problem!
I would agree that having dedicated people to fire is probably on the extreme side. However, I do get the point that the customer always being right is a good frame of mind to have. The focus is on the customer, and I loved the example Sweet gave about how to deal with someone who things they are right. By asking questions that lead them to the truth.
Making sure the customer always feels right can definitely help your sales. That’s cool that you already knew about mimicking and the importance of attunement, I’ve really enjoyed learning about it in class.