The customer is right, even if he’s wrong

The customer is king is a trite business mantra. But exactly, how do companies make it happen? If I will define it my way, that means giving in to a customer request, no matter how unreasonable it is, like when a customer requests 10 sachets of catsup to accompany one simple cheese hamburger.

It happened many decades back. I can’t forget the case of an old thin, short man, probably in his 80s, who went inside a KFC outlet near my place. He brought inside the restaurant around three pieces of freshly baked pandesal from a nearby Pan de Manila outlet. I saw it happening right in my face as he bypassed the queue for priority customers.

He was wearing a long-sleeved dirty white polo shirt with a hint of insect repellants, neatly tucked in belt-less dark grey pants emblazoned with “RM Manlapat” custom tailor tag, a popular shop for men in the 1970s. I took a watchful eye on this fellow who had the confidence of a war veteran but with the guarded smile of a jueteng (Filipino numbers game) bet collector.

He cozied to a young KFC service clerk who looked like his granddaughter. He pleaded: “Ineng, pakibuksan mo nga etong lata ng Vienna sausage.” I was expecting Ineng (a Tagalog nickname for a young girl) to politely decline Lolo’s request. But she smiled at Lolo, got the can, and hurried to the kitchen.

In less than a minute, she came back to the old man with the ready-to-eat finger thick, pink sausages as she carefully watched her steps to avoid spilling the can’s saline. Then Lolo asked for a glass of water.

Was the old man a regular customer? I’m not sure. He may have brought something from KFC way back but decided that his pension was not enough to buy another meal this time. The old man may have done the same trick before with McDonald’s, Jollibee, or Mang Inasal, not necessarily in that order, but has chosen KFC because it was right there before his eyes.

Horse manure

In my seminar business, I would usually juggle in and out of several Ayala Center-based hotels like Makati Shangri-La, Dusit Thani, Holiday Inn, The Peninsula and the defunct Hotel Intercontinental and Mandarin Hotel. I’ve no particular loyalty to a hotel. What’s important for me is to get the best possible amenities for my clients, depending on their size may number as low as 25 to an average high of 75 per event.

I’m satisfied with Makati Shangri-La, but I would not hesitate to sign another deal with nearby hotels to perpetuate my excellent professional relationship with their account managers, competing for my business, who at times, depending on the volume of my sales, would give me complimentary food and drinks and guest room accommodations for my family.

Business must be shared with anyone. “Business is like horse manure. You have to spread it around or it would smell,” said American-British petroleum industrialist J. Paul Getty (1892-1976).

In my more than 30 years of organizing public and private management events, my lesson would continue to be the same. A chainsaw-wielding customer or an 80-year-old frail war veteran, even if they’re not my customer would be treated like kings and queens. They will be treated right, even if they’re wrong because customer service is a long-term relationship with anyone.

Several days ago, in a different KFC outlet, I saw another male customer, probably in his mid-60s. After receiving his order from a service crew, he went to a nearby vacant table, about three meters away from the counter. Unfortunately, he spilled his dark-colored soda to the floor. I played blind but watched his steps back to the counter.

He asked for a tumbler full of cube ice as a “replacement.” He had resigned to his fate. I told myself – maybe he should at least attempt to request for an extra serving of his spilled cola which costs almost nothing to any restaurant. Anyway, it’s nobody’s fault.

Industry protocol

If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. But he was too shy to ask, much more to invent a story. The fact remained; he lost his drink. The restaurant manager may claim they saw nothing. But, what’s the industry protocol? If you ask me, I would readily recommend replacing the drink at no cost. No questions, no debate, no nothing.

I may even offer a bigger size for his cola brought to him personally by a crew to his table. After all, what’s the value of that sugared water being sold at a huge mark-up compared to having a long-lasting patronage with people? I tried asking two KFC personalities listed on LinkedIn. No answer as of press time.

So, I asked Jollibee: Here’s the reply of Dorothy Ching, marketing vice president at Jollibee: “In such instances, we replace the drink and/or food of the customer free of charge. This is consistent with our Alagang Jollibee brand of customer service.”

It could be an industry protocol. Like my preference for Makati hotels, I’ve no particular loyalty to any hotel. My presence at KFC is purely coincidental. Blame it on my two, spoiled grade school grandsons who can spell the word “puberty” in four seconds but are having trouble with the word “probinsya” (province).

Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity improvement enthusiast. Contact him for free management insights on Facebook, LinkedIn, X or email [email protected] or via https://reyelbo.com