{"id":1358,"date":"2017-11-01T12:58:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T20:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.checkworks.com\/blog\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2020-10-15T14:59:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T22:59:56","slug":"is-the-customer-is-king-all-its-cracked-up-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/is-the-customer-is-king-all-its-cracked-up-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Is “The Customer Is King” All It’s Cracked up to Be?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By MJ Plaster<\/p>\n

Suspend reality for a moment and pretend business doesn\u2019t answer to its gods, the shareholders\u2014or in the case of small-to-medium businesses, monied interests. Whom would you choose for top billing\u2014customer or employee? Before you make up your mind, read about some of the success stories at companies who put their employees first.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Virgin Enterprise<\/strong>
\nSir Richard Branson, who runs the Virgin empire, ranks shareholders concerns dead last in third place. In his universe, his extremely successful universe, the employee is king, followed by the customer. In an interview with Forbes<\/a>, Branson says he wanted to get away from \u201cStepford Service\u201d by taking \u201c[an] informal approach to customer service at all our Virgin brands.\u201d What he means is, \u201cFree the employees to be themselves,\u201d within reason. He doesn\u2019t value cookie-cutter employees. When something goes wrong, he insists on quick resolution. That has proven a winning combination across his franchise.<\/p>\n

Ford Motor Company<\/strong>
\nPutting employees first is not some new-age concept. If we harken back to the early days of Ford Motor Company when the company introduced the assembly line, we find that Henry Ford paid his employees the then-exorbitant wage of $5 per day, double the average wage. It wasn\u2019t altruism. He believed not only that employees should be able to buy the products they make but also that his sales would increase if his employees could afford to drive a Ford. Regardless of his intent, how many other workers could afford a Model T back in the day?<\/p>\n

U.S. Airlines<\/strong>
\nWhen Southwest Airlines (then Texas Air Southwest) began shuttling passengers among Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, the public snored, but the big airline executives revolted all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear their case against Southwest. How dare a little competitor invade their fiefdom! The big airlines did manage to relegate Southwest to smaller airports. As an unintended consequence, passengers enjoy easier, less stressful access to airports when flying Southwest.<\/p>\n

As Southwest began to grow, other airline employees took note of the employees\u2019 free-wheeling, playful interactions with customers and their equally casual attire. Flying Southwest was fun\u2014not only for the customers but also for the employees. Airline personnel pointed to the company\u2019s competitive pay scale. To recap, Southwest let\u2019s its employees be themselves, they work in a fun environment, and they are paid handsomely to do it. Most Southwest employees will tell you they love working for the airline. How does this affect the customer? Flying Southwest is one of the most pleasurable ways to fly if you don\u2019t mind flying in coach.<\/p>\n

Small Business<\/strong>
\nThe employee-centric model holds true for small business as well. Southerners have an expression: \u201cIf Mama isn\u2019t happy, no one\u2019s happy.\u201d In this case, \u201cMama\u201d represents the workforce and \u201cno one\u201d represents the customer. Specifically, when managers and owners show their appreciation and gratitude to their teams, and foster a pleasant working environment, the customer wins in the end.<\/p>\n

In an interview with CheckWorks, Dale Rodgers<\/a>, owner of Armed Exterminators, says that \u201cpeople first\u201d is his M.O. \u201cMy employees are number one, followed closely by our customers. Without happy employees, you won\u2019t have happy customers,\u201d Rodgers says. \u201cOur customers know us and trust us. We get very good referrals for our service, and we treat them well. Our employees know how to speak to [the customers] and how to treat them; they\u2019re always polite. We\u2019re blessed with great employees.\u201d His employees have extended the model of respect to the company\u2019s customers, and everyone\u2019s happy.<\/p>\n

Can \u201cEmployee is King\u201d Go Too Far?<\/strong>
\nWhole Foods has a bit of a sordid reputation\u2014even among its loyal customers. This cloud rests on pricing and misguided or misinformed employees. Business Insider<\/a> reports that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey conceded in a town hall meeting to prioritizing employees over customers \u201cto the detriment of the customer.\u201d For example, who benefited from employees were telling customers that the stores were GMO-free? <\/a>The customer or the employee? It sure made life easier on employees who were ill-informed at best. Customers were happy until they learned otherwise.<\/p>\n

Amazon acquired Whole Foods this year. The online behemoth has already addressed customers\u2019 most vocal complaint\u2014price. They have cut dozens of prices by 25 percent. Minimal interaction with Amazon takes place only in the event something goes wrong, and I can tell you from experience, they are quick to handle complaints. Customer service spares no cost to make customers happy.<\/p>\n

For example, when a Prime delivery reaches customers late for any reason, Amazon extends an addition month of the premium service free of charge. For me, it translated into six free months tacked on to last year\u2019s subscription. So far, I\u2019m one month into the new year, and I have received a free month. However, their superb customer service has little bearing how Amazon treats its employees, which is deplorable according to The New York Times<\/a>. Amazon disputes the report.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the verdict? Unless you are willing to pay your employees extortion-rate wages and salaries, their well-being should be of paramount importance\u2014as long as it translates into a superior customer experience.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my opinion. What\u2019s yours? Let us know on our Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MJ Plaster Suspend reality for a moment and pretend business doesn\u2019t answer to its gods, the shareholders\u2014or in the case of small-to-medium businesses, monied interests. Whom would you choose for top billing\u2014customer or employee? Before you make up your mind, read about some of the success stories at companies who put their employees first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,31],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1846,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions\/1846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.checkworks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}