The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz

Author:Mike Michalowicz [Michalowicz, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
ISBN: 9781101572313
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Published: 2012-07-04T14:00:00+00:00

THE CUSTOMER ISN’T ALWAYS RIGHT

One of the biggest fallacies in business is that old adage, “The customer is always right.” Stop for a minute and think about what that would actually mean for you if it were true. If “the customer” (translation: everyone who wants to do business with you) is always right, how can you possibly serve all of them well? Maybe you can keep some of them happy, but when you try to cater to all of your clients—top, bottom and everyone in between—you just end up being stretched too thin. You exhaust yourself trying to keep everyone happy, which is an impossible goal, anyway. You keep making mistakes and letting people down. Spinning plates, people. Spinning plates.

What’s worse is, if you hold on to this “customer-is-always-right” attitude, inevitably you’ll piss off one of your top clients, because you did something “right” for someone else and it distracted you, preventing you from doing something right for them. And we can’t have that. So let’s modify this old standard and make it true:

The customer is NOT always right, but…

The right customer IS always right.

If you defined your Immutable Laws and filled out your Assessment Chart, you should have a pretty good idea of who your top clients are, and what they have in common. These, your most promising clients, are the “right” clients, so they are allowed to be right…always. They can have (almost) anything they want, because they are your primary focus now. You want to discover all the right things you can do for them, since this will make you significantly better for them than your competition can dream of being.

Fortunately, your top clients are a lot alike. It’s a safe bet that they all want something similar, that they will communicate with you in much the same way, that they will share similar expectations. And, because they share your Immutable Laws, they’re probably a lot like you, too. It’s a no-brainer. You’ve got this. You can absolutely adopt the “customer is always right” policy when you’re only working with the right customers.

You’re probably thinking, “What if my other, non-priority clients want to be right, too?” Well, first of all, they do want to be right. People will always want to be right and get what they want and feel important. But your focus is on the top clients—not just because you want them to be happy, not just because you want to cultivate and expand those relationships, but also because you want more clients just like them. You want their doppelgangers (but not the scary kind that show up in horror movies) so that you can grow your top-client list, adding other people and businesses who meet your requirements, clients who get what you’re about and who have the potential to grow into a giant, record-breaking pumpkin.

Think of your business as a membership organization. All of the successful ones have rules on who can join. You need to be a graduate of this college, or you must participate this frequently, or you must pay these fees.

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