CAPITAL IDEAS UPCOMING EVENTS
C A P I TA L Q U E S T I O N
IS IT TRUE THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT? Entrepreneurs give their thoughts on the age-old business slogan
DECEMBER 15: N E B A M I X E R & H O L I DAY CELEBRATION Join the North Edmonton Business Association for their last mixer event of the year. ■■ Where: Royal Canadian Legion (14339 50 St.) ■■ When: 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. ■■ Admission: Free. Details at neba.ca
“50 per cent of customers are wrong to the degree that when they enter your business half of them are looking at the wrong product, they actually need a better model or lesser model. Be it selling a vehicle, insurance or construction what the customer thinks they need is not what they really need. As a professional, it is your job to guide them to the best product for their needs without making them feel wrong. That is called salesmanship.” Mark Emenau, CEO of Exelect Recruiting Inc., exelect.com
“If you or your company caused the problem, apologize, fix it and reward the customer. It’s always a rewarding challenge to change the difficult customer into a delightful customer. But know that you always have the right to fire that customer. It’s a great discussion starter when I am coaching or instructing in professional sales.”
DECEMBER 15: AWE: ROADMAP FOR SUCCESS A business planning workshop to help increase your odds of success. ■■ Where: 10310 Jasper Ave., Unit 308 ■■ When: 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ■■ Admission: $69. Tickets at awebusiness.com/calendar JANUARY 12: IMPACT LUNCHEON 2016 Edmonton Economic Development Corporation’s CEO shares the vision for Edmonton’s continued success as a driver of Alberta’s growth. ■■ Where: Shaw Conference Centre (10310 Jasper Ave) ■■ When: 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ■■ Admission: $120. Details at eedc.ca/thinking/impact For more great events, visit capitalideasedmonton.com/ edmontonevents.
COMMUNITY QUESTION
What does employee health and wellness mean at your business?
There are many pressures in the modern workplace that create challenges for owners and any HR staff, including multiple generations of employees with different approaches to the workday, constant connection causing burnout and people taking care of children or an elderly parent. Daryl Smith, president of Benefit Strategies Inc. (benefitstrategiesinc.ca) is curious to hear about work-life balance and benefits offered at your workplace: What does employee health and wellness mean at your business? You can answer the question in two ways: Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member or visit capitalideasedmonton.com. We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on December 16.
Business owners helping business owners
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Jim Spiers, coach, facilitator and mentor at Microbusiness Training Centre, microbusiness.ca
experience.”
“While the customer may not always be right. They are NEVER wrong. Problems and challenges will always arise. How you handle it is what your customers will remember. Handle these challenging situations in a positive way, and they will remember a great service
Keith Soubliere, general manager for Beyond Vision Optometrists, beyondvision.ca
“We begin by teaching our clients to ask is this the right customer? Are they a good fit for our business? Can we provide value they will pay a premium for? Can we serve them profitably? Do we like them? Once the answer to those questions is yes, the matter of the customer always being right is no longer an issue.” Jeffrey Cullen, co-founder of BaseCamp4 Inc., basecamp4.ca
Vicky Walker, founder of Empor Consulting (emporconsulting.ca), does believe that the customer is always right. “The customer’s perspective is based upon information available as applied to their business. If there is a misalignment between my perspective and theirs, then the onus is on me to educate and ask questions in a way that allows the customer to envision things in a new way. Maybe I’m the one that gets educated. Either way, that shared insight gives us the opportunity to come up with new solutions that we co-created and voila, they’re right!” P H O TO S U P P L I E D BY: V I C KY WALKE R
“In short, no, the customer is not always right. The reason being is that they have hired me to execute a task that they are not able to execute - they, generally, are not an expert in the field, so for them to be right is pretty unlikely.”
Ameet Khabra, online marketing specialist, ameetkhabra.marketing
“Essentially yes, customers can tell you when they are unsatisfied with their experience but they’re often wrong on what the remedy is. When something is causing an adverse customer experience you must determine the root of the problem in order to properly address it instead of dealing with the symptom.” Zachary Beaudoin, president of Praxia Entertainment, praxiaentertainment.com
“I believe that the customer should always feel that they are being treated with respect and listened to. However, I think it’s a myth to say the customer is always right. The customer may be asking for something which is not possible or ethical. It is the role of the representative of the company to take the time to understand the customer’s perspective and then to respectfully explore and explain what can be done.” Claudia Verburgh, founder and principal consultant at Engaging Workplaces, johncmaxwellgroup.com/claudiaverburgh
These answers are in response to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take on the classic business phrase: “Of course the customer isn’t always right. But, it certainly does matter what that customer thinks. In today’s world of social media and instant news, a reputation can be built or destroyed on how we handle and help each and every customer, every time. The view we have at ATB is that every interaction with our customers is an opportunity to deliver WOW – even if it is just making something right in the eyes of our customer. And, even if the customer is wrong, we know we aren’t so perfect either so we are going to work very hard to find a way to make that customer happy.”
R O U N D U P : R E C E N T P O S T S F R O M C A P I TA L I D E A S M E M B E R S Find the full posts on these members’ LinkedIn profiles. We’ll curate a selection every Friday in our LinkedIn group, Capital Ideas Alberta. To bring yours to our attention, email it to hello@capitalideasedmonton.com or post to LinkedIn with the hashtag #capitalideas.
From “It’s the most wonderful time... to post?” by Nikki Van Dusen, president of NikComm Inc. (nikcomm.ca):
“If you follow the advice of these posts, you’ll soon find yourself with the same problem as the holiday calendar. Everyone is doing it, and no one is winning. Because if everyone posts at the best time to post, your message gets drowned in the noise.”
From “Can mindfulness at work improve your customer service?” by Tema Frank, founder of Frank Online Marketing ( frankonlinemarketing.com):
“...many of us need training and practice to learn to still our minds and focus on true priorities. This can be especially important for customer service staff, who are often caught up in stressful situations, yet have to stay calm. It’s also huge when it comes to dealing with co-workers.”
From “Startup growth isn’t shaped like a silver bullet” by Amanda Poetker, owner of Strategy Twelve (strategytwelve.com):
“We hear all kinds of fantastically amazing stories about startup growth these days. We talk about our Ubers and Airbnbs like there was never any doubt that these companies would become wildly successful. For a lot of people these companies seem to have appeared and grown to millions of users out of thin air, but that simply isn’t the case.”
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