The Customer Is NOT Always Right

If you’re going to innovate, you’re going to upset a few people

image by nakaridore

Before we get into this, I’m going to first clarify that you should do everything in your power to satisfy every single one of your customers.

It’s hard to argue against making customers happy, but I’m going to do it anyway, because living by the rule that the customer is always right is a dangerous game when you’re trying to innovate.

I’m not talking about Henry Ford pushing forward with the automobile while his customers allegedly clamored for faster horses. I’m asking you to decide whether you’re willing to bet everything on your solution.

Why you should seek out and embrace negative feedback

I get negative customer feedback quite often. Not a lot, but more than a little, because I solicit customer feedback at every opportunity. When that feedback goes negative, it’s usually because what I’m building or proposing or discussing doesn’t look, sound, or act like it’s supposed to. It doesn’t work like it should. It doesn’t offer the expected value proposition for the price.

Almost all of the fault is on me, and that’s fine.