t king!

Let’s take web design for example or even newspaper and magazine publishing these are highly skilled, specialized services we offer to our customers and, in exchange, we ask for their money. As in every barter system (even a monetized one) a certain amount of haggling takes place. We explain in detail what we do, why and how much we charge, the customer cherry-picks some services, discards others and, of the ones accepted, tries to squeeze as much added-value as possible. So far so good. We each know where we sWe’re so used to thinking that business is all about margins and bottom line ink that we sometimes accept dictums without thinking about their content and implications.

Take customer service for instance. Each transaction is an implicit contract between two suppliers each offering a very specific item (and I’m using the term item generically here to include both services/products and currency). The customer comes offering currency and asking to exchange it for a service or a product.

Under the very sound criteria of the old medieval village marketplace barter system the customer is prepared to haggle and expects to get the best value possible for what he is offering. In this case it’s money so the quality of the customer’s offering is determined by the size of the price he is being asked to pay.

At this point the customer will want, like his medieval counterpart, to make sure he is not sold a sub-standard service or product. Some sort of exchange will take place explaining what he will get for his money and what guarantee comes with it.

So far, so good. Everything is cosher and everyone understands what they’re supposed to do. Then, spoiling things a little comes the blind dictum of customer service professionals who think that a kneejerk reaction is always the key to providing good customer service: “The Customer Is Always Right".

Admittedly there is good reason why this evolved in the first place. The medieval market place did have a certain notoriety for lack of customer complaint departments and a surfeit of edged weapons so something had to be done to avoid the cleaning up that had to be done after each time claret had been spilled.

So, “The Customer Is Always Right" and “The Customer Is King" were born. Like all good ideas these made sense (and they still do) up to a point. Like all good ideas they require a certain degree of common sense in their application.

We’re prepared to raise gasps and eyebrows because we really believe that we provide better customer service by thinking that the customer is not always right and he is not king!

Let’s take web design for example or even newspaper and magazine publishing these are highly skilled, specialized services we offer to our customers and, in exchange, we ask for their money. As in every barter system (even a monetized one) a certain amount of haggling takes place. We explain in detail what we do, why and how much we charge, the customer cherry-picks some services, discards others and, of the ones accepted, tries to squeeze as much added-value as possible. So far so good. We each know where we steria of the old medieval village marketplace barter system the customer is prepared to haggle and expects to get the best value possible for what he is offering. In this case it’s money so the quality of the customer’s offering is determined by the size of the price he is being asked to pay.

At this point the customer will want, like his medieval counterpart, to make sure he is not sold a sub-standard service or product. Some sort of exchange will take place explaining what he will get for his money and what guarantee comes with it.

So far, so good. Everything is cosher and everyone understands what they’re supposed to do. Then, spoiling things a little comes the blind dictum of customer service professionals who think that a kneejerk reaction is always the key to providing good customer service: “The Customer Is Always Right".

Admittedly there is good reason why this evolved in the first place. The medieval market place did have a certain notoriety for lack of customer complaint departments and a surfeit of edged weapons so something had to be done to avoid the cleaning up that had to be done after each time claret had been spilled.

So, “The Customer Is Always Right" and “The Customer Is King" were born. Like all good ideas these made sense (and they still do) up to a point. Like all good ideas they require a certain degree of common sense in their application.

We’re prepared to raise gasps and eyebrows because we really believe that we provide better customer service by thinking that the customer is not always right and he is not king!

Let’s take web design for example or even newspaper and magazine publishing these are highly skilled, specialized services we offer to our customers and, in exchange, we ask for their money. As in every barter system (even a monetized one) a certain amount of haggling takes place. We explain in detail what we do, why and how much we charge, the customer cherry-picks some services, discards others and, of the ones accepted, tries to squeeze as much added-value as possible. So far so good. We each know where we somes with it.

So far, so good. Everything is cosher and everyone understands what they’re supposed to do. Then, spoiling things a little comes the blind dictum of customer service professionals who think that a kneejerk reaction is always the key to providing good customer service: “The Customer Is Always Right".

Admittedly there is good reason why this evolved in the first place. The medieval market place did have a certain notoriety for lack of customer complaint departments and a surfeit of edged weapons so something had to be done to avoid the cleaning up that had to be done after each time claret had been spilled.

So, “The Customer Is Always Right" and “The Customer Is King" were born. Like all good ideas these made sense (and they still do) up to a point. Like all good ideas they require a certain degree of common sense in their application.

We’re prepared to raise gasps and eyebrows because we really believe that we provide better customer service by thinking that the customer is not always right and he is not king!

Let’s take web design for example or even newspaper and magazine publishing these are highly skilled, specialized services we offer to our customers and, in exchange, we ask for their money. As in every barter system (even a monetized one) a certain amount of haggling takes place. We explain in detail what we do, why and how much we charge, the customer cherry-picks some services, discards others and, of the ones accepted, tries to squeeze as much added-value as possible. So far so good. We each know where we s something had to be done to avoid the cleaning up that had to be done after each time claret had been spilled.

So, “The Customer Is Always Right" and “The Customer Is King" were born. Like all good ideas these made sense (and they still do) up to a point. Like all good ideas they require a certain degree of common sense in their application.

We’re prepared to raise gasps and eyebrows because we really believe that we provide better customer service by thinking that the customer is not always right and he is not king!

Let’s take web design for example or even newspaper and magazine publishing these are highly skilled, specialized services we offer to our customers and, in exchange, we ask for their money. As in every barter system (even a monetized one) a certain amount of haggling takes place. We explain in detail what we do, why and how much we charge, the customer cherry-picks some services, discards others and, of the ones accepted, tries to squeeze as much added-value as possible. So far so good. We each know where we st king!

Let’s take web design for example or even newspaper and magazine publishing these are highly skilled, specialized services we offer to our customers and, in exchange, we ask for their money. As in every barter system (even a monetized one) a certain amount of haggling takes place. We explain in detail what we do, why and how much we charge, the customer cherry-picks some services, discards others and, of the ones accepted, tries to squeeze as much added-value as possible. So far so good. We each know where we stand.

If things should go wrong (slippage in delivery schedule, a logo that the customer does not like, a website that needs some tweaking) we’re prepared to listen, explain and deliver.

And now it gets a little grey.

Because the customer is paying for a highly skilled, specialized service we make sure we listen carefully, ask the right questions and work hard to provide the right product. This is not unlike the medieval village swordsmith asking you what you will use your sword for. If all you want is a dress-piece, you need something lightweight and showy. If you’re going to do some pillaging on the other hand you really need a sturdy piece that will not let you down and the village swordsmith will explain this while he’s making it for you.

It’s the same with us. The customer may have an idea of what he wants it does not mean it’s exactly right for the job. Delivering a specialized product that will be the best possible in the field our customer is sallying forth in, is, really, our job.

While we’re prepared to listen to every customer complaint to blindly accept, without thinking, that the “Customer Is Always Right" and “The Customer Is King" is tantamount to committing professional suicide. Like the medieval swordsmith of our example, should he have given in to customer demand and produced a lightweight, showy piece for the battlefield and a heavy-duty, business-meaning broadsword for the drawing room dance floor, he’d find that not only would he be losing customers (quite literally) but would also be gaining a bad reputation for his services.

Customers come to us because we’re really good at what we do. We’re grateful for their custom and take care to treat each one the same way we’d like to be treated as customers ourselves. We listen, we think, we deliver beyond expectation.

We also protect them from themselves.

That is why we have ten reasons which explain why customers should choose us beyond everybody else and, at the same time, decide not to work with us and choose someone else.

Our ten reasons for and ag