Some time ago, I was reminded of an event that happened over two years ago. I had a custom shirt that got stained with ink… at the dry cleaner’s. After noticing the discoloration, I took the shirt back in, still in the plastic covering, and showed it to the manager. He insisted that the stains had been in the shirt when I had originally dropped it off.
I could clearly see that the ink was splattered in such a way that must have happened after the shirt had been hung up with others in the same bundle. As I calmly pointed out this obvious evidence to the manager, he became visibly agitated, snatched the garment from my hand, and growled that his company would pay for it.
Here’s the thing: I didn’t even want the cleaners to pay for it! At best, it was probably only worth half the price, because I had owned it for over a year. Regardless, I gave them the receipt for the full amount and they paid it. After this, I moved my account to a different dry cleaning company.
Instead of reacting in this way, the manager should have calmly focused on the information presented to him and said, “I am so sorry this happened, how can we make this right for you?” I would have told him that I only wanted half of the price. It would have saved his company over one hundred dollars, and they would have made many hundreds more in the future by keeping me as a customer. If he had approached the problem in this way, he would not have admitted that they were at fault, or that they were under any obligation to do what I asked.
This tactic provides a starting point for how the business person can negotiate a mutually agreeable solution that allows everybody to leave happily. The customer is not always right… but they are still always the customer.