Customer Relations

Seth Godin wrote this week about unreasonable customers, using an example of a couple on a one of his recent airplane flights that went ballistic over a very minor issue, becoming verbally abusive. He wonders, is there a point when customers should be banned? Just tossed out?

(Side note: a friend of mine who had a retail store at one point banned a customer. He said it was a great feeling after working in retail in his younger days and having to put up with all kinds of terrible behavior; after this customer repeatedly came in asking for an exception to his return policy, and becoming quite nasty about it, he gave her a refund on the condition she never darken his door again. His rationale: he wasn't making money from her anyway, and she was a big headache, and he had lots of customers who loved him and were easy to do business with.)

When I read Seth's post, my thoughts went in another direction, though.

This year I've spent a fair amount of time (about five weeks) in France. One of the many interesting things about that was observing just how much the customer/business interaction can differ in different cultures.

Here in the US, we're big believers in the "customer is always right" philosophy. Walk into a store, and the staff generally will cater to you. If you ignore them at first, they'll usually give you some space; ask for help, and they are there at your service. It's a little different in France.

The accepted, polite relationship, I quicky found, involves a little bit of deference on the part of the customer. For example, when you walk into your local bakery, you must greet the person behind the counter properly: Bonjour, madame or Bonjour, monsieur. When you know what you want, you ask for it politely. It will be handed to you wrapped in paper - not in a bag - because bags are a special perk for the best customers. (Keep coming back and behaving properly, and of course, you may become one of those customers.) You then politely wish the clerk or shop owner (you may not know which you are talking to) a good day as you leave.

If you don't do these things - if you act like an American at Starbucks, brusquely demanding those croissants or loaf of bread, talking on your cell phone as you complete the transaction - you are most certainly getting the stale bread.

After a few days in France, I found that little bit of politeness, and the slightest attitude that you are lucky to be shopping in that shop, went a long way and people were wonderfully pleasant and helpful. I got what I wanted and the transactions were pleasant. But it was certainly different than being at home.

Is the French way better or worse? Neither, I think. People seem to get what they want and go on happily, so who can say? But what it is different.

If you're going to do business in another culture, you need to understand these things. If you take an American attitude abroad with your business, you're likely to have problems.

Here in the US we tend to forget this; our home market is so big, and our culture is so well understood around the world, that we sometimes forget that other people have different ways. If you want to be successful working with them, however, it pays to learn how things work wherever you go.