We’ve all heard this phrase. We may well have used it ourselves.

Is the customer always right though? What if they are not?

The customer, most emphatically, is not always right. You know your skills, products and services better than anyone I would hope. As a First Aid Trainer I’m supposed to know the First Aid manual forwards and backwards, just like a Driving Instructor needs to know every page of the Highway code.

Sometimes I get challenged by a learner as to a ‘fact’ that I am certain is wrong. ‘Cough CPR’ is one – Google it (it’s false advice). There are others that I’m not sure about, in which case I say “Hands-up, I don’t know. I’ll look it up and report back”. It’s no great shame to admit you are wrong. That’s better than blundering through giving false information out.

Confidence comes with experience. It can be hard as a new trainer if you are challenged about something, but dealing with that becomes easier over time. If you are certain about something, don’t hesitate to stand by your belief. I do, even if I have been known to do a quick look-up on the sly just to confirm, sometimes. Well, you never know. And don’t be afraid to admit you were wrong, if you were.

Some recent examples. Would you agree or disagree?

  • I took a phone call this week from someone that wanted his football team to have some first aid skills. Fair play, but he wanted a trainer by the field one practice evening and he would send out members regularly for a 1/2 hour course. I explained that you couldn’t possible teach someone CPR and defibrillation to a decent standard in that time. He disagreed and has gone off to find a more compliant Training Company. I’d rather turn down the work than compress an hour or more’s tuition into 30 minutes. What do you think?
  • A great friend of mine that trained alongside me in the Red Cross shared the ‘cough CPR’ post that does the rounds from time to time on Facebook. Sharing without thinking and I have to say that I had words. Someone that should have known better. If you read this, you know who you are!! We’re still friends.
  • Someone in the written test on a course recently thought that heat exhaustion would lead to flushed, sweaty skin. Surely if you’ve been moving about in the heat you will be flushed? Got marked wrong. Learner couldn’t believe it, so looked it up in a few different first aid manuals before grumpily concluding that it’s pale & sweaty, not flushed & sweaty. Actually, that someone was me. I’d been wrong all this time. I was incognito on an Outdoor course to learn some new skills, get some CPD and steal some ideas. Oh, and apparently learn the correct Signs & Symptoms for heat exhaustion. Oh well, pobody’s nerfect.
  • *I’ll flesh this out when I remember exactly what* A learner on a recent course was convinced about a ‘fact’ she raised as a question to me during the class, the details of which currently escapes me. It was a two-day course, so overnight she looked it up. The next day, I’d forgotten about it but she brought it up and had the good grace to admit her ‘fact’ was wrong. Really wish I could remember what it was!
  • I’ve had learners outright refuse to accept a fact and I’ve even had to shut them down as firmly and empathetically as I can when they keep insisting so that disinformation is not spread to the rest of the class. Sometimes you are left with no choice.

So there you go. We’re not all perfect – that’s why we have erasers on the ends of pencils but have confidence in your knowledge and realise that the customer is not always right.

Oh, and the origins of that famous quote? As it turns out we may have been quoting it incorrectly anyway. Sometimes attributed to Harry Selfridge (he of the posh shops), it could be

* I always thought it meant that if the customer wanted something I thought vulgar, it was the customer’s choice, but it seems to mean “look at what sells”. The customer decides which variant of a range is worth purchasing, not you.

Andy

Author: Andy