I’m not one of these “customer success enthusiasts” who scream from the top of the tallest building they can find that the cUsToMeR iS aLwAyS right for anyone who would listen.
But most marketers and biz owners do just that.
I’ll even take it a step further and say:
I hate the faux slap-happy attitude mfs in customer success have with you when you write into their live chat. “I’m so ecstatic and amazed you reached out John!!!!” barf.
These are all symptoms of a deeper problem:
The (wrong) belief that the customer is always right.
The customer is almost never right. This is especially true for copywriters, folks with a health and wellness biz, financial markets, real estate, and the list goes on.
Generally speaking, the more your customer has to know something (like a skill), the less likely they’re right. So that’s why customers might be right in retail biz’s or your run-of-the-mill ecommerce store.
But the businesses I work with?
And the clients I work with?
They’re almost never right.
One of my pet peeves (and many other copywriters’ pet peeves too) is when a client changes your copy.
I get it, I get it. I don’t always nail my clients’ voices. But I add certain words and phrases to my copy for a specific reason. Copywriters are the experts here, not the client. And clients would see more positive results from their copywriters if’n they let them use their expertise.
Imagine walking up to a chiropractor and correcting him when he doesn’t crack your back like you crack your back at home.
That’s what you do to copywriters when you edit their copy too much.
This is something I have to coach my clients on. And, if you’re a copywriter, I recommend you follow suit.
Because you are the expert and the customer is always wrong.
Or how about another example?
Most of my clients are in the same niche:
Alternative health and wellness.
And for whatever reason, these companies attract the worst of the “customer is always right” believers.
For example:
One of the biggest problems in this space is that supplements don’t treat or cure anything. Many supplements don’t help alleviate the symptoms our customers have. Instead, they help reverse the root problem. Which takes a lot longer. It’s the complete opposite to a “miracle pill” their doctors would give them.
But if you stick with it, it’s much more effective than a pharmaceutical drug.
Causes less wicked side effects.
And can actually free them from their problems, instead of disguising one symptom with another one (which can be better than the original symptom, but oftentimes is worse than the original).
In other words…
I have to convince customers to *not* listen to their bodies.
Here’s what I mean:
Taking a pharmaceutical drug *feels* better. Some literally make you high. Most get rid of a certain symptom or set of symptoms. And their potency is much more noticeable than a supplement.
Yet…
Most of these drugs wreak chaos in their body. They replace one symptom with another. One disease with another. They make it more likely you’ll suffer from viruses, bacteria, and infections. They can make you depressed and escort you down the brink of suicide. If you don’t believe me, just watch any pharmaceutical commercial on television.
If I believed the customer was always right, I would tell them to go stuff their throats with prescription drugs.
Instead, you must show them how supplements and lifestyle changes are more effective over the long term. How they’ll be happier, healthier, and yes, wealthier (prescription drugs ain’t cheap).
This also applies to lifting and personal trainers:
Lifting causes short-term pain and long-term happiness.
Not lifting or working out is easier. You won’t get sore. You won’t injure yourself. You won’t have to drag yourself to the gym for an hour or two a few times a week.
But then you’re more likely to gain fat, suffer from osteoporosis, and a bunch of other problems that can happen when you don’t prioritize working out.
(Not to mention, the immense popularity of cardio-based workouts for burning fat instead of strength training.)
See where I’m going here?
The customer is always wrong.
And your job is to convince them that they’re wrong without coming across like a selfish jerk.
Once you convince them that they’re wrong, you need to persuade them to buy your products — and make it seem like it was their idea. (Everyone got an ego…)
This is the long version of why the customer is always wrong.
I only have one client who understands direct response copy. The rest couldn’t pick up Halbert from Ogilvy in a lineup.
And so it is in your business.
If you’re an expert, you know more than your customers. It’s your job, nay, your duty, to educate your customers with your expertise (even if they don’t wanna hear it).
Reminds me of the old saying:
Tell them what they want, sell them what they need.
And this little mindset tweak (or whatever you wanna call it) is a powerful lil trick indeed.
If you need help straddling this gray line in your business…
And you have a proven offer…
And an email list…
Grab a Discovery Call that works for you here and let’s chat. If you’re a good fit, I’ll help you make more from email this year than you have in your whole business just a few years ago. (Results may, and will, vary. But this is something that happened with one of my clients.)
Easy-peasy.
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