Yes! Another curmugeon on the list. Let's hear it for "the customer
isn't always right". Is this a good starting place, a good attitude?
Frequently. And even more frequently better than the average
alternative. (This translates most powerfully into "don't make the
customer wrong".)
But what about the supplier? Doesn't he/she have something to say?
What about choice, variety and leadership? What about customers who
don't know what they want or who change their minds?
But saying it so boldly as "the customer isn't always right".
Wonderful.
It is useful here to distinguish between "the customer" and the
market. A business must give the market what it wants or die.
However, what the market "wants" is not written in stone and can be
influenced by the potential seller. After all, how can the market
know what it wants until its offered? A focus on (existing)
customers will often ignore the larger market and become the
millstone that sinks the company.
-- Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>