A colleague of mine used to say that the customer is the customer: once
you worry about who's right or who's wrong, you're setting up a debate
that's really quite uninteresting from the customer's point of view.
So...the (alright, maybe not _the_, but certainly _an_) issue is the
relationship between the provider and the customer, with the objective
being that of making sure that the "education, enlightenment, counselling"
(to paraphrase slightly one of Alex's comments) is happening in a way that
is mutually relevant and mutually beneficial. Again, it's the
relationship that matters -- a relationship that is, in fact, two-way.
I'll grant -- this sounds almot fatuous. The fact is, these relationships
require enormous discipline, the right internal processes to support them,
and a phenomenal ability to hear what is being said and to calibrate your
own responses.
Cheers.
-- Ron Mallis 12 Chestnut Street Boston, MA 02108 ron2785@eworld.com phone 617-723-8362 fax 720-1935