Most people know what that means but depending on which side of the table you sit on the answers can vary widely.
If you are a customer then you know what you expect of a company. You expect that promised goods or services are delivered on time and in good condition and if something goes wrong it is fixed and fixed to your satisfaction.
Most companies would agree with that but the fixing is in the detail. So many companies are driven by the mantra of “shareholder value” that many fixes are sometimes shabby and minimal and are completed at the cheapest possible cost rather than “doing the right thing”.
I always operated on the basis that doing the right thing by the customer was treating them in the way I would want to be treated. Once we knew how to fix an issue there was a quick calculation that we could afford it (it wouldn’t bust the company) and we worked from there. It was a matter of integrity, reputation, pride and an opportunity to show a customer how much we cared. Of course once we knew it was affordable we would then try to reduce the cost to us but without effecting the customer fix. It was essential that we found an effective solution but always “doing the right thing” by the customer.
Of course many companies tackle problems by being a reluctant and tight-fisted fixer, but what effect does that have on your reputation? Reputation is surely part of the credibility and the marketing value of the company. .
So many companies are driven by protecting shareholder value by looking at the specific cost of fixing a problem but in the long term this impacts on the reputational value of a business.
Not doing the right thing creates mistrust in customers.
An excellent article about “Doing the right thing” from Unherd
Doing the right thing by the customer is indeed the right thing.