It’s a sales ethos carved into the commandments of doing business. It has been around since the dawn of commerce, passed down through the generations of customer-facing professionals. It is enduring, it is known.
“The customer is always right.”
But, hear us out, what if it’s also kind of, well, wrong?
No matter who you ask, in any sort of sales or service industry, they will probably have a story about an unruly or impolite customer making what is, at best, an unrealistic request, at worst a straight-up rude one.
In the promotional products industry, with so many hands touching the idea from the end-buyer up to the supplier, there is plenty of space for difficult customer interactions. This doesn’t always mean someone is being a jerk, mind you. It could be an especially creative end-buyer who has a really cool idea, but a distributor has to explain to them that the decoration isn’t feasible. Or, maybe it’s a distributor coming to a supplier with a plan, only for the supplier to have to deliver the bad news of longer turnaround times than expected.
The customer, in short, is not always right. And it’s the distributor’s job to guide them to a solution that makes everyone happy. That is much easier said than done. Navigating all parties to a solution — that isn’t a consolation prize so much as it’s just the best realistic option — takes skill, but it’s a necessary skill for any distributor or supplier in this industry.
We spoke with a few industry professionals who have learned the ways of letting their customers down gently, and finding ways to still make everyone happy.
Give Them Some Grace
First and foremost, it’s important to remember that even when a customer has a difficult ask, they’re (probably) not being difficult on purpose. Just like you, they want to provide what’s best for their own clients, and sometimes their imagination or customer-service brain gets away from them.
“Certainly, customers often make various requests, not necessarily to be difficult, but often because they may not fully understand what’s feasible,” Cliff Quicksell, president and CEO of Cliff Quicksell Associates & Quicksell Speaks, Walkersville, Maryland, says. “A good approach for any purchaser is to push boundaries to some extent. However, it’s crucial to set clear expectations from the outset.”
Quicksell adds that some of the problematic requests a customer might make include unrealistic turnaround times without additional charge, matching unrealistic competitor prices, unlimited revisions without considering the project’s scope, unreasonable levels of customization, seeking exclusivity without a long-term commitment, demanding free additional services like artwork, and expecting personalized customer service without a committed existing relationship.
Lay the Ground Rules
The way to manage these requests, he says, is to try to keep them from happening in the first place by establishing clear boundaries.
“By being proactive with customers from the start, many potential obstacles like timelines, freight issues, and supply chain disruptions can be anticipated and mitigated effectively,” he says. “Whether it’s from marketer to supplier or marketer to end-user, the crux lies in establishing expectations up front.”
This requires a bit of homework on the part of the distributor. For distributors who don’t do any of the decorating in-house, that part of the process could seem a little bit like magic. But — news flash — it’s not! It’s just a lot of work that sometimes can’t be done in the blink of an eye.
“I often question how well distributors and marketers truly understand their suppliers — knowing their capabilities and limitations can significantly streamline the process,” Quicksell says. “When odd requests arise, most suppliers are willing to go above and beyond to accommodate if feasible.”
And if the supplier says no?
“If a supplier initially declines, I always inquire about the reason behind it,” Quicksell says.
This is not like a child not taking no for an answer and repeatedly asking “Why?” to wear down their parents enough to the point that they say yes. It’s a learning moment to inform the next instance where you make a request of your supplier partners.
“Understanding constraints allows for creative problem-solving,” says Jessica Hiner, vice president of business development for The Magnet Group, Washington, Missouri. She adds that a lot of end-buyer ideas come from shopping or seeing products that are available on the retail side of things, and distributors need to explain the different supply chain in promo, and that it’s not as easy as a snap of the fingers to deliver a decorated product in bulk, especially if they want some premium retail brand that may or may not be in the promo space at all.
“[It’s about] having those discussions with customers as far as setting expectations, but also showcasing that you’re willing to go the extra mile to try and make something work if you know a customer is asking for something that you know might be a no on paper,” she says.
Thinking Outside the Box
Hiner had a customer in the insurance industry ask for a drinkware piece. It sounds straightforward enough, but the piece they wanted was especially in-demand at the moment, which made it difficult to deliver in the timeframe that the customer wanted.
“We didn’t have the inventory available to meet their deadline,” she says. “So we had to jump into some additional options that could meet the theme of that summer employee giveaway, but also give them something that would be useful.”
She went to the drawing board and presented them a few different product categories that she felt captured the spirit of the original idea, but would allow them to get the product in the employees’ hands in time.
“They actually jumped to something I would say completely on the other side of the table,” Hiner remembers. “It was actually a lantern that they ended up going with, but it was just based on hitting a lower price range [and] higher quantity.”
It was a classic example of a win-win, and allowed the end-buyer to make the promotional campaign even bigger than originally planned.
“They were actually able to purchase additional pieces because the item was less expensive than what they originally were intending to spend,” she adds. “So they were able to extend it out to some additional categories of employee base that they didn’t think that they would be.”
Standing Firm With ‘No’
Sometimes, even after discussions with everybody to try to set clear expectations and pivot where possible, the customer is still not satisfied. They might hold firm in their requests, thinking that if they are tenacious enough, the supply chain will miraculously speed up, or ink will magically take less time to dry.
Sometimes, though, the answer is just “no.” And Hiner says that distributors need to stick to their guns.
“It’s something where you have to get into some of the nitty gritty of ‘OK, what are you willing to accept as far as what is able to be done? Here are some of the products that are available within those [choices],’” she says.
Essentially, “Here’s what’s possible. Take it or leave it.” Hiner is just polite.
“Those constraints of what the project includes, what are the absolute yeses and nos that the customer will take,” she says. “Sometimes you can find something where they say, ‘You know, we’ll take the towel, but it can’t be XYZ color.’ ‘It can’t be imprinted in four [color process.]’”
In this instance, become a solutions provider, not just a salesperson.
“Throw out a few ideas that are completely out of left field, but giving them another opportunity of something that’s going to make a lasting impression,” she says. “It might be something that’s higher dollar value or it might be something that’s completely the other end of the spectrum as far as the product they’re asking for. But you’d be surprised on sometimes when it gets some gears turning on their side, and the project actually in some cases might steer toward your alternative suggestion versus what they asked for in the beginning.”
