The Delicate Balance

Source

The customer is king is one of the most popular phrases in recent times, and almost every buyer has this statement on their lips, especially when they feel they've been violated in a business deal.

For the business owner, they will say that they are in business to make a profit. That's why there is a way a customer will haggle price with a businessperson, and they will ask questions like, "Do you want to put me out of business?"

Usually, when it comes to such instances as stated above, both parties resolve to a price agreeable to be fair and just for all involved. When such happens in businesses, we'd say that both the business and the customer have struck a balance. Thus, the business is said to be ethical when both the customer and the business finalize a deal without either party feeling cheated.

But sometimes business deals do not always close with a win-win situation for all parties involved. There are instances where a customer might feel cheated even when the businesspersonfeels the deal is fair. In situations like this, it's advisable for the businesspersonto ignore profit and focus on customer satisfaction, especially when the customer is a big-time patronizer.

As a professional economist, one paramount piece of advice I always give to business owners is not to make profit the sole aim of being in business. Customer satisfaction should weigh just as much as profit does in business decision-makingbecause one happy customer guarantees referral and continuous patronage, which ultimately ushers in sustainable growth for the business.

I had one time shared how my friend, who is a farmer, had issues with another farmer he had contracted to supply him with potato vines for planting.

The woman had gotten the vines, but unfortunately she couldn't transport them in time to my friend before the flood started. This delayed the whole planting process, as it was over 3 months before the flood cleared.
In order not to run at a loss, this lady didn't replace the old vines.

After the flood, instead of her purchasing fresh ones for the planting, as the old ones were almost all dead, she conveyed them to my friend like that, and they could barely do much with it.

So after making do with the few good vines, it was time for my friend to balance the lady, which he refused to do, citing that he wasn't satisfied with the condition and quantity of the vine.

Seeing how quickly everything escalated and how neither of both parties was ready to be at the losing end. I advised the lady to just let it slide for the sake of sustaining their business relationship, as my friend is one of her major customers.

Sadly, this lady didn't yield as she caused a lot of commotion, prompting my friend to pay her in full. My friend felt cheated, but I told him not to worry, and I assured him that his time would come.

My friend's time did come as the woman reached out for some assistance with a farmland in my friend's locality, and given how she cheated him on their potato deal, my friend declined helping her.

When he narrated the situation to me, I reminded him of the time that I told him his time would come, and when he asked how I was so sure, I made him understand that in business sometimes we win some and other times we get to be at the losing end.
But then, in order for our businesses to remain afloat, we need to know when to count our losses and move on.