The YOMBER Principle
By Blaine S. Greenfield
(NJSBDC Advisory Board)
What do the following situations have in common?
- A customer comes into your store and immediately begins to complain about high prices.
- Your top salesperson wants a raise and wants it now
- A person enters your restaurant makes a mistake ordering, then says it was your fault
- You forget to do the paperwork that will put a valued employee on your benefits plan
As you may have guessed, they are all problems that are typically encountered by small businesses. And with the exception of the last one, they are problems that are not necessarily your fault-- but that you have to deal with anyway.
The typical problem resolution approach has been to say, "The customer is always right." You then go about doing what you have to do to please the customer. That may or may not work in making the customer happy; however, it often leaves you (the small business owner) feeling annoyed, frustrated or worse.
Personally, I don't believe that the customer is always right. I have encountered many who are quite wrong. And not only are they wrong, they are frequently inconsiderate jerks.
I'd love to tell them that, too, yet I refrain from doing so because such an approach will only make matters worse. That is where the YOMBER Principle comes into play.
A famous columnist, H.L. Mencken, once had a person write to him, complaining about something he had written. Rather than argue, Mencken wrote back to the following effect: "Madam, you may be right." (Hence, the acronym YOMBER, which takes its letters from Mencken's response.) Left unsaid, of course, was the fact that the columnist may well have thought that the person was wrong. However, if you notice, his response made it unnecessary to verbalize such comments. Instead, they can be thought and not said.
Now back to the aforementioned problems. You can't get anywhere with arguing with your customers. So let them vent a bit, then respond.
Using the first scenario, if a customer was complaining about high prices, I'd listen to them and politely nod my head as I said, "You may be right." That makes them feel good since they at least think I'm on their side. I haven't argued with them, nor have I disagreed with them. When the customer got tired or stopped finding things to complain about, I then would have the opportunity to point out some sale items.
The same approach could be used in the other situations. Again, allow the customer, employee, salesperson or anybody else with a problem to express it. Try to be neutral, then apply the YOMBER Principle.
It works, not only with business problems, but with significant others, children, students--just about anybody you might encounter. And the beauty of the approach: It virtually eliminates all arguments!
At least try it. Then if you find the approach doesn't work, let me know. Who knows. You may be right.
Contact me at Blaine Greenfield Associates, 283 Bolton Road, East Windsor, NJ 08520-5503; (609)443-3781, E-mail: [email protected]
Blaine S. Greenfield heads his own East Windsor consulting firm, Blaine Greenfield Associates, and he also is a Professor of Business at Bucks County Community College. This semester, Blaine is teaching a "Marketing on the Internet" class--over the internet, of course. Information on the class is available at http://www.bucks.edu/distance/. In addition, he serves as a volunteer consultant for the Small Business Development Center at Mercer County Community College, and he has just been appointed as Chairperson of the statewide Advisory Board to the Small Business Development Center network.
Read more articles.
By Blaine S. Greenfield
(NJSBDC Advisory Board)
What do the following situations have in common?
- A customer comes into your store and immediately begins to complain about high prices.
- Your top salesperson wants a raise and wants it now
- A person enters your restaurant makes a mistake ordering, then says it was your fault
- You forget to do the paperwork that will put a valued employee on your benefits plan
As you may have guessed, they are all problems that are typically encountered by small businesses. And with the exception of the last one, they are problems that are not necessarily your fault-- but that you have to deal with anyway.
The typical problem resolution approach has been to say, "The customer is always right." You then go about doing what you have to do to please the customer. That may or may not work in making the customer happy; however, it often leaves you (the small business owner) feeling annoyed, frustrated or worse.
Personally, I don't believe that the customer is always right. I have encountered many who are quite wrong. And not only are they wrong, they are frequently inconsiderate jerks.
I'd love to tell them that, too, yet I refrain from doing so because such an approach will only make matters worse. That is where the YOMBER Principle comes into play.
A famous columnist, H.L. Mencken, once had a person write to him, complaining about something he had written. Rather than argue, Mencken wrote back to the following effect: "Madam, you may be right." (Hence, the acronym YOMBER, which takes its letters from Mencken's response.) Left unsaid, of course, was the fact that the columnist may well have thought that the person was wrong. However, if you notice, his response made it unnecessary to verbalize such comments. Instead, they can be thought and not said.
Now back to the aforementioned problems. You can't get anywhere with arguing with your customers. So let them vent a bit, then respond.
Using the first scenario, if a customer was complaining about high prices, I'd listen to them and politely nod my head as I said, "You may be right." That makes them feel good since they at least think I'm on their side. I haven't argued with them, nor have I disagreed with them. When the customer got tired or stopped finding things to complain about, I then would have the opportunity to point out some sale items.
The same approach could be used in the other situations. Again, allow the customer, employee, salesperson or anybody else with a problem to express it. Try to be neutral, then apply the YOMBER Principle.
It works, not only with business problems, but with significant others, children, students--just about anybody you might encounter. And the beauty of the approach: It virtually eliminates all arguments!
At least try it. Then if you find the approach doesn't work, let me know. Who knows. You may be right.
Contact me at Blaine Greenfield Associates, 283 Bolton Road, East Windsor, NJ 08520-5503; (609)443-3781, E-mail: [email protected]
Blaine S. Greenfield heads his own East Windsor consulting firm, Blaine Greenfield Associates, and he also is a Professor of Business at Bucks County Community College. This semester, Blaine is teaching a "Marketing on the Internet" class--over the internet, of course. Information on the class is available at http://www.bucks.edu/distance/. In addition, he serves as a volunteer consultant for the Small Business Development Center at Mercer County Community College, and he has just been appointed as Chairperson of the statewide Advisory Board to the Small Business Development Center network.
Read more articles.