Who says the customer is always right?

Probably the customer, especially if she thinks the marketing campaign you created to support her business' long-term growth strategy isn't working or if he thinks the auto part you sold him is just as defective as the one he wants to replace.

Chicago's Marshall Field and London's Harry Gordon Selfridge are the retail icons most often credited with developing the concept, and phrase, intended to give customers confidence that they will be treated fairly by the business they're doing business with.

And while sometimes the disconnect between what you promised and what your customer heard you promise is a legitimate misunderstanding (that you must solve anyway), sometimes a customer will force an untrue issue in an attempt to get something for nothing from your business.

So what do you do when a Yeah-but-the-customer-is-always-right issue arises?

Business 101 should have taught that you need to plan ahead for what often is an uncomfortable situation that you nonetheless can manage to keep losses to a minimum.

If you'd like to salvage the relationship, talk with your senior staff and assess how you may be able to repair the situation - remembering that you likely don't want to ignore other customers in the process.

"If something is not working out the way you or the client intended," writes veteran entrepreneur Brian Basilico, founder and president of B2b Interactive Marketing, Aurora, "you have to take a little time to investigate what options are out there.

"What else can you do? Maybe you need to hire someone else" to complete the job. Establish, if you can, where you and the customer heard things differently - and thus have different expectations.

Sometimes you get to the point where you and your customer agree to let go, Basilico says. In those situations, "You want to part on amicable terms."

Ending a relationship isn't necessarily easy. It may be important to do, however. "If your stress level is high; if you're investing a large amount of time and effort in a project that isn't going to work," it becomes important to remember that "Dollar signs are not everything," says Ellen Huxtable, owner, Batavia-based Advantage Business Concepts.

There are some judgments to make if you near the stage when firing the customer becomes necessary, Huxtable wrote in a blog earlier this year. Among the issues she says to consider: Your legal and financial risks; potential physical risks - i.e., harm to staff or facilities - and such operational risks as an angry client who may be in a position to try to damage your relationships with other clients.

"Know your exposure and risks," Huxtable says. "Work on the time, setting and content of your (firing) message to the customer, to maximize the odds of a gracious parting of the ways."

Fortunately, when the customer-business relationship isn't a good fit, most business owners and their customers can get to an amicable ending.

© 2018 Kendall Communications Inc. Follow Jim Kendall on LinkedIn and Twitter. Write him at Jim@kendallcom.com. Read Jim's Business Owners' Blog at kendallcom.com.