View source for Notable quotes about customers

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  | text = The biggest needle movers will be things that customers don’t know to ask for. We must invent on their behalf.<ref>{{cite web |title=2018 Letter to Shareholders |url=https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/company-news/2018-letter-to-shareholders |website=About Amazon Europe |publisher=Amazon |access-date=18 December 2025 |date=11 April 2019 |author=Jeff Bezos}}</ref>
  | author = {{Jeff Bezos/attribution}}
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  | text = You've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can't start with the technology and try to figure out where you're going to try to sell it.<ref>{{cite web |title=Steve Jobs: Apple WWDC 1997 Closing Keynote |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF-tKLISfPE |website=YouTube |publisher=Apple Inc. |access-date=18 December 2025 |date=13 May 1997 |author=Steve Jobs}}</ref>
  | author = {{Steve Jobs/attribution}}
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  | text = Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gates |first=Bill |title=Business @ the Speed of Thought: Using a Digital Nervous System |publisher=Warner Books |date=1999 |isbn=978-0446525688 |pages=5}}</ref>
  | author = {{Bill Gates/attribution}}
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  | text = There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.<ref>{{cite book |last=Drucker |first=Peter F. |title=The Practice of Management |publisher=Harper & Row |date=1954 |isbn=978-0060878979 |pages=37}}</ref>
  | author = {{Peter Drucker/attribution}}
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  | text = It also involves romancing the customer and romancing all the senses in the store experience.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schultz |first=Howard |title=Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time |publisher=Hyperion |date=1997 |isbn=978-0786883561 |pages=250}}</ref>
  | author = {{Howard Schultz/attribution}}
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  | text = We needed to build deeper empathy for our customers and their unarticulated and unmet needs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nadella |first=Satya |title=Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone |publisher=HarperCollins |date=2017 |isbn=978-0062652508 |pages=141}}</ref>
  | author = {{Satya Nadella/attribution}}
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  | text = Customers first, employees second, and shareholders third.<ref>{{cite web |title=Registration Statement (Form F-1): Alibaba Group Holding Limited |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1577552/000119312514184994/d709111df1.htm |website=SEC.gov |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |access-date=18 December 2025 |date=6 May 2014 |author=Jack Ma}}</ref>
  | author = {{Jack Ma/attribution}}
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  | text = If we are delighting customers, eliminating unnecessary costs and improving our products and services, we gain strength.<ref>{{cite web |title=2005 Letter to Shareholders |url=https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2005ltr.pdf |website=BerkshireHathaway.com |publisher=Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |access-date=18 December 2025 |date=28 February 2006 |author=Warren Buffett}}</ref>
  | author = {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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  | text = The customer is sometimes wrong. We don't carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say "Fly somebody else."<ref>{{cite book |last=Freiberg |first=Kevin |title=Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success |publisher=Bard Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-1885167187 |pages=269–270}}</ref>
  | author = {{Herb Kelleher/attribution}}
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  | text = A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.<ref>{{cite book |last=LeBoeuf |first=Michael |title=How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |date=1987 |isbn=978-0399132612 |pages=17}}</ref>
  | author = {{Michael LeBoeuf/attribution}}
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  | text = You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.<ref>{{cite news |title=Steve Jobs: The Next Insanely Great Thing |url=https://www.inc.com/magazine/19890401/5602.html |work=Inc. |date=1989-04-01 |access-date=2025-12-19 |author=Gendron, George}}</ref>
  | author = {{Steve Jobs/attribution}}
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  | text = As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product.<ref>{{cite book |last=Raskin |first=Jef |title=The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional |date=2000 |isbn=978-0201379372 |pages=5}}</ref>
  | author = {{Jef Raskin/attribution}}
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  | text = There is only one boss—the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.<ref>{{cite book |last=Soderquist |first=Don |title=The Wal-Mart Way |publisher=Thomas Nelson |date=2005 |publisher=Thomas Nelson |date=2005 |isbn=978-0785261193 |pages=55 |chapter=The Customer is the Boss}}</ref>
  | author = {{Sam Walton/attribution}}
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  | text = Delighted customers are the only advertisement everyone believes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Ron |title=Lift Me Up! Service with a Smile: 101 Bright Ideas to Make Your Customers Smile |publisher=UP! Your Service |date=2005 |isbn=978-9810527655 |pages=84}}</ref>
  | author = {{Ron Kaufman/attribution}}
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  | text = Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cuban |first=Mark |title=How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It |publisher=Diversion Books |date=2011 |isbn=978-1626810914 |pages=24 |chapter=The Sport of Business}}</ref>
  | author = {{Mark Cuban/attribution}}
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  | text = The best way to hold customers is to constantly figure out how to give them more for less.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kotler |first=Philip |title=Marketing Insights from A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Needs to Know |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |date=2003 |isbn=978-0471268673 |pages=43 |chapter=Customers}}</ref>
  | author = {{Philip Kotler/attribution}}
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  | text = Sham Harga had run a successful eatery for many years by always smiling, never extending credit, and realizing that most of his customers wanted meals properly balanced between the four food groups: sugar, starch, grease, and burnt crunchy bits.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pratchett |first=Terry |title=Men at Arms |publisher=Victor Gollancz Ltd |date=1993 |isbn=978-0575055032 |pages=34}}</ref>
  | author = {{Terry Pratchett/attribution}}
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  | text = We see a lot of feature-driven product design in which the cost of features is not properly accounted. Features can have a negative value to customers because they make the products more difficult to understand and use. We are finding that people like products that just work. It turns out that designs that just work are much harder to produce that designs that assemble long lists of features.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crockford |first=Douglas |title=JavaScript: The Good Parts |publisher=O'Reilly Media, Inc. |date=2008 |isbn=978-0596517748 |pages=111 |chapter=Appendix C: The Bad Parts}}</ref>
  | author = {{Douglas Crockford/attribution}}
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  | text = Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.<ref>{{cite book |last=Disney Institute |first= |title=Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service |publisher=Disney Editions |date=2001 |isbn=978-0786854752 |pages=32}}</ref>
  | author = {{Walt Disney/attribution}}
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  | text = Customer service shouldn't just be a department, it should be the entire company.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hsieh |first=Tony |title=Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose |publisher=Business Plus |date=2010 |isbn=978-0446563048 |pages=152}}</ref>
  | author = {{Tony Hsieh/attribution}}
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	| text = We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.<ref>{{cite news |title=From Bill Gates to Jeff Bezos: Thoughts on consumers |url=https://www.forbesindia.com/article/thoughts/from-bill-gates-to-jeff-bezos-thoughts-on-consumers/75589/1 |work=Forbes India |date=2022-04-22 |access-date=2025-12-19 |author=Forbes India Staff}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Jeff Bezos/attribution}} 
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	| text = If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.<ref>{{cite news |last=Anders |first=George |title=Relentless.com |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB94322434193566141 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=1999-11-22 |access-date=2025-12-19}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Jeff Bezos/attribution}} 
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	| text = The best advertising is done by satisfied customers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kotler |first=Philip |title=Marketing Management: Millennium Edition |publisher=Prentice Hall |date=2000 |isbn=978-0130122155}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Philip Kotler/attribution}} 
  }}
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	| text = Make a customer, not a sale.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top Customer Service Quotes: 10 Thoughts Every Business Can Live By |url=https://www.vonage.com/resources/articles/top-customer-service-quotes-10-thoughts-every-business-live-by/ |website=Vonage |author=Vonage Editorial |date=October 27, 2022 |access-date=December 19, 2025}}</ref>  
	| author = {{Katherine Barchetti/attribution}}  
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	| text = Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for.<ref>{{cite book |last=Drucker |first=Peter F. |title=Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles |publisher=Harper & Row |date=1985 |isbn=9780060913601 |pages=228 |chapter=The Emergence of the Entrepreneurial Economy}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Peter Drucker/attribution}} 
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	| text = They may forget what you said — but they will never forget how you made them feel.<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard L. |title=Richard L. Evans' Quote Book |publisher=Publishers Press |date=1971 |pages=244}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Carl W. Buehner/attribution}} 
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	| text = The best customer service is if the customer doesn't need to call you, doesn't need to talk to you. It just works.<ref>{{cite web |title=2011 Letter to Shareholders |url=https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2011-letter-to-shareholders |website=About Amazon |publisher=Amazon.com, Inc. |access-date=December 19, 2025 |date=April 11, 2012 |author=Jeff Bezos}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Jeff Bezos/attribution}} 
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	| text = Excellent customer service is the number one job in any company. It is the personality of the company and the reason customers come back. Without customers, there is no company.<ref>{{cite web |title=20 Great Customer Experience Quotes |url=https://www.customerthermometer.com/customer-experience/20-great-customer-experience-quotes/ |website=Customer Thermometer |access-date=December 19, 2025 |date=August 19, 2019 |author=Customer Thermometer Team}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Connie Elder/attribution}} 
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	| text = If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Nerd of the Amazon |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeff-bezos-the-nerd-of-the-amazon/ |work=60 Minutes |publisher=CBS News |date=1999-06-20 |author=Simon, Bob}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Jeff Bezos/attribution}} 
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	| text = Don't find customers for your products, find products for your customers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Godin |first=Seth |title=This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See |publisher=Portfolio |date=2018 |isbn=978-0525540830 |pages=14 |chapter=Not for everyone}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Seth Godin/attribution}} 
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	| text = It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kilpatrick |first=Andrew |title=Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett |publisher=AKPE |date=2007 |isbn=978-1578644155 |page=1023}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Warren Buffett/attribution}} 
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	| text = We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.<ref>{{cite book |last=Durant |first=Will |title=The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=1926 |isbn=9780671739164 |pages=87 |chapter=Aristotle and Greek Science}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Will Durant/attribution}} 
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	| text = The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them — preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.<ref>{{cite book |last=Branson |first=Richard |title=Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur |publisher=Virgin Books |date=2008 |isbn=978-0753515037 |pages=227}}</ref> 
	| author = Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group {{Richard Branson/attribution}} 
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	| text = The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fischer |first=Louis |title=The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas |publisher=Vintage Books |date=1962 |isbn=9780375714665 |pages=35}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Mahatma Gandhi/attribution}} 
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	| text = Empowered and well-trained employees are the heart and soul of delivering outstanding customer experiences.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Value of Retail Customer Experience: 10 Quotes from Industry Leaders |url=https://www.edume.com/blog/retail-customer-experience-quotes |website=eduMe |publisher=eduMe |access-date=December 19, 2025 |date=June 15, 2023}}</ref> 
	| author = {{John Zimmer/attribution}} 
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	| text = Technology is not just a tool; it's the foundation of modern customer experience.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Value of Retail Customer Experience: 10 Quotes from Industry Leaders |url=https://www.edume.com/blog/retail-customer-experience-quotes |website=eduMe |publisher=eduMe |access-date=December 19, 2025 |author=eduMe Editorial Team}}</ref> 
	| author = {{Brian Chesky/attribution}} 
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