Notable quotes about customers: Difference between revisions

  | 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=2006}}</ref>

  | author = {{Peter Drucker/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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Sam Walton/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}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Michael LeBoeuf/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 = 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=2002}}</ref>

  | author = {{Mahatma Gandhi/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}

  }}

  | 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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  | author = {{SteveSatya JobsNadella/attribution}}

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  | author = {{SatyaSteve NadellaJobs/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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Seth Godin/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Douglas Crockford/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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Jef Raskin/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}

  }}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Tony Hsieh/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}

  }}

  | 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}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Herb Kelleher/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Terry Pratchett/attribution}}

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| text = The golden rule for every business man is this: 'Put yourself in your customer's place.'<ref>{{cite book |last=Marden |first=Orison Swett |title=The Optimistic Life |publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. |date=1907}}</ref>  

| author = {{Orison Swett Marden/attribution}}  

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| text = Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 'Make me feel important.' Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ash |first=Mary Kay |title=The Mary Kay Way: Timeless Principles from America's Greatest Woman Entrepreneur |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |date=2008}}</ref>  

| author = {{Mary Kay Ash/attribution}}  

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Howard Schultz/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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Walt Disney/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Carl W. Buehner/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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Richard Branson/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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=1991}}</ref>

  | author = {{Will Durant/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=2006}}</ref>

  | author = {{Peter Drucker/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Philip Kotler/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Mark Cuban/attribution}}

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  | author = {{BillJeff GatesBezos/attribution}}

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  | text = ItYour takesmost 20unhappy yearscustomers toare buildyour agreatest reputationsource and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do thingsof differentlylearning.<ref>{{cite book |last=KilpatrickGates |first=AndrewBill |title=OfBusiness Permanent@ Valuethe Speed of Thought: TheUsing Storya ofDigital WarrenNervous BuffettSystem |publisher=AKPEWarner Books |date=20071999}}</ref>

  | author = {{WarrenBill BuffettGates/attribution}}

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| image = warrenjeff-buffettbezos.jpg

  | text = If weyou aredo delightingbuild customersa great experience, eliminatingcustomers unnecessarytell costseach andother improvingabout ourthat. productsWord andof services,mouth weis gainvery strengthpowerful.<ref>{{cite webnews |titlelast=2005Anders Letter|first=George to Shareholders|title=Relentless.com |url=https://www.berkshirehathawaywsj.com/lettersarticles/2005ltr.pdfSB94322434193566141 |websitework=BerkshireHathaway.comThe |publisher=BerkshireWall HathawayStreet Inc.Journal |access-date=18 December 20251999-11-22 |access-date=28 February 2006 |author=Warren Buffett2025-12-19}}</ref>

  | author = {{WarrenJeff BuffettBezos/attribution}}

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  | author = {{JeffWarren BezosBuffett/attribution}}

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  | text = IfThe youbest docustomer buildservice ais greatif experience,the customerscustomer telldoesn't eachneed otherto aboutcall that.you, Worddoesn't ofneed mouthto istalk to you. It veryjust powerfulworks.<ref>{{cite newsweb |lasttitle=Anders2011 |first=GeorgeLetter |title=Relentless.comto Shareholders |url=https://www.wsjaboutamazon.com/articlesnews/SB94322434193566141company-news/2011-letter-to-shareholders |workwebsite=TheAbout Wall Street JournalAmazon |datepublisher=1999-11-22Amazon.com, Inc. |access-date=2025-12-December 19, 2025 |date=April 11, 2012 |author=Jeff Bezos}}</ref>

  | author = {{Jeff Bezos/attribution}}

  }}

| image = jeffwarren-bezosbuffett.jpg

  | text = TheIf bestwe customerare servicedelighting iscustomers, ifeliminating theunnecessary customercosts doesn'tand needimproving toour products calland youservices, doesn'twe needgain to talk to you. It just worksstrength.<ref>{{cite web |title=20112005 Letter to Shareholders |url=https://www.aboutamazonberkshirehathaway.com/newsletters/company-news/2011-letter-to-shareholders2005ltr.pdf |website=About AmazonBerkshireHathaway.com |publisher=Amazon.com,Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |access-date=18 December 19, 2025 |date=April28 11,February 20122006 |author=JeffWarren BezosBuffett}}</ref>

  | author = {{JeffWarren BezosBuffett/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Ron Kaufman/attribution}}

  }}

  | 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}}</ref>

  | author = {{Philip Kotler/attribution}}

  }}