SME Roundtable: Questions, Hot Takes & Real Talk

“The Customer Is Always Right” Is Outdated

By The WAi Forward Team

😬 Hot take: “the customer is always right” needs to be retired.

Not because customers don’t matter (they absolutely do) — but because the slogan gets used as an excuse for something unhealthy: accepting unreasonable behaviour, unrealistic expectations, and disrespect.

Sometimes the customer isn’t right. Sometimes the customer is definitely wrong. And pretending otherwise can quietly wreck your time, your team, and your sanity.

Illustration depicting a small business owner dealing with an unreasonable client request and feeling overwhelmed, minimal modern SaaS vector style, grayscale with one accent colour, dark background, crisp geometric shapes, no text

So here’s the question for the SME roundtable: Do you agree or disagree? Is “the customer is always right” outdated — or still useful?

Where This Saying Breaks Down in Real SMEs

In theory, it’s about customer service. In practice, it often turns into:

  • clients pushing scope creep with “it’ll only take 5 minutes”
  • unpaid time disguised as “quick favours”
  • last-minute changes treated like emergencies
  • aggressive tone, rude messages, or disrespect to staff
  • “but I’m paying you” used like a permission slip to ignore boundaries

And the worst part is, founders often tolerate it because they feel they have to. Especially when cash flow is tight, or you’re still building confidence.

Hot Take: Protecting Your Team Is Part of Customer Service

This might sound counter-intuitive, but I genuinely believe it: you can’t build a customer-focused business on top of a burnt-out team.

When your staff are stressed, overworked, and constantly bracing for client drama, the quality drops anyway — even if you “keep the customer happy” in the moment.

Boundaries aren’t selfish. They’re part of running a business that lasts.

Be Honest: Have You Ever “Fired” a Client?

I’m curious how common this is, because most founders don’t talk about it publicly:

  • Have you ever told a client “no” to protect delivery quality?
  • Have you ever walked away from work because the relationship became toxic?
  • Have you ever kept a difficult client and regretted it?

Sometimes the brave move isn’t “doing more”. It’s choosing who you don’t work with.

Flat vector SaaS illustration of a founder calmly setting boundaries in a client meeting, with a simple contract checklist and a clear scope box, minimal grayscale with one accent colour, dark background, crisp geometric shapes, no text

The WAi Forward Perspective: Clear Systems Reduce Client Friction

At WAi Forward, we’re big believers in making work smarter, not harder. And a big part of “smarter” is recognising when a client relationship is creating chaos instead of creating value.

That’s why we build RunWAi — our object-oriented AI system — to help SMEs structure the work properly: not just what’s being delivered, but how expectations are managed.

Our platforms work together through the RunWAi engine:

  • Lead the WAi: helps qualify leads properly, so you’re less likely to accept mismatched expectations
  • PathWAI: keeps delivery structured — tasks, timelines, ownership — so clients get clarity without chasing
  • PAI it Forward: keeps invoicing and payments clean and consistent (which removes a lot of tension)

No tool can “fix” a toxic client — but better structure can stop good clients from turning into stressed clients. And it can make it much easier to hold boundaries without sounding defensive.

Over to You (No Names Needed)

Alright — your turn. Do you agree or disagree with this hot take?

And if you’ve got a story: what’s the most unreasonable request a client has ever made? (No names, no drama — just the honest reality of SME life.)

Drop your experience in the comments. Let’s make this a safe space for real talk. 👇

Posted by the WAi Forward Team