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Here’s a concept to consider: some customers just aren’t worth the
trouble. We work so hard to get customers, and then work so hard to keep
them, it’s hard to grasp the idea that we are better of WITHOUT some of
them!
Let’s face it; some people just don’t "get it". They won’t
be nice or reasonable, they need too much ‘hand-holding’, or they
haggle over everything. Lose ‘em! Tell them politely that they will be
better off getting your product or service elsewhere.
A local auto repair shop diagnosed a clutch problem and did
approximately $300 worth of repairs. About 2 weeks later the clutch failed
when I was 80 miles from home, and I had to take it to a local Nissan
dealer. They told me that the problem was one of the parts that had just
been replaced.
When I took the paperwork and bad part into the local repair shop, he
looked it over and took the position that he had no way of knowing whether
the part in question was really bad or whether the part they gave me was,
in fact, the part they had put in. I told him that I understood that but I
didn’t think that the dealer would have tried a blatant lie and, the
dealer’s factory part cost less than theirs. He mulled it over and
decided to give me $150 credit because it certainly looked like something
wasn’t kosher and, besides, I was being reasonable and they didn’t
want to lose me as a customer. Just the previous week they had had a
"screamer"; someone who had a problem and came in there yelling
and screaming about it.
"I don’t need that", he said. "I told them to take
their business elsewhere."
Sometimes you’ve got to ‘fire’ your customers!
I know a graphic designer in New York who had a client that was very
slow paying. In fact, on several occasions he even reduced their
agreed-upon fee because of what he claimed were "delays" caused
by my friend that were totally fabricated. He has asked her to do another
project: she told him "no".
Some customers need to be ‘fired’.
In my software business the customers typically installed the product
on their corporate computer (not a PC, but a large "mainframe").
The software arrived on a tape and the process took about 2 hours. Some of
them installed it with no help from me whatsoever; some of them needed
help opening the box that the tape came in. The latter customers were
usually the ones that needed to be ‘fired’.
It’s important to define what you consider to be a "good"
customer or a "bad" customer. When someone crosses the line, you
have to decide whether that particular person is "worth the trouble’.
Only you can make the call, but you may be surprised to realize that they
aren’t.
If so, send ‘em packin’. You can’t please everyone, but you can
wear yourself out trying to, so if the match isn’t right you both will
be better off if you sever the business relationship.
It only hurts for a second.
Then, a wave of relief will flood over you and you’ll know you did
the right thing.
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