![[ RSS ]](http://blogs.openforum.com/wp-content/themes/amex2.0/images/icon_rss_12_fff.gif){kind=icon}
Subscribe to this page
Previous
Me to Customer: Don’t Let the Screen Door Hit You
Ivana Taylor | September 15th, 2008 - 08:04 AM
(21) found this useful. Do you? 
I’ve been told that every business has to work with “Difficult Customers.” In fact, there is a multi-million dollar training industry built around the assumption that we all have to work with difficult people. Well, I don’t buy it.
In fact, I agree with Seth Godin, who says to fire difficult customers ; you’ll be happier and more successful.
But if you’re like me, it might have taken you a while to get to the point of having the guts to politely say “there’s the door” to difficult customers. Nobody wants to admit defeat. The natural tendency is to hang on, try to adjust what WE do, and hope it gets better.
Even worse, money fears drive us to keep those difficult jerks around. Customers are not easy to come by — we fear the loss.
But here are two dollars-and-cents reasons NOT to work with difficult customers:
1. They force you to make custom adjustments that drive up your costs.
Difficult customers want what you can’t easily deliver. For example, I worked for a manufacturer who called some of the biggest medical device, appliance and automotive companies its customers. But these customers had specialized systems that required literally hundreds of man-hours of maintenance on our part so that we can fulfill THEIR quality requirements — in addition to our own.
So we had two kinds of customers: high-maintenance, special-requirements type of customers (the big guys) and low-maintenance, fits-into-our-processes customers (the little guys). We literally made twice the margin on our smaller customers than we did on the big ones. They loved us, we loved them and doing what they hired us to do was fast and easy; hence profitable.
2. Difficult customers drag your prices and revenues down.
Difficult customers have no idea why they should work with you instead of a competitor. Do you have customers that charge their customers a lot, but expect you to do more work for less? Or customers that are constantly complaining about your prices? This should tell you two crucial facts:
(a) your customer understands why customers value them; and
(b) they don’t understand or appreciate the value you provide.
So they take advantage. On the other hand, your best customers KNOW the value you bring. If you like these people and want to keep working with them, be clear about what sets you apart and the value you offer and charge accordingly. If they are disrespectful and mean, get rid of them. It’s bad enough that you’re losing money; you shouldn’t have to be abused in the process.
You can see how you’re literally hemorrhaging profits in each of these situations. If your customer requires specific processes and systems to meet their customers’ requirements and that would require that you either work 24/7, hire more people, or force the people that you have to jump through hoops at a moment’s notice — this is costing you money! It may not show up as a line item, but when you have people leaving their desks in search of specific papers, or creating reports that weren’t expected, or sitting in meetings resolving problems you didn’t anticipate, these are all unnecessary and hidden costs that are eroding your margins and driving your employees insane.
In the second case, you’re dealing with a situation of corporate low self-esteem. You may have been so eager to put their name on your customer list, that you allowed your true value and profits to erode. You may be living in fear that you will lose them. But if you realize that this mean, unappreciative customer is literally taking up space that a wonderful, appreciative, loyal and profitable customer could be taking — you may see things differently.
Small Business Owners of the world — vow to work with customers who love and appreciate the value you bring. And watch your profits go up!
* * * * *
About the Author: Ivana Taylor has spent over 20 years helping industrial organizations and small business owners get and keep their ideal customers. Her company is Third Force and she writes a blog called Strategy Stew. She is co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers.”
Ivana is a member of the Small Business Trends Expert Network.
Amanda | September 15th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Love this article Ivana! I agree that difficult customers are not always worth the trouble. We got into small business to enjoy working for ourselves. It’s not worth our sanity to put up with someone demanding and difficult.
----------
Diana | September 15th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
WOW..great article..would love to see one on “difficult employees”. Many times having the wrong employees is the reason companies have difficult clients…and BOTH lead to revenue issues!!!
Again, great article as always!
Diana
----------
Jay | September 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
This was an insightful look into a popular dilemma. We’ve all heard that old saying, “the customer is always right” - but I’ve come to find that’s not always the case. And I’ve even known one or two to assume that you feel that way and attempt to take advantage of your willingness to please by making ridiculous requests in order to please them.
No thank you.
----------
screendoorsean | September 15th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
That’s been my experience in the retail world also. You can only go so far for the customer when you’re a small business owner.
seen on CNN
----------
Arthur Bland | September 16th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Sad but this is easily said than done!
----------
Bianca Aquino | September 17th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Jay, this is in fact, a popular dilemma which I believe are inevitable experiences.
And like Arthur said, it’s not that easy but we have to!
----------
Mary Grace Ignacio | September 18th, 2008 at 2:04 am
“Small Business Owners of the world — vow to work with customers who love and appreciate the value you bring. And watch your profits go up!”
And this is exactly what we should bear in mind. After all, we live in an ecosystem where everyone serves as a purpose for everyone.
IF these worst customers don’t value us then we shouldn’t force ourselves to them. There are still a lot of very good customers who deserve better our service and the value we provide to them.
----------
Rose Anderson | September 19th, 2008 at 12:13 am
@ Jay - Well, it is really a dilemma that we entrepreneurs should do our best to overcome it.
@Mary Grace
“IF these worst customers don’t value us then we shouldn’t force ourselves to them. There are still a lot of very good customers who deserve better our service and the value we provide to them.”
I love those statements and it is very true. Besides, it will never bring us to positive outcome if we force ourselves or our products and services to them who don’t even want it on the very first place.
----------
Look Who is Appearing On The American Express OPEN Forum | Small Business Trends | October 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
[…] Ivana Taylor - Me to Customer: Don’t Let the Screen Door Hit You. […]
----------
Look Who is Appearing On The American Express OPEN Forum | Business Never End | October 12th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
[…] Ivana Taylor - Me to Customer: Don’t Let the Screen Door Hit You. […]
----------
Link That Will Help You Deal With The Real World at Strategy Stew | November 6th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
[…] on How to Identify Loser Clients: Joel Falconer seconds my point on firing pain-in-the a__ customers. What I like about his post is that he gives all the symptoms, all you have to do is recognize them […]
----------
Faol-Inc.Com - Education Guide » Me to Customer: Don’t Let the Screen Door Hit You | December 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
[…] Source: Ivana Taylor […]
----------
bob | January 3rd, 2009 at 11:39 am
As a mom and pop shop, we have no extra resources to handle refunds or complaints. I barely have time to answer customer inquiries and keep up with the e-mails of customers we are already working with… to add more time for complaints or to handle disputes is unthinkable…
to avoid this, I really have to screen the customer and set our policy to a higher tandard…
just because the customer has cash and “want’s” something doesn’t mean they will get it… Before starting a project, I first need to determine if the customer is capable of satisfaction and what amount of effort am i going to have to endure to insure his satisfaction should i take his order?
Once i have determined that, than i can set a price. one might think of it as a “premium” service - guaranteed satisfaction…
Dealing with problem customers is chalenging but if done right, can be very profitable… and, once you have tamed those beasts, you can be sure they will be coming back for more with a whole better outlook and attitude.
I find this is a more balanced approach to just throwing out bad customers…
So far, 30 years, not a single complaint or return …
----------