Eight Reasons To Fire A Customer
Nothing is more valuable than having good customers with recurring business, especially in these times of economic distress. Therefore, always do our best to correct any problems in the client relationship. However, some business is just bad, and some customers hurt your company rather than enhancing your bottom line. The following are eight scenarios where you might consider firing your customer:
#1: They insist that you do something that's unethical or illegal. Sure, you both might be able to get away with it, but if you compromise your integrity, your customer will never trust you. You customer will soon figure out that If cheat for them, why wouldn't you cheat against them? More importantly, you would degrade yourself in your own eyes. INTEGRETY IS EVERYTHING! Have some self-respect and bid the customer adieu.
#2: They ALWAYS pay late. You can never allow late payments to become the status quo; customers will only get later with their payments. Naturally, you should take steps to improve your customer's payment habits first, but if they refuse to reform, say au revoir.
#3: They repeatedly angle for a reduced fee. Your rate is clearly stated in your contract, which they signed, yet on every project they ask you for a reduction for one of a number of fabricated reasons. They all translate to one real message: The client doesn't think you're worth what you charge. If you can't convince the client of your value, and you have other clients who clearly get the picture, it's hasta la vista (however, if a lot of your customers have the same issue with you, it may be time to take a hard look at the service you provide, and the manner in which you provide it).
#4: They try to get you to work for free. Perhaps they bought this machine from you but did not pay you to set it up or train them on how to use it. Instead, they call 20 times a day with setup questions that they expect you to answer for free. Worse yet, they bought the machine from another company! If the client can't comprehend those points, then arrivederci.
#5: Their organization is structured to prevent success. Policies, procedures, and the channels of communication are either poorly designed or abused to the point where your failure is guaranteed. It's your duty to point out these flaws and help your client try to correct them. If they just don't get that there's a problem here, auf Wiedersehen.
#6: The personalities involved are incompatible. I'm a likable guy — just ask my wife (oh, forget I said that). Really, though, I try to get along with everyone. But it's just hard to work with some people especially when the customer is abusive, constantly uses foul language, or is fixated on sexually explicit jokes and stories. When the only reason why you would ever subject yourself to the tortures of being in their acquaintance is the money, you either need to get a lot of money or say sayonara.
#7: They demean or insult you. In any relationship, insults are the first step in a plan (conscious or not) to lower your status. INSULTS SHOULD NEVER BE REPAID IN KIND! Rather than establishing respect, you have simply reduced yourself to their low level! This is a bad way to start a client relationship, where mutual respect should be earned and given. If the mutual respect thing just doesn't happen, it may be time to retreat from the battle and find a new customer.
#8: They require that you do things the wrong way. In any long-term engagement, there will inevitably be some disagreements over technical approaches. Sometimes you just have to do what the customer wants, even if you vehemently disagree. But that should not become an everyday thing, or you'll just hate your work. Perhaps you and your client are not a good fit. Dosvidanya.
How do you pull the plug on a customer? If your work consists of a series of small projects, you may be able to complete your current task and then politely say “no, thanks†to whatever else they offer. Or you could change your terms on future projects to be so lucrative for yourself that even if they don't get your not-so-subtle message, you won't mind. Just price yourself out of the game.
You could us the straight forward approach and tell you customer the reasons why you no longer want to work with them. It can be tricky because you don't want to burn more bridges than strictly necessary. Keep emotions out of it, and stick to the facts. It's more useful than concealing your complaint because it might help the client to improve, and it might help you, too. By putting your reasons into a dispassionate explanation, you might reveal some shortcomings of your own that contributed to the problem. Or best of all, it might help you both to fix whatever you considered beyond hope. However, in most cases, this approach ends badly!
Last thought: If you are the only source of technical support or materials... NEVER NEVER NEVER leave your customer in the lurch (other than non-payment)!
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