Do You Need to Fire Your Customers?
First off, determine why your customer is a problem. Can the problems that you are currently having with your customer OR customers be resolved? It’s important to know exactly why you are frustrated with your customer.
My first experiences in business were business-to-business relationships. So 95% of my customers were architects, designers, general contractors, sub-contractors, etc. In every instance work was done by contract, so everyone knew (provided they read the contract) what their responsibilities were. It made working with customers a little easier. Now, understand, it wasn’t heaven. Certainly we had our share of difficult customers and vendors but for the most part we were separated from the owner of the project.
When I moved into a business-to-consumer model things changed. I had to deal with ….. people! These individuals each had minds of their own, there were no contracts, no understood rules. It was easy for the customer to avoid keeping up their end of the deal… payment. They could cry, complain, demand, insist and well, the customer is always right… right?
“You teach your customers how to treat you.”
As soon as I picked up on that little gem, things began to change. I began to change. Not only did I change my attitude, I changed my business model. I implemented a set of “rules”. Now the rules were not posted on a wall for the customer to read, the rules were mine. They were my boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. The rules were pretty straight-forward and mostly they revolved around respect and manners. As soon as someone violates the rules or steps over the boundary line they are immediately made aware of it and asked to respect the rules. For me, a customer with good manners and a respectful attitude is a good customer. Now, your criteria might be different, and you need to decide what behaviors affect you and your ability to work with a customer.
I run an appointment only business. That’s a rule. You can’t just show up and expect to get your needs met. Others were mindful of the rule, made an appointment and their time is their time. When I am with a customer, their time is their time. During customer time I don’t answer the phone, I don’t stop and talk with walk-ins or vendors. That’s another rule. I want my customer to have my undivided attention so that I can do my best at establishing a relationship. If a customer just shows up and expects to be “squeezed in” the answer is “no, you need to make an appointment.” It’s possible I have the time and space to do the work, but now the customer knows the rule, he has just learned that if he shows up without an appointment expecting immediate service he will likely not get it. How many more times do you think he’ll show up without an appointment? If I want an appointment only business I need to teach my customers that rule, now they will treat me differently… their expectation will be different and I will get what I need. Everyone is happy. Of course, some may not like the rule and if so they will go someplace else. At this point you have individuals self-selecting for you, they have essentially fired themselves if they move on because they don’t like the rules. AND if the rules are too much for someone they will probably be a difficult customer, you are probably better off without them.
Know your personal expectations for working with customers, outline those expectations and add the rule to compliment it, finally, implement. Don’t make exceptions because exceptions very quickly become expectations. I have found it very rare for an existing customer to take their business elsewhere when faced with a rule, most of the time they don’t realize they are imposing or over-expecting. My customers end up being great customers, I enjoy them all. They know what to expect and so do I.
Tomorrow we’ll talk more about firing customers.
Best wishes for a profitable day.
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