What Would Make You Fire a Client?

Create Your Company’s “You’re Fired” List
And Weed Out Energy Sappers

Some adages are passed on from generation to generation. For example, “The customer is always right” has been drilled into our minds. The original intent was to emphasize that customers are the lifeblood of all companies and why we are in business.

However, the phrase can lead to an “Us vs. Them” mindset when customers misuse it for personal advantage. In the course of growing a business, we’ve had to fire some clients and run from a few prospects. In other cases, we kept customers that we shouldn’t have and paid the price for it.

The Customer is Not Always Right
Difficult customers with unrealistic expectations consume too many resources and more importantly sap precious positive energy from employees. Typically, your unreasonable customers aren’t satisfied, your team grows frustrated and margins decline because of the additional resources utilized.

I understand why the phrase grew popular. Put the customer first. Make it about them. But no one, customer or not, is always right.

Define What a Good, Bad and OK Customer is to You
That’s why it’s important for you and your leadership team to clearly define what your ideal customer looks like. What are their wants and needs? What will satisfy them? Qualify prospects based on the Good, OK and Bad profiles.

You might have a customer that isn’t ideal but still receives value from your product or service and falls into the “OK” category. They’re keepers that you hope to move into the ideal space. The key is to know what your past bad customers look like and how they treated your team.

Be clear on expectations for both sides. Spell out what is required of your team and the customer. Then cut loose those that ignore those expectations.

Create Your Company’s “You’re Fired” List
Know in advance what the fireable offenses are. For us, clients have to treat our team with respect and be willing to have healthy strategic discussions around their marketing and messaging. Otherwise, we’re both just going through the motions and neither party is satisfied. They also have to be fair and realistic about the value of our services. We’re both in business to make a profit. Companies that see the relationship as win-lose aren’t for us.

Figuring out who your ideal customers are and staying away from the bad ones is a challenging task for any business. Formally build your list, communicate it to your team and live by it.