Do you really want and need every potential and existing
customer? Is every customer right for your business?
Perhaps not. I recently wrote concerning this topic in my
article "When To Fire a Customer" and needed to further
expand upon those thoughts. Seth Godin says "If you've got
something worth paying for, you gain power when you refuse
to offer it to every single person who is willing to pay
you."
John Reese notified me over the weekend that my Idea
Sellers blog made the final cut for participation in their
popular Blogrush service. They personally reviewed all of
the participating blogs and removed 10,000 from their
ranks. Reese said that my blog "has passed our strict
quality guidelines and criteria -- we believe you have a
high-quality blog and we are happy you're a member of our
network!" They fired 10,000 customers and believe that
their company and all of their their remaining customers
will benefit tremendously by this act. They exhibited bold
and necessary decision making.
"Yes, breaking up may be hard to do, but when a client is
costing you money or making you crazy, it can be a smart
move. Severing unprofitable or exhausting relationships
can, after the initial fallout, boost your company's
revenues. Most people are not looking to get more than they
pay for, but there is a group of people who will take and
take with no respect for my time or my employee's time"
says business owner Debra Brede in a recent Business Week
article.
"Fire them. Politely decline to do business with them.
Refer them to your arch competitors. Take them off the
mailing list. Don't make promises you can't keep, don't be
rude, just move on" says Godin.
CEO John Chisolm says "Customer satisfaction hugely affects
the calculation of the customer's value. Satisfaction is a
primary driver of customer behavior. In large part, it
determines how the customer acts toward your employees and
what he or she tells friends and colleagues about your
products or services. Satisfied clients positively
influence employee satisfaction and are more likely to
spread favorable word of mouth about you. Because of these
intangibles, a satisfied customer is worth much more than
the nominal profit of that customer—and far more than
a dissatisfied one—even if revenue from the two
customers is identical. Consequently, companies should be
particularly sensitive to any thought of firing satisfied
customers." His thoughts and actions are right on target.
The bottom line is that we must be continuously monitoring
our entire customer base. As the source of our revenue and
the objects of our resource allocation management, the
correct mix of desired customers is critical for the
ongoing profitable operation of our company.
Being busy is not the same as being profitable! Weeding out
undesirable and costly customers may be difficult for some
entrepreneurs, yet a necessary decision towards ensuring
our ongoing successful operations. Do not hesitate to make
these types of decisions. Being selective is simply smart
business.
----------------------------------------------------
Daniel Sitter, author of both Learning For Profit and
Superior Selling Skills Mastery, has garnered extensive
experience in sales, training, marketing and personal
development spanning a successful 25 year career.
Experience his blog at http://www.idea-sellers.com
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