The customer is “always right”

WHEN TO CONSIDER DISMISSING YOUR CUSTOMER

A saying you hear almost daily is that “the customer is always right.” But is it true?. Many think yes, but also many think no. So who’s right?

DEFINITION OF THE COMPANY/CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

A company, whether it is a physical person or a legal entity, is a person. Consider your business as if it were a completely independent person, who you support to grow, and who in return pays you to help him.

Your client is like the boyfriend of your company. You start a relationship where you dedicate yourself to giving more than receiving, where you seek to please, create value, make him happy, give him everything you can to make him feel pampered.

Now, as in all relationships, there are good things as well as bad. Your job as a business owner, not as a worker in your own business, is to treat your baby as if he is the most valuable thing in your life. (And in many cases, it is!)
That relationship does not go one way. Like any other relationship, it is bi-directional. It means that the company must know what is acceptable, what is not, and what can justify firing a client (breaking the relationship, cutting off the client).

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WHAT TO DO AND WHEN?

First it is important to know what the company wants. What you want to do, receive, give, share, sell etc… What is acceptable to the customer, what is not… we are not going to repeat ourselves. The poet John Lydgate published a piece that became very famous that says:

“You can please some people all of the time, you can please all the people some time, but you cannot please all the people all of the time.”.

As a business owner it is important to understand it, but it is also important that your client understands it as well. Because if both parties do not agree on that rationale for doing business, the client can start treating your company abusively.

What does either of the two have to gain by reaching that situation? Nothing. Many companies “put up with” those customers by giving the same excuse: It generates sales for us. Okay I understand. But at what cost?

Your role as the business owner is to define when “Enough is Enough”. What conditions did you put in the contracts, terms of use, or any other agreement to justify the dismissal of your client? It is an important decision that will impact your business. Think wisely.

Now, if your client begins to affect your business: sales, employees, other clients, tarnish your image or brand, then do not think about it anymore: fire him.
For the others, do what you can to preserve them for the long term. It is approximately 10 times more expensive to get a new customer than to keep an existing one. So make sure you turn your customers into fans of your company so they never go looking for business elsewhere.