-- Business Owners & Sales Managers - when is it ok to fire a customer?

[Simply Red]

I guess I mean; What would HAVE to happen for you to finally say - 'I've had it with these assholes?!' -- anyways, so this fat miserable bitch in a certain neighboring southern state, gives me shit constantly over I-m and I TRULY think it's because her OWN life is shitty. They give me maybe two hundred bucks worth of business per month and frankly, I'm fed up.


... Blocked her ass today.

She was trying to bust my balls about my being late - and here I am out on the town, busting my ****ing ass IN ORDER to be ****ing successful.

Ignorant ****, HICK BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Business is great!



-Thanks guys

this is a spinoff of a 2007ish thread of mine. I needed to revisit the issue in a slightly different light - so bear w/ me repost posse and 'bump'.

[Bewbies]

Every business should fire customers from time to time. Find the group that takes all the time and gives you none of the money, get rid of them, and build around the group that pays you a ton with no hassle.

[Frazod]

Well, I guess if it's worth $1,200 a year not to put up with her shit, there you go.

[Bugeater]

I did it all the time. But I'm also out of business now.

[AustinChief]

Simple, when they cost you more than they make you. Calculate your time and stress in the equation.

Dell used to do it all the time... hell, it was policy. If a customer was constantly calling into tech support with frivolous claims.. they might get cut from future sales. The margins were such that it only took a couple tech calls to turn a profit to a loss.

Caveat: This was business support YEARS ago... and of course applied mostly to smaller customers... have to run the math on a case by case instance.

[Frazod]

I did it all the time. But I'm also out of business now.

Apparently the boss was a cranky old bastard. :D

[Simply Red]

Every business should fire customers from time to time. Find the group that takes all the time and gives you none of the money, get rid of them, and build around the group that pays you a ton with no hassle.

this and the others below are good advice - it's just finding that balance of what you recommended VS NOT putting all of your eggs in one basket. So yeah, thanks though, I'm glad I'm not a prick.

[Deberg_1990]

Simple, when they cost you more than they make you. Calculate your time and stress in the equation.

Dell used to do it all the time... hell, it was policy. If a customer was constantly calling into tech support with frivolous claims.. they might get cut from future sales. The margins were such that it only took a couple tech calls to turn a profit to a loss.

Caveat: This was business support YEARS ago... and of course applied mostly to smaller customers... have to run the math on a case by case instance.

Sprint had a similiar policy a few years ago....it was pretty well publisized at the time. Probably a thread about it somewhere.
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[Bugeater]

Apparently the boss was a cranky old bastard. :D
You have no idea, the last few years I was flat-out looking for reasons not to deal with people. I had to get out of it.

[Saul Good]

You should probably fire 5-10% of your customers a year if you are at 80% capacity or more.

[Simply Red]

You have no idea, the last few years I was flat-out looking for reasons not to deal with people. I had to get out of it.

I love 'flat-out's' usage there - very nice touch to the sentence

[SAUTO]

I fire them when they REALLY piss me off. If I feel like beating their ass its time not to do work for them anymore.


iHell I had a kid get in my van a couple of weeks ago at the shop. Found him in it. He gets out says that he thought it was for sale.

obviously it wasn't. He goes back to his car.

I get in the van and find the wifes purse moved and open.
I go to his car blowing a gasket. The guys that f work for me have known and been my friends for over twenty years, we were kids. They took one look at me heading across the lot and came running.
A Ill could think ofwas getting sued bit when he told me
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[Rain Man]

Simple, when they cost you more than they make you. Calculate your time and stress in the equation.



This is true, but I think you also need to add the cost of them either not making referrals to your or referring people away from you. I've had a few clients over the years who were very difficult and I always assumed they hated me, but then I'd get new clients who were referred by them.

And if you're getting negative referrals, that's a big cost. Good words travel slowly, and bad words travel quickly. Any business owner should think long and hard before firing a customer, even if that customer is loony bin. Not everyone will know they're a loony bin.

[SAUTO]

"look dude I don't know who the fuck you think you are"
I grabbed that fucker by the nose and then clamped my l other hand over those fingers to get a GOOD hold and drug him from the drivers seat to the passenger seat.
About that time sense kicked I and I let go and told his old lady that I wasn't working on their shit anymore get the fuck off my property.
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[SAUTO]

Where I'm at most know the loonyThis is true, but I think you also need to add the cost of them either not making referrals to your or referring people away from you. I've had a few clients over the years who were very difficult and I always assumed they hated me, but then I'd get new clients who were referred by them.

And if you're getting negative referrals, that's a big cost. Good words travel slowly, and bad words travel quickly. Any business owner should think long and hard before firing a customer, even if that customer is loony bin. Not everyone will know they're a loony bin.
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[|Zach|]

Sprint had a similiar policy a few years ago....it was pretty well publisized at the time. Probably a thread about it somewhere.
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Yea, that was a great move by them.

[|Zach|]

Some people don't want to be happy. You literally can do nothing to please them...identify these shit heads and cut them loose.

[SAUTO]

And I'm at like 200 to 300% capacity so I'm good.lol for now at least.
Most people that try us love us
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[Simply Red]

I fire them when they REALLY piss me off. If I feel like beating their ass its time not to do work for them anymore.


iHell I had a kid get in my van a couple of weeks ago at the shop. Found him in it. He gets out says that he thought it was for sale.

obviously it wasn't. He goes back to his car.

I get in the van and find the wifes purse moved and open.
I go to his car blowing a gasket. The guys that f work for me have known and been my friends for over twenty years, we were kids. They took one look at me heading across the lot and came running.
A Ill could think ofwas getting sued bit when he told me
Posted via Mobile Device

jesus sautomania - is that engrish?

[Delano]

The cunty hog needed the banhammer and you dropped it with authority. Bravo brah, bravo.
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[Simply Red]

The ****y hog needed the banhammer and you dropped it with authority. Bravo brah, bravo.
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feel the love returned - the same love you once gave me.

http://i54.tinypic.com/rw6qle.jpg

[SAUTO]

jesus sautomania - is that engrish?

Drinking sorry red.i think u got the gist of it. This fucking phone and autofill
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[Simply Red]

Drinking sorry red.i think u got the gist of it. This ****ing phone and autofill
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np - just givin' you shit. I knew you were on it. lol

[Iowanian]

If my largest client were the smallest, I'd have cut bait a long time ago.


That said, I had a guy last fall buying a product. I exchanged email after email after email and made change after change after change. I'd reached my limit and literally typed an email explaining that I didn't think I was going to be able to make him happy and that there were other vendors who offer a similar service.

Out of experience for over-reacting, I waited a while before hitting the send button and finally deleted it.

within a couple of minutes of the delete, the guy emailed "it's awesome, I'll take 2"....and it turns out he was a popular member of an online community, a mod....and I found out what he'd done when my phone and email buzzed off of the table for a week....He'd made a post about my business and service and I've had OUTSTANDING results because of it.

I was 2 minutes from losing all of that.....with a single button click.

I'm still reaping the rewards, and am now getting 2nd generation referrals from friends of people who purchased my product because of that.


Think carefully....about the not so obvious effects.

Maybe they are a pain in the ass, but appreciate that you put up with what others won't.

[milkman]

What is your business, or is that none of my business?

[MIAdragon]

You should probably fire 5-10% of your customers a year if you are at 80% capacity or more.

At least, its great to see the look on people's faces when you tell them to GTFO I dont want to see your face or hear you voice again! Its simply not work my time to deal with some clients. I find that if I concentrate on the "better" customers I actually make more money turning some people away.

[CHENZ A!]

Try everything you possibly can to turn her, kill her with kindness. If she gets nasty with you, tell her to call you back when she has calmed down and you would be glad to help her. You don't deserve to get yelled at, or insulted. But I wouldn't fire her unless it was an absolute last resort. Just be thankful knowing that your life is good enough that you don't have to go around being an asshole to people who are trying to help you. It will make it a little easier to deal with this cunt if you feel sorry for her somewhat because she is obviously miserable.

[SAUTO]

This you said it better than iAt least, its great to see the look on people's faces when you tell them to GTFO I dont want to see your face or hear you voice again! Its simply not work my time to deal with some clients. I find that if I concentrate on the "better" customers I actually make more money turning some people away.
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[Simply Red]

What is your business, or is that none of my business?

I sell computers etc... 'hardware'

[Simply Red]

Every business should fire customers from time to time. Find the group that takes all the time and gives you none of the money, get rid of them, and build around the group that pays you a ton with no hassle.

I have to say - it was nice not having to deal w/ them today. :evil:

[Stewie]

It's the 80/20 rule. Pretty simple. Don't waste time on a customer that brings no real revenue but demands all of your attention.

[BryanBusby]

It is ok to fire customers when you get Vince McMahon to do it.

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[chiefforlife]

Only you know when a customer needs to go. No one can tell you because they dont know all the details. Like Iowanian said, he almost lost a great customer over this kind of thing.
Some of my customers speak badly of us but would never go anywhere else. They will say things like, "Oh, these guys have been fucking me for years." These are the same people that do everything you recommend. Just be sure you are reading her right, I guess.

[Nzoner]

I can't go into detail about this here but let me just say I recently had to tell a huge client they'd be better off taking their business to a competitor and they did.

All I can say after 20 years of owning my own business is standing your ground for what you know is right is more important than any amount of cash and eventually it'll pay off.

[Over-Head]

If they really piss me off, I just price the next project so high they go with someone else, and THAT contractor can deal with their BS.
Unless it's custom work, which automatically starts at twice my normal per hour and consultation time is no longer free :evil:

[dtebbe]

I have 2 simple rules..

1. If they EVER treat me or any of my employees with disrespect (ie. cussing, yelling, threatening, etc) they are gone.
2. If they cost us $$ they are gone.

We operate an internet retail site that offers free shipping. One of the best moves we ever made was to charge a $1.99 handling fee on orders under $15. We've pretty much discovered over the years that the bottom feeders are the ones that take up 90% of your customer service resources. That $1.99 is pretty much a bottom feeder filter. Best of all most of our customers that choose to pay the $1.99 handling fee are still happy to do so, because they are still getting what they ordered for 1/2 the price they could get it anywhere else.

DT