Forum Discussion

mims01's avatar
mims01
Contributor 5
20 hours ago
Solved

Would you fire a difficult customer even if they spend a lot?

I have this one custome who is very very supportive of what I do but can be very difficult ALL THE TIME, even when I do every thing the way he likes it its never up to par and there's always something thats wrong. It can be difficult at times specially when Im pressed for time and have other customers waiting 

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  • travisshepherd's avatar
    travisshepherd
    20 hours ago

    100%. At the end of the day, high revenue doesn't mean high profit if they eat up hours of your schedule and make you late for other paying clients. I’d personally hit them with a price increase to cover the extra time and headaches. If they pay it, great—you’re compensated for the hassle. If they walk, you just reclaimed your schedule and sanity for easier clients.

4 Replies

  • travisshepherd's avatar
    travisshepherd
    Contributor 5
    20 hours ago

    100%. At the end of the day, high revenue doesn't mean high profit if they eat up hours of your schedule and make you late for other paying clients. I’d personally hit them with a price increase to cover the extra time and headaches. If they pay it, great—you’re compensated for the hassle. If they walk, you just reclaimed your schedule and sanity for easier clients.

    • mims01's avatar
      mims01
      Contributor 5
      14 hours ago

      That's actually a good idea I didn't see it that way thanks 

  • BlueSkies's avatar
    BlueSkies
    Contributor 3
    14 hours ago

    I had a customer like that. I lost about 500lbs once i fired him, gave him a refund for some of the work already completed as he had paid for the season, on top of obvious refund for work not yet, it was mid season. I got a 1 star review for problems that came up becuase i was no longer servicing him and the new company would deal with him as they had crews and they just did was the boss said, and they were not a thourgh as me. He wanted me to come back, but hey im done so 1 star review. I have never been so happy to have a 1 star review in my life. Seriously, if they are never happy, let them go and be a headache to someone else to dumb to drop them (hint hint). i don't  care how "supportive" if they are draining your energy let them go

     

  • Homeownership's avatar
    Homeownership
    Contributor 5
    12 hours ago

    Sometimes a customer isn't a bad fit, they're just on the wrong pricing model. If they require significantly more time and attention than the average customer, it may be worth creating a premium service rate instead of charging everyone else more.

    It can also help to keep notes on how much extra time certain customers require. Looking back over six months of data may show that one "good customer" actually costs more in lost productivity than they bring in. Decisions become much easier when you have numbers instead of just frustration.