Comments on: Sometimes, You Need To Fire a Customer

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:36:53 +0000

Thanks Akash.. It is always a hard choice, but usually you know what you need to do

By: Akash Sharma

Akash Sharma — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:03:23 +0000

Great out of the box post, Thanks for sharing Lorraine..I think it does not needs a lot of brainstorming but yes a an open minded approach to differentiate the positive evangelists out of our customers and as far as the noisy customers are concerned we should try our best to solve there problems and in case they still don’t get it, we should do the needful as the title of this post suggests.

By: My Top 20 Posts of 2009 | Kyle Lacy, Social Media - Indianapolis

My Top 20 Posts of 2009 | Kyle Lacy, Social Media - Indianapolis — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:36:31 +0000

[...] Sometimes, You Need To Fire a Customer by Lorraine Ball [...]

By: Tracie Mrakich

Tracie Mrakich — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:03:35 +0000

Of course, but in bad times, companies may be reluctant to fire their bad clients.

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:47:20 +0000

Dan,
There are lots of techniques to manage your customers, you have hit on an important one, reinforce the behavior you want to see repeated. And also, taking care of the quiet clients, by asking them questions to discover information you may never get otherwise provides valuable insight into your business.

Tracie,
In good and bad times, Bad Clients are Bad Clients!

By: Tracie Mrakich

Tracie Mrakich — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:56:23 +0000

Nice post Lorraine!

It is not unusual in the course of providing loyalty research for our clients that we uncover customer and or customer segments that are not the right fit for our customers’ business model. Even in these tough times, sometimes the best course of action is to fire those customers and free up your limited resources to dedicate to your best customers, or addressing uncovered issues to turn a neutral customer into a loyal customer advocate.

By: Dan Finney Design

Dan Finney Design — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:00:22 +0000

I also employ a slightly more subtle technique than an all-out firing of a client. Some of my best clients will ask for a service then wait patiently and quietly for it to be accomplished. Other clients will ask for a service and then start what I like to call a squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease campaign. I make a careful choice to work on the quiet client’s project first (assuming they were requested at the same time).

1. It is just too easy to get caught up in the fake panic and delay the quiet client’s project
2. I want to foster and reward the good behavior, not the bad
3. The quiet client will leave just as quietly and you will never know why

Over time I have found that I end up with more of the quiet/patient clients than the squeaky clients.