Tina Hilton of Clerical Advantage, writing on Grant Griffith’s blog Home Office Warrior, wrote an interesting post that got me thinking about how I want my life to be and how I want my business to look. The topic of her article is problem customers and their impact on business.
There’s an interesting comparison to be drawn between how entrepreneurs handle this idea and how managers or employees address it.
At a restaurant where I once worked, we received abusive complaints from time to time. The manager would shuck and jive, eventually comping food for the complainant in the hopes of keeping their business. (Like averting negative feedback on eBay in the hopes of maintaining a pristine rating).
His response was predictably consistent—make the customer happy at all costs. Even known complainers and problem customers got the same treatment. I remember a placard on the wall that read
“Every unhappy customer will result in 12 others who won’t show up or come back.”
This is why excellent guest service or customer service is a critical part of any business interested in success. Of course it’s necessary to do my absolute utmost to ensure client / guest / customer satisfaction. But there’s a point beyond which I have to look at what’s going on and assess whether or not MORE is actually better.
I encouraged my boss to run the numbers to determine if the complainers were WORTH the time they took to please.
If you know how much your time is worth per minute, and can figure out an average amount of time each problem customer takes, you can objectively see how much money you’re losing by keeping that customer around.
Just figure out how much of your time they waste and compare it to how much income they generate for you. Don’t forget to factor in the emotional stress that long-term problem clients can cause. The disruption. The constant and ever-increasing demands. We’re talking about the quality of your working life here!
Of course my boss never ran those numbers - he subscribed to “The Customer is Always Right” mentality, fed to him by the higher-ups. He consistently taught our customers that they could walk all over us for the honor of keeping them as customers.
I think it pays to be selective, in business and in all other relationships. The clients and friends that I choose to surround myself with all support me in some way or another. They wouldn’t be in my life otherwise.
The great thing about flying solo is that I get to choose whom and how I influence, and vice versa. Life is too short to suffer fools gladly.
