When you are self-employed or otherwise are in business for yourself, every dollar and every client counts. So what do you do when you have a customer or client who is on the one hand very demanding, but on the other, the source of a lot of your business income? Can you tell a client like that to take a hike, or is there a better way?
We are all for firing the too-demanding customer in the right circumstance, but it is hard to say whether this is one of those times. The truth is, customers have a right to be demanding — they give us their money and business, and they are the reason we get to do what we do.
With the benefits of a big client’s business also comes big responsibility…
And moreover, big customers have an even bigger right to be demanding (to a point, of course). They know, and you know, that they are important. They pay you a lot of money because you provide a product or service they need, yes, but they can get it somewhere else, too. With the benefits of their business comes responsibility, eh?
Definitely Avoid These Mistakes When Dealing With Demanding Clients And Customers
Especially in an economy like this, losing important customers is something to be avoided at almost all costs. It certainly is not something to be taken lightly. So aside from taking important, albeit demanding, customers even slightly for granted, here are some other ways you can be assured of losing business:
1. Failing to keep up — with the competition: Capitalism is tough. Your competition is looking to get ahead, and often at your expense. They are thinking of new ways to better serve the marketplace. They are investing intellectual capital and money into attracting new business. They are updating and blogging and planning and cajoling.
Are you?
It is an easy trap to fall into: Small businesses get comfortable doing what they do. Learning new tricks and trying new things costs money and takes time.
Too bad. You simply must keep track of what the other guys are doing and take that into account.
2. Failing to keep up — with technology: It is a truism that business in this era is extraordinarily dependent upon technology; probably more so than any other time, and that is a double-edged sword. On one hand, technology allows business to do more, and reach more people, and often for much less. On the other hand, keeping up with the latest thing takes time that we often do not have, and costs money we do not want to spend.
But you simply have to. Customers expect you to be current, as do your partners, vendors, and employees. Whether it’s getting new software or servers, or the latest big thing in your own industry, failure to keep up to date puts you behind.
3. Forgetting what business you are in: What business are you in? No matter what your answer is, it is equally true that you are in the service business. It is your job to serve your customers and staff. The better you serve, the better off your business will be.
So if you want to lose business, forget that service is your business. Forget that, even though the customer is not always right, he sure is right a lot of the time. Forget that bending rules and making exceptions is often rewarded with loyalty. Forget that customers really can always take their business elsewhere.
4. Stop prospecting: There are three types of customers:
1. New customers
2. Existing customers
3. Exiting customers
To remain in business, you must keep these three balls rotating: New customers become existing customers, existing customers change habits, and exiting customers leave, so new customers must be always located.
Never stop prospecting. Never stop hustling and proposing. Don’t stop marketing. And whatever you do, certainly don’t ever rest on your laurels.
