As much as we love customer service at LPJ Design, some time you have to fire a customer…

My feeling on customer service has been detailed in the past so I will not bore you with that.  What we are talking about today is something that while it doesn’t happen often sometimes you got to do: Fire a customer.  While many don’t like to admit it, THIS IS a business, or at least LPJ Design it is.  Every customer has value and worth, but some customer’s value is not greater than the issues they cause.  If a customer buys from you once a year and then bad mouths you and your business to all that will listen to them all year long, is that a good customer to have? If a customer places a large order for product leaves a small deposit but when the products come in they tell you they purchased them online for cheaper, is that a good customer to have? If a customer comes to and in-store event and makes the experience for everyone else not that enjoyable do to their attitude or comments, is that a good customer to have?  If these things come up, and they are effecting you business ability to make a profit (remember I said BUSINESS NOT VANITY PRESS), then you need to fire them.  They are not worth it to your long term success.  Let’s be blunt, I am not talking about those knucklehead, wise asses that come into a business and act like a clown. I mean actually people that are directly not adding anything “positive” to your business.  Being a critic is one thing, being an assholes are another completely.  Tim Ferris of the Four Hour Work Week has a great chapter on firing customers.  Everyone in business should read this, because one day you might have to fire a customer.  Talk to you later…