So many business owners have grown accustomed to the idea that customers are always right. But are all customers equally valuable?
In this short episode of Freedom In Five Minutes, we talk about how firing a few customers, though seeming counterintuitive, opens the path to a better business.
Overview & Episode Content
- On Firing Bad Customers
- There is Power in Cancelling Customers
- You Have the Power to Take Charge of Your Business
- Your Business is About Helping People
On Firing Bad Customers
The other day, I started doing the 30 Day Reboot by Perry Marshall. During this reboot, we go through a very long process of resetting our business and life. Now, on day five of this program, we have to fire one of our customers.
Firing a customer is one thing that a lot of people do not do in their business. Of course, it is only right that businesses value their customers. But are all of our clients actually equally valuable?
I had to fire one customer recently for treating one of our VSAs badly and almost fired a second one for the same reason. It was a good thing that the second customer paid attention, apologized, and made improvements on how their company was treating our VSA.
If you do not know what a VSA is, it is a Virtual Systems Architect. And you can find out more about them if you visit ProSulum.com and FreedomInFiveMinutes.com.
That first customer in particular kept on complaining and changing their processes. Of course, the VSA could not do anything right because they were constantly changing the processes.
Firing that first customer was a cool move because we have now reassigned our VSA to someone else. Now, they are thriving together. The VSA is just crushing it in this reassignment.
There is Power in Canceling Customers
The second customer was doing the same thing but simply did not realize that their company was treating the VSA badly.
I ended up sending this second customer an email saying, “Your VSA is afraid of disappointing you. They are feeling really stressed out. Now, if you want to cancel, that is totally fine. Just so you know, if this continues then we will have to cancel the agreement.”
The cool thing about this is, the second customer took the feedback, apologized, went to the VSA, and made amends. Now, this would not have happened if there was no threat of actually cancelling customers.
Firing customers is something that I have grown to do a lot of in my business. We fire customers quite a bit. In fact, I also have another prospect that I will have to terminate soon — before they could even start!
The fact is, if these customers are not a good fit, then they are not a good fit. I do not want to have a customer who is essentially poisoning the pond.
So, we basically let these customers go and cancel them. These customers were basically going to fire themselves anyway. And bad customers are never welcome here at Pro Sulum.
You Have the Power to Take Charge of Your Business
Why is this important? Most business owners do not fire people at all! We usually do not fire customers because, of course, we want that income, we want that money, that revenue.
But the fact is, there are customers who just put a drag on your business. There are people who suck up so much of your energy and peace. They suck up your staff’s energy and peace as well.
Most of the time, we tend to think that we cannot fire customers and that customers are always right. But more often than not, if you fire a customer, you will open a path for better customers to come. Especially if you do it the right way.
Plus, it makes you like the ‘hot girl’ at school too. Right? If you are able to fire someone, then they realize that they did something wrong.
Take for example the prospect I’m about to cancel. They are asking to change things in the contract because they do not want to give a bonus to the VSA during the holidays. The prospect doesn’t want to pay for that.
So I’m like, “Okay, you do not have to subscribe to our service. You can go find someone else.”
And right off the bat, when you do something like that they will be like, “Holy crap! We messed up.” And they see who is really in charge.
Your Business is About Helping People
Ultimately, your business is about helping your customers.
People come to you for a reason. They come to you because they cannot do what you are trying to help them do. And for them to come over and be jerks or try and run the show is simply unacceptable.
Why are they even here? They are here because they cannot do what you can do. You are the expert at what you do. So, why should they try and do something only you are capable of?
This is very important because the ability to fire unwanted customers will set you apart from everyone else.
We, at Pro Sulum, fire customers all the time. I only want to have clients who are absolutely amazing. Ones who rave about us, want to grow with us, and want to be a part of who we are at Pro Sulum as a team and as a community.
I do not want people who only intend to use our services half-assed. Nor do I want customers who treat our guys poorly.
The key thing here is to never be afraid to fire a customer. You will get more business over time by actually firing the unwanted clients.
Conclusion
So, who can you fire this week?
Out of all your customers that are just getting on your nerves, who could you fire this week that will make a huge difference in your business?
I challenge you to give that person the boot.
Resources and Links
This is Dean Soto of Freedom In Five Minutes.
Please check out ProSulum.com or FreedomInFiveMinutes.com and get your own Virtual Systems Architect and systemize everything in your business at 5 minutes a day or less. Do that, and I will catch you in the next Freedom In Five Minutes podcast!