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Have you ever fired a customer? I have on several occasions. It’s the most liberating and educational thing you will ever do in sales. When I say “fire” I’m talking about this kind of conversation with the not-so-desirable customer:

You: “Mr. Customer, we want to thank you for your business (well, not really but it seems like the kind of thing you should say at a moment like this), but we feel that your needs could be better served by another company (at this point you might want to give them the name of your most hated competitor…which I have actually done).”

Ex-Customer: “What!? You can’t do that. I thought we had a good relationship. Who is going to provide us our widgets/service in the future?”

Early in my career I had a public sector customer that was a pain in the neck to deal with, paid slowly and wanted us to sell them our products and services below our costs. One day the president of the company I was working for at the time blew into my cubicle and said, “Lose this customer. Fire them. Today.” I was a little nervous when I was actually firing them, but here is what I learned:

1. There are many prospects out there; don’t waste your time on bad customers who squeeze you on margins, are high maintenance, tie up resources and don’t pay their bills in a timely manner.
2. Bad customers will frequently try to bluff you into thinking that you are easily replaceable and that you should be happy to have them as a customer. The truth is that your knowledge of how they do business is very valuable to them.
3. You are more powerful than you think when it comes to your relationship with your customers. Don’t abuse this knowledge, but know that a sales/customer relationship is a partnership. A partnership implies parity.

Am I suggesting that you go on a wild customer firing spree? Of course not. But the process of eliminating a chronically high maintenance and unprofitable customer will empower you and free your time to go after profitable and professionally rewarding customers.

Tags: fire

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