Fire Some Customers to Improve Your Service

Posted by in Customer Service •


At face value, it may seem outrageous to consider firing some of your customers. In a competitive market with a down economy, it makes more sense to cater to even the most troublesome customers just to keep their business.

 

While that may help the bottom line, it can have serious consequences for both your business and employees. The Pareto Principle, or the “80-20 rule,” can be applied to customers. About 80 percent of customers are happy campers. But the other unhappy 20 percent can take up the majority of your company’s time and energy, just trying to work out problems and keep them happy. Of those 20 percent, there may be a few offenders who, at the end of the day, just aren’t worth the trouble.

 

An article in Forbes puts it bluntly. “5 Customers You Should Fire,” by Steve Cody, lists five customer types you may want to ditch. Think about it. Chronically unhappy customers can damage a company’s otherwise good reputation. They wreak havoc on your customer service representatives with unrealistic demands and pressure tactics. They are relentless in getting their way. These are people you can do without. 

 

Some customers think they have bought the entire company when they purchase a product or service. They have a sense of entitlement and expect to be treated as if they were the only customer. They could be heavy-hitters or account for a hefty slice of the company’s revenue, but they are high maintenance and expect immediate responses, 24/7. The problem is they take so much time and resources, leaving other customers and prospects unattended. Keeping one customer and losing many doesn’t make good business sense. Losing this customer can free up time and resources to gain new business. 

 

According to Cody, some customers use fear, threats and profanity to try to get their way. While they wouldn’t think to talk that way to a manager, they prefer to take it out on customer service representatives. These “Jekyll and Hyde” customers can verbally abuse and dismantle a customer service rep; then, when bumped up the ladder, appear to be congenial and cooperative. These customers take a lot of time, destroy the morale of the service team and erode the respect for a management team who allows the abuse to continue. They need to go.

 

Then there’s the customer who just loves confrontation and has to win…every time. Regardless of how unrealistic or outrageous their situation or requests, they just enjoy the game. Customer service reps follow procedures and have limits to what they can do or authorize. These customers know the rules, but still try to get every concession possible. Unfortunately, they may succeed when talking to a supervisor. This undermines the customer service staff, since they have to follow policies and guidelines that they know will be ignored further up the line. 

 

You can’t make it in business without customers. Even firing the whole 20 percent that complain isn’t the answer. But, there will always be those “stinkers” who will push the envelope and try to throw their weight around to get what they want. After all, business is all about attracting, serving and retaining customers. However, when a customer’s tactics, behavior or ethics become intolerable, destroy morale or monopolize a company’s staff and time, it may be cause to turn the tables and give the customer a pink slip. 

 

Photo Source: Dreamstime
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  • Carol C
    Carol C •
    You are SO RIGHT!  I have been in customer service in many ways over the years, and sometimes the customer ISN'T right. I WAS working at Sam's Club and a couple came up to purchase a certain  pizza that unfortunately we had run out of. They both became Very hostile, and verbally abusive.They then actually went to a manager and said I was rude to them! Some people are out there just to make others as miserable as they are. I will still keep trying to make the GOOD customers happy.
  • David J
    David J •
    I have preached this for years!  What a novel concept.  Sometimes it is necessary to hold a customers hand all the way to the door.
  • CAROL B
    CAROL B •
    I agree 100%. There were times that i was so abused and judged by patient's by the way i sounded and they were only listening to a conversation they were not even directly involved.  How unrealsitic for a manager to take a stranger''s word over mine, really, what does that say about managers?  And that was after 20 years of Healthcare experience, with a huge following of patient's that loved me and actually waited for me specifically to wait on them.  I was fired after 16/1 half years by a very well known university.  So yes at times and under certain circumstances FIRE THE CUSTOMER!!!!!!!
  • Richard C. A
    Richard C. A •
    Bingo.Imagine yourself in the Customer Service department queue of a store.  You are an average, content customer who must return a faulty item.  You have the purchase receipt.  You have been waiting in line for longer than 10 minutes, and you are beginning to get upset.  At the head of the queue is an irate customer with a seemingly minor issue that could have been easily resolved had that person been satisfied with the resolution the CSR offered, but the customer insisted on getting service done his or her way.  The resolution the customer wanted would have taken longer time to do and would have made everyone including that irate customer even more upset.  That customer has one resolution, which is an escort to the EXIT door, with no apologies.
  • Randall R
    Randall R •
    Actually, I have to admit that I've been on "both sides of the fence" about this issue. Because I have so much experience in providing customer service, sometimes I find myself being more critical of sales clerks and service reps than I might otherwise have been, so I might be perceived by some as one of the demanding type of customer. And sometimes it isn't even the fault of the hapless sales person or service rep if the company they work for has policies or practices that infuriate me. This leads to the real point about this whole issue, which is that the businesses that do the best at taking care of their customers are generally those who take the best care of their employees FIRST, because happy employees tend to give better service to their customers. And taking care of employees in this context means a company should be willing, when it's called for, to lose a bad customer rather than a good employee.
  • Daniel G
    Daniel G •
    I am a front end supervisor at a Kmart and this happens all the time. My cashiers think they have to take the abuse from these type of customers but I tell them they don't need to. And then when management takes over, they give into them and you see the customer walk past you with a look that says they knew they would get their way. How are we to supervise after that?
  • Jose B
    Jose B •
    I am a Route Sales and Service Rep.for a linen supply co. and you are absolutely correct on this. We are in the process of using this idea to free up unnecessary BS.
  • Margaret A
    Margaret A •
    I agree with your analysis!!  My husband is a musician in business for himself and has had to "fire" clients that didn't work out!
  • Lynda E
    Lynda E •
    I have experienced this type of behavior in my last two jobs. The first job o had been there seven years, the second for one and a half years. Both positions were with banks. This new year I have found a position outside of the banking world for this exact reason. Not only did it make me feel terrible, but when the management did not have my back that made me feel worse. Their attitudes towards this types of behavior was to look the other way, and to write me up. I have been in customer service since the early 1980's. I have been recognized in with these companies at one time or another for excellent customer service. They seem to forget that when that one ignorant customer makes an erroneous complaint. I will always be a great customer service person. That's just who I am, however It's unfortunate for the last two companies that they lost a hard working, dependable, and honest employee because they were too afraid to face a customer who enjoys this type of satisfaction, pushing their weight around when they should of received a pink slip.
  • Lacresha R
    Lacresha R •
    Well said I deal with these types of customer on a daily basis
  • Thomas I. Q
    Thomas I. Q •
    Customers complain about products because they want it free or at a great discount. They need to be aware that true service issues will be corrected. But if the service is an education of the customer. Then service rep's should have the ability to educate and/or fix the problem. Discounts should never be at service rep level. But at upper Management level.
  • Louis V
    Louis V •
    I like this article. So few times do companies fire the bad customers, ones that make CSRs' lives miserable, and usually are tightwads anyways when it comes down to how much we make off of them. And often these people, make huge problems for anyone they talk to, rep. fish, and ruin your day if you let them. Yeah, most definitely, and esp. if these customers are aggressive, use profanity or scare tactics, threaten to sue, etc.. They should be told "you can always go to the other companies out there." If they're told this by a mgr., they will be shocked. But you have to cut the cord and play hardball with them, so they get they're being a-holes, and stop their behaviors.
  • Chester F
    Chester F •
    having worked in CS for several years I was happy to read that someone got it right.  You do your job to the best of your ability and then one complaint from a customer YOU"RE FIRED!  What a waste of all the training and experience.
  • Mario C
    Mario C •
    I agree, if 5% of customers use, or abuse 95% of your CSR I'd think about firing them, or give them a firm warning, but for the rest of 95% of customers, you better give 150% effort on customer service, nothing else less!
  • James H
    James H •
    What criteria can be used to identify those bad enough to wish to fire.OR should the company use better training for the customer service people to deal with them?
  • Magdolna (Maggie) M
    Magdolna (Maggie) M •
    MARY I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU. i WORKED  FOR ZELLERS INC. FOR 25 YEARS, AND THAT'S EXACTLY HOW SOME CUSTOMERS ACT. iVE SEEN CO-WORKERS THAT WORKED IN ELECTRONICS AT CHRISTMAS TIME THAT WERE REDUCED TO TEARS BECAUSE OF A CUSTOMER'S VERBAL VULGARITY. ANOTHER CO-WORKER WAS CALLED  THE N WORD BECAUSE SHE HAD TOLD THE CUSTOMER WE WERE OUT OF STOCK ON AN  ITEM. LASTLY WE HAD A CUSTOMER COME IN WITH HIS SON THEY WOULD GO THROUGH THE STORE PUNCHING EACH OTHER. HE WOULD ASK TO SEE THE MANAGER AND COMPLAIN ABOUT THE MOST RIDICULOUS THINGS. AT CHRISTMAS HE WOULD FIND A GAME THAT WAS OPEN WHERE PIECES WERE MISSING AND HE EXPECTED ME TO EITHER FIND THE MISSING PIECE OR THE PERSON THAT TOOK IT. THE LAST STRAW, HE COMPLAINED  THAT WE DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH CASHIERS, WE HAD 7 CASHIERS WORKED HE WANTED THE MANAGER TO OPEN A REGISTER JUST SO HE COULD CASH OUT, HE WENT ON AND ON THATS WHEN THE MANAGER TOLD HIM TO LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK. THE JOYS OF RETAIL.  
  • Lorraine M
    Lorraine M •
    Very good article.  I totally agree, as I have had encounters with "demanding and disagreeable" customers.  Offering an alternative sometimes works. Thank you.
  • Mary Nestor-Harper
    Mary Nestor-Harper •
    Very nicely said, Lydia.  It sounds like you've had one or two customers that need to go.  Thanks for the comment,
  • Lydia R
    Lydia R •
    Some customers will take advantage of you and drain your energy. I agree that you don't need them and should politely suggest that because they seem unhappy with you, perhaps they should find another resource.

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