You’re Fired!
Previously I’ve written about the importance of customer care, about considering others instead of joining the every man for himself brigade and generally showing some decency in terms of how you run your business and take care of your customers. I still stand by all those things I’ve written about and I continue to strive to be decent at the same time as running profitable businesses.
As many of you know, my background is in strategic business development, specifically in retail. You’ve no doubt heard the saying “The customer is always right”, and I’d heard that a lot too. But over time I came to the conclusion that no, in fact the customer isn’t always right. Some customers just shouldn’t have shopped in our stores, simply because their expectations were never going to be met.
If you enter a discount retail store and expect to have staff hanging off your every need and giving you a private shopping tour you’re likely to be quite disappointed. Just as if you walk into Harrods expecting to find a designer handbag for less than $10, not likely! So are you right to complain in these instances? If you were misled about what the store offered, then yes, that’s not really fair is it if you were tricked through the front door. But generally, in the brick and mortar world, you can often glean quickly what you’re likely to expect from certain stores, but that doesn’t seem to stop some customers having unreasonable expectations of what the business offers.
During my time in retail we’d receive complaints that there weren’t enough staff on, that the customer had to wait in a queue ten deep and the store was too noisy, too cold and the product range was too narrow. Some changes can be made to a business model to try and appeal to more customers but ultimately, a discount retailer will keep costs down to keep their sell prices down so some customers just need to shop elsewhere if they don’t like it. We don’t want those customers in our store because their expectations do not match our offer, they’re not who we’re trying to appeal to and we cannot please them: we will not deliver silver service with rock bottom prices so they need to be moved along or get in line to pay for their goods like everybody else.
Aldi is a great example: “No Gimmicks, Just Low Prices”. Shopping at Aldi is a pretty ordinary experience to say the least but with great prices and quite a lot of quality preserved in what they sell it’s very popular. If I go to Aldi I don’t complain that it’s cold and that the stock being stacked on pallets on the shop floor is less than pleasing. I understand what their offer is and if I don’t like it then I need to shop elsewhere.
At the end of the day sometimes you just have to fire a customer.
Sounds harsh but this post is already getting quite long so I can’t be fluffing it all out with niceties sorry, and who’s got time for fluff these days anyways!
So does the need arise to fire customers in the online world too? Yes!
In the online world it’s easy for customers to complain, it’s easy for “customers” to steal and it’s easy for a customer to claim that the ‘item doesn’t do what it was purported to do’. The last point is true when it comes to digital goods where the customer has to actually do something to make the purported outcome actually occur. Hey, I could sell you a book on how to win the lottery but if you fail to actually go and buy a ticket to begin with then what hope do you have of ever actually winning?
I’ve seen countless claims from people online that ‘all’ the products they’ve bought ‘don’t work’. I read comments like “Ugh, I’m so sick of buying all this stuff and none of it actually works! I’d love a mentor, someone to keep me on track because I’m so useless at staying focused and following through.” Is it just me or do you see that the individual has not actually completed the said tasks to even see if the various models actually work or not, yet they claim they’re being ripped off?
When people make these sorts of statements in forums and so forth, in the past I’ve tried to help them and discover what the method was they were trying. Interestingly, when you start asking for urls, article marketing links, where did they build traffic or whatever the key levers were for the success of the particular path they took, the forum poster disappears, or more commonly, rewords ‘what they meant’. They either aren’t motivated to follow through or are distracted sucked in by the latest shiny objects that promise the “Internet lifestyle”. This means they never realise that the model does most likely work, they just haven’t actually stuck at it long enough to see. Or, in a lot of cases, let’s be brutally honest, they haven’t even started it.
(Yes, there are some marketing tactics that cross the line, yes there are plenty of massively overpriced products but at some point you have to take responsibility and unsubscribe from everything and choose one thing and do it until you prove it works or not!)
I find it seriously laughable when people buy ebooks and then ask for a refund the same day saying it doesn’t work, or it’s too hard to understand, or it’s just so not going to suit them. I’m continually surprised at how many people think that other people just came down in the last shower. Both buyers and sellers do it. They do things that essentially insult the intelligence of the person at the other end of the email. The good news is that when customers ask for a refund within the first day (or within the guarantee expiry period 
) you don’t have to fire them! They’ve already shown that they are not going to be a good match for your products so you can spend more energy with those people who do resonate more with you and what you have to offer.
Here’s where it gets ugly though.
It gets ugly in terms of a waste of your time and energy, when the customer is a poor match but has nothing better to do than stick around, complain, ask millions of questions yet take no action and pretty much try to ‘disprove’ what it is you’re trying to help them with. Questions right up front asking for ‘proof’ ‘it’ works and so on. You can see it right from the get go, they just aren’t shopping in the right store. You’re never going to please them, convince them and get them to take action. They’ve bought a product, they have to do some work and so they decide it’s much easier to pick on the product, try to find holes in it, try to disprove it and so on. At what point do you tell them “You’re fired!”?
Luckily for me I’ve only had a couple of instances where I’ve had to fire a customer online and generally it’s been done by explaining where they’re going wrong and why they probably won’t succeed, whether that be about their mindset or their unwillingness to do the right thing by their customers. Sometimes you can fire a customer simply by refusing to pander to all their unreasonable expectations.
So what sort of customer are you? Do you have a good understanding of what you’re buying and why or do you just buy everything and ask for a refund and sit back in your office surrounded by all the ‘free’ products you’ve acquired. Does that work in terms of building a solid profitable business?
Are you the type of customer who is so scarred from some of your online experiences that every marketer is a scammer that has to prove themselves innocent first before you’ll take any action on one of their products?
Are you the type of customer who, even though you can see some marketers give away a load of stuff for free, you don’t care, you just want more and more for free and just take and take and take some more. Do you expect an endless supply of hand holding, ‘do it for me’ type help and generally place unreasonable amounts of requests on the people you follow?
I’m often talking about sellers needing to think about the buyer in the transaction and I’ve sacked plenty of gurus I used to follow who I’ve seen treat people like dirt, but I’m just as keen to speak out on behalf of marketers who genuinely offer good products and loads of free information who are quite often attacked for not giving enough, for not replying to things with enough detail, to not offering enough hand holding. We are all acutely aware of just how far the free line has moved but at some point we all begin to realise that ‘giving it all away’ and then being asked for unreasonable amounts of ‘more’ and giving it is downright insanity.
It has to go both ways. Not every person who sells something is a ruthless slime ball so be careful because you could get fired by someone who could have ultimately been the person to help you have the best chance of success.
If you have customers in your business who are being unreasonable, who are clearly not a good match then don’t be afraid to fire them. Focusing on those people who are willing to do the work, who are more in tune with you and what you offer is where you’ll find more success and happiness for yourself and your loyal followers.
Have you ever had to fire a customer?
18 Comments for this entry
Ric
(8 comments)
Michelle, good points. There are some people you can never satisfy. Have you ever tried to cuddle a customer where you give 1 and they want 2, you give 2 and they want 3? This will never end, it’s just not worth the time. As you say “fire them”.
If you know you treated customers right, you sleep well at night and you provided good quality, reasonable people will know this and become good customers too…
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 2:17 am
Ric unfortunately yes, I have given 1, then been asked for 2, then 3 all the way right up to 100 I think! I kept my nerve though and learned where I went wrong: not clearly stating the boundaries. Nowadays, I’d be much more likely to fire them mid-job than politely get taken advantage of.
Your point about sleeping well at night is very true! I’ve had to prove my ‘good intentions’ and ‘claims’ more than once and although it’s insulting it’s nice knowing that I have nothing to hide.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Kathlene
(1 comments)
In a word, Yes, I have had to fire a customer once or three times. The sweet thing about this online thing is we do not need to go to the expense of creating a physical product. Yes, it takes time to create the cyber product but we only invest a bit of time.
If some is a pain, for me it is easy to just give a refund and wish them a good day. I have spent hours trying to satisfy a customer for ten bucks when I could have been doing something useful.
Refund them and pay yourself with some productive time.
Great post. and worth considering.
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 2:45 am
Yep, seems even for ten bucks some will expect the world.
I love the air of confidence in your comment, thanks for stopping by.
Paul
(6 comments)
Wow…Great post! Man…I’ve been through several episodes of firing customers both offline and online.
Here are the reasons why customers should be fired.
1. They did NOT understand the product. But it’s written in plain english.
2. They bought something and never followed through.
3. They want all YOUR attention everyone else is stupid.
4. I want a refund because it did NOT work. But they never read the instructions or bothered to ask questions.
Paul
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 2:53 am
Good summary Paul! Number two is unfortunately so common.
Doesn’t it just make you appreciate those great customers more! The ones who do take the time to actually read, take action and ask questions. The ones who are almost apologetic for requesting your time. Now that is where I find myself giving truckloads more than would be expected. And that’s because there is effort from their side of the fence and I love going out of my way for people who are willing to help themselves.
Thanks for stopping by!
Mark Sierra
(5 comments)
Hi Michelle!
Finally, someone who agrees with me that the customer is not always right. 
I’m all for trying to make them happy, but when they clearly are more interested in pushing people around to get their way, it just makes everyone miserable. It also defeats the purpose of trying to do the right thing when you know they’re just itching for you to give them a reason to gripe.
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 3:12 am
Seems there are a few of us who agree.
I know that sense of someone itching for you to give them a reason to gripe. I’ve found that quite unsettling in the past, stressing that they’ll tell the world I didn’t serve them well. Can you tell I’m past that now. And thanks to you and all the other comments so far, I’m even more confident that it’s okay not to pander to what mostly boils down to unreasonableness.
It’s fantastic to know though that the majority of people are ‘good’ and I’m humbled by them even considering I have something worthy of reading and or handing over their hard earned money for.
Thanks for leaving your thoughts Mark, it’s always good to hear from you.
Luke Moulton
(4 comments)
Never a truer word spoken – it can be such a relief to get rid of a time consuming, unappreciative client – the ones that always want stuff done yesterday and don’t want to pay for it.
When I was running a web development studio, we went through the process of dividing our customers into 3 groups:
A – Customers we loved and wanted more of
B – OK customers but wouldn’t love more of them
C – Fire their ass
There were only 2 C clients but turns out they were causing 80% of the headaches. The old 80/20 rule holds true.
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Hey Luke, I like the A, B, C method you used, that could be very enlightening for many things not just what we’re on about here.
I hadn’t thought about the 80/20 rule but it’s true now I look back at a few problems, it really did take that much time and energy!
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Steve Sponseller
(1 comments)
Great post Michelle. I have fired a few clients in the past – it was a huge relief for me after it was finished. And, it was best for the client – they needed to go in a different direction.
I agree with Luke’s comment above, but I would say it’s more like a 90/10 rule for me. I remember one client in particular that had been “difficult” for almost 2 years (WAY too long). I worked with about 15 clients at that time. Letting that one client go eliminated virtually all of the problems and headaches. Everyone in my organization thanked me for that one!
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Wow Steve, two years, that is a long time to endure a difficult customer! You must have the patience of a saint.
Nice point about it being best for the customer too.
Thanks for stopping by.
Forest
(31 comments)
I wouldn’t say I have ever had to fire a client…. I have had to let them go (fire sounds so harsh!!). I normally nicely explain that I don’t think that what they expect of me for the cost is reasonable and after a few attempts at chance I am no longer willing to work with them…. I hate it but it just has to be done at times!
Fantastic post as ever. Sorry I have not been around the Forum…. Been very preoccupied with life and everything :s
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Yep “You’re Fired!” is harsh, how does Donald get away with it? Lol.
I like the sound of how you explain things; straight up honest and diplomatic at the same time.
I know you’re busy and that’s a good thing because you’re gettin’ stuff done! I see all those posts over at Frugal, it’s looking good!
Always great to hear your perspective Forest, thank you.
materialstito
(2 comments)
Firing a customer is a good idea when maintaining the customer involves more costs than benefits.
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Sometimes my customers are so delightful I wouldn’t dream of firing them because they cost more than they benefit my business. But if by ‘benefits’ you mean to include personal satisfaction, enjoyment, compassion etc then I think I’d be happy to use that calculation.
Thought provoking comment, thanks.
Wendy
(2 comments)
My husband is in retail management and your description of your retail experience perfectly mirrors his frustrated rants. Seems even on different continents (we’re in the US) retail is the same.
You are an inspiration to me – my goal with my online business is to free my husband from retail hell. I recently purchased your “Learn to Build and Sell Niche Blogs” ebook and I’m within days of listing my first site on Flippa.
Thank you so much, Michelle, for sharing your knowledge!
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Wendy it does sound as though retail is the same world over. I know your husband would have some great skills though! It can be frustrating but it’s a fantastic way to get solid business management experience which hopefully you and your husband can leverage from home one day.
Thanks for purchasing my ebook. Congratulations on taking action and good luck with your first auction!
BTW, I’ve sent you an email.
Rebe
(13 comments)
Michelle, no matter how long your posts…i always enjoy the read.
If retail doesn’t thicken your skin, nothin’ will!
I agree 110% that letting a problematic customer go is a necessity, if the ROI is such that, as you, Luke and others have commented, profits are eaten up by a small percentage of time wasters.
To minimize the issue I do not take on every job offered; instead, I interview the client and when any red flags show up, simply decline the project in various ways. This has allowed me to work pretty much only with ideal clients.
The interview process includes key questions which provides insight as to the personality type and expectations, something learned from working with the public and having had employees…100 years ago! As I’m writing this thinking it might be a worthwhile report / ebook for other business owners, hmmmmm.
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Rebe I thought of you today when I heard about the quake in Costa Rica! Sounds as though not much damage thankfully.
You have a smart way of going about your client selection, thanks for sharing it.
You surely have many many many worthwhile reports and ebooks in you with 100 years life experience, lol.
Seriously, it sounds like you have some good information to share!
Thanks for visiting and I hope all is well there.
Kimberly
(4 comments)
Michelle,
I absolutely loved this post! You hit the nail on the head on so many points!! This is true of how many people approach life in general – they blame others when things don’t go their way. It’s a matter of getting focused, and then doing the work!
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Focus and work, right on!
Thanks for visiting and for the feedback, I’m glad you liked it.
Will
(2 comments)
The 80/20 90/20 thing is so on the money.
Some customers can make your life miserable. We always try to over deliver with customer service and it was never enough for a couple of customers we had to fire.
It got to the point where they were insulting us, and insulting other members in our forum.
They were already making more money than their monthly investment, so it was their loss. Did I miss the $20/month they were paying me in return for that kind of stress and belittlement? Absolutely not in the least.
I immediately returned to feeling great about the business I run and helping the happy, enthusiastic customers.
Emotional expense in a business could almost be figured into a profit/loss formula. These two customers we just couldn’t afford!
Thanks for the great post!
Michelle
May 21st, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Great points Will, the emotional side of it can be draining indeed.
Sounds like you had a hard time of it but good to hear you were able to get back to feeling good about the business.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Ruth - Web Career Girl
(20 comments)
I just fired a customer today, actually. We weren’t on the same wavelength, and all the help I was trying to give wasn’t taken in, so I decided to let go. A little while ago I would have just stewed over this for a long time, but I’m getting a little bit more selfish now – in a good way, avoiding wasting both of our time.
There was also a point where I was very cynical about people selling stuff online as you described. In fact, I still am, but only about the ones who are only interested in the money and not about their practices and customers. These days my time is much better spent, I follow people who really talk the talk AND walk the walk – and there are plenty of them about! It helps when you find them 
, for a while my cynicism was really getting me down.
Michelle
May 23rd, 2010 at 3:51 am
I too would stew on things in the past Ruth but as we grow in confidence it becomes easier to expect a little bit for ourselves too.
There is a need to be cynical I think but when I stumble on a marketer/method I’ve not followed before I tend to trust them until they prove they can’t be trusted. Sometimes it only takes one blog post and one autoresponder email to spot they don’t really give a toss and so then I just unsubscribe.
I always remember a few years back how I was following Josh Spaulding’s blog and although I started to trust him a lot I still was wary of IM generally. I’d read an old post on his blog and I had a genuine comment and question so posted it there. I expected him not to respond but he did and quite quickly from memory. I then joined his coaching forum where I really learned about not being pandered to, about pushing through the barriers but most importantly about the core of Internet marketing not the fluff and myths. There are more of him around, it’s just a matter of spotting them in amongst the bright shiny objects everyone else is spruiking about.
Good to know your time is being spent wisely these days.
carol lefrancois
(1 comments)
Hello Michelle !
Very nice article you have here and it gave me an idea for me and a friend of mine.Shes from France and i’m from Canada.She owns the rights of the Semiomentics for constructing blog wich is top level SEO tool.She’s willing to build blog so we can sell them on flippa.Any ideas or advices you may have would be very appreciated Michelle.
We can get as many .com domain names as we want,We have all the proffessionnal themes.Is it possible to ask the customers on flippa before constructing the blog on what subject and wich title they want to use.As for keywords we can manage.
Again Michelle thanks a lot for your nice article and thanks in advance for your response.
Truly yours,Carol
Luke Moulton
June 9th, 2010 at 4:38 am
Carol, you might like to take a look at the Tags page on Flippa: http://flippa.com/listing-tags
This will give you a good indication of what’s in demand and what’s being sold based on loose categories.
Michelle
June 9th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Hi Carol, as Luke suggested, you can get an idea of the types of sites that are in demand at Flippa.com.
I suggest you take a look at the just sold and the unsold listing tabs at Flippa too. If you study these regularly you can gain greater insights.
Sounds like you could offer a good custom build service. If you list some sites for sale you can also encourage people to contact you about custom builds. Even if you don’t encourage them you’ll get custom requests if what you build is solid and stands out for the right reasons.
Thanks for stopping by.
adriansabah
(1 comments)
Coming from a retail background, I’m glad to find this blog.
Everybody loves a freebie, we see it in retail all the time, and the internet is just a reflection of the off-line world.
About “The customer is always right”, I honestly never believed that. Most times, it is taken to mean that they do have a right to complain.
Michelle
June 21st, 2010 at 4:37 am
Lol, yes a right to complain, I like that.
Thanks for visiting and leaving your comments.
Travis
(1 comments)
Michelle:
Interesting post. I’ve never been in a position offline or online to fire anyone but I can totally relate to what you’re saying as someone who has struggled online and eventually achieved some success. It takes work, effort, and making a lot of mistakes!!
As you know, my blog focuses on website flipping so I get a lot of emails from people wanting help. I’ll help people in anyway that I can but it is interesting because as you’ve pointed out, when I ask them for specifics so that I can help them better I either never hear from them again or they always come back with a clarification that they “really haven’t put that much effort into it.”
It’s like the old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it!
Travis
Michelle
June 21st, 2010 at 4:32 am
It does take work Travis although some dispute that and say it’s only about working smarter. Working hard and smart is my approach. And too true that you can only lead the horse to the water.
Thanks for stopping over here and sharing your thoughts.
Bob Royce
(1 comments)
Stimulating article Michelle,
It seems to me that the root of the problem is that there are too many browser/customers on the Internet.
The Internet is like a massive shopping mall with millions of people milling around, often rather aimlessly.
A lot of those people would like to be making money on the Internet, but they have no idea about “how”.
These people are suckers for the “get rich quick” schemes and those interminably long sales pages.
They buy without thinking about their own strengths, abilities and interests and then can’t make the program work.
I know because I have done just that myself.
I made no headway online until I started asking myself, “what do I like, what am I good at, what interests me and who might be interested in what I can offer?”
Before buying everyone should ask themselves, “do I really need this product and will I use it for long enough to get value from it?” The same questions a sensible person would ask before buying a suit or a bed or a golf club.”
I also believe that the people selling products online have a responsiblity to try to give their customers a clear idea of what they are being offered, before they buy. Perhaps then they wouldn’t need to be fired.
Bob
Michelle
June 21st, 2010 at 4:21 am
I think you’re right Bob that there are millions of people milling around online often aimlessly. There is an element there that people can’t make a program work due to lack of ability but I think in the main is more the point you made about their interests. It’s very hard to stick to something that doesn’t spike your interest in one way or the other. My latest post touches on all that unfinished business from the many things we start but don’t particularly enjoy enough to keep going with.
Absolutely people selling products should give their customers a clear idea of what they’re being offered. Of course the problem is that it’s the ‘secret method’ that they sell so they can’t reveal that their system involves writing 50 niche articles on subjects such as why lice like clean hair better than dirty hair. If they did reveal it all then they wouldn’t sell near as much would they…that’s your point I know. Thanks for sharing, I like your thinking!
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Jennifer
(3 comments)
Hi Michelle – What a great post! This whole concept is thought provoking. I’ve been very selective in the products/forums I choose to promote because of this very reason. Some people are never going to be satisfied, while others just need a nudge in the right direction. The sooner we can recognize one type of customer from another, the better off we are. Thanks for a great post!
Michelle
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May 19th, 2010 at 4:20 am
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts Jen.
Sorry your post went to the spam box first! I know you are definitely not a spammer!