We came across an interesting article the other day posted by Linda Hurley on Helium.com. The article discusses how firing certain customers can better your business, as well as it’s bank account…

The article touches on the topic of nonpaying customers and those that are continuously paying their bills late… “Across the range of customers the worst possible type of customer to have is one that consistently pays late.” Another great point is made in the article that for every day a payment is late, the business will lose the profit “equivalent to the cost of the working capital.”

The article then goes on to list three steps to determining whether to fire a customer or not… The article is then closed by “The only good customer is a profitable one.” — Is this not 100% true?!? How else will your business survive??

Be sure to check out the full article.

Take it from us, fire you habitual late payers and non-payers!

money, money, money, monayyyy… monaaaayyy! =)

“What’s wrong with them??”

– PC Out

We had a viewer write in to our show:

“I caught your show the other day and I didn’t understand what the difference was between a bad customer and a CustoMonster. Could you explain?”   -James White – Buffalo, NY

If you have any questions for us and anything we talk about on the show feel free to send us an email: info(at)businessbewareshow.com

Coming to a business near you…

We are getting ready to start making our way to small businesses from all over to talk with them about their business, customers, pre-qualification and more. We might even work in your store with you for the day! If you would like more info on how we can come to your place email Ashley: ashley(at)businessbewareshow.com

Sponsorships

If you’re interested in being a show sponsor or sponsoring a segment learn more right here.

Also we have an awesome thing we are doing for small business owners where you can put your logo on the back of our tshirts we send out all over the US and Canada. More to come soon but feel free to contact Leah for more information: Leah(at)businessbewareshow.com

In this short article, McPheat discusses what to do with “no-good” customers and explains that keeping these clients will only harm your business and keep your attention away from deserving customers. 

Read his article here.

“Fire those bad customers.”  — Bravo!

- PC Out

If you find any like this feel free to share them with us.

1. Do the stairs go up and down?
2. Is that island out there surrounded by water?
3. What time is the midnight buffet?
4. I wanted an ocean view cabin why do I only see a parking lot? (this is before they leave for the cruise)
5. What do you do with the ice sculptures on the ship after they melt?
6. How do we get cable in our rooms if we are out in the middle of nowhere?
7. What type of water is in the toilet? Salt or fresh water?
8. Does this elevator go to the back of the ship? I’m late for my massage and need to get there pronto…
9. How do I get off the ship?
10. What side of the boat do the whales come up on?

Think about it this way…put yourself in your shoes and what would you as the customer appreciate from a business that cares about you? And we’re not talking about a coupon that is worthless we’re thinking bigger.

One thing that we love about Zappos is the customer service of course but they are so awesome about surprising you with free shipping or an upgraded shipping etc. That little incentive makes peoples days all the time and it turns them into repeat customers.

3 Ways to reward your good customers:

1. Give them something for free when they purchase a large sum of products from you. The coffee place we go to always gives us a bag of his roasted (amazing) coffee for free because he truly appreciates the business. And he genuinely cares.
2. Send them a gift card. Whether it’s for your company as a “credit” or even for a restaurant. Include it in their invoice or paperwork. Sometimes you can catch people so off guard by this that it just makes them smile from ear to ear.
3. Have a BBQ. Totally for real on this one. In the south we love BBQ and good people. So get together a time and place, invite your employees and customers that have been with you for quite some time. You will be amazed at how many show up and truly love this idea. It’s a way for you to get to know them outside of work and who knows you might end up best friends (true story).

These are just a few suggestions and creative ways to reward your good customers that you love to work with. Be creative and let them know that you care, it means more than you know.

And of course you know what to do with naughty customers aka CustoMonsters…

COMMUNICATION is definitely the key.

If you are upfront with your customers from the start that’s great! Keep the communication going throughout the time you work with them so there (hopefully) won’t be any miscommunication. Now here’s where it gets tricky…What if you have a customer who you were up front with the entire time but when it came down to collecting money from the recent job you did they won’t get back with you at all?

This happens all the time even with some good customers and not just the CustoMonsters. Sometimes no matter how many times you try and reach out to them or contact them they won’t call you back. This is where we come in to help you as the business owner. We help get the communication started and let the customer know that you just want to work out the situation before it becomes a problem, collect your money and be done with it. Your first step with BB is to try our “beware letter.” It’s a pre-warning letter as we call it. So rather than filing a complaint you simply let them know you have the chance to file a complaint but just want to work out your situation.

Just the other day a business owner in OH used our letter and days later his customer sent him the payment he had been trying collect from the customer for over 2 months. The total amount was a little over $13,000. Nice huh?

So let us help you get the communication started with your customer. Find out how with our how it works page.

They seem to be the ones that are unhappy about how you run your business, want money taken off their bill, don’t agree with the way your service tech worked on their house, the coffee is not hot enough and the list goes on and on. These are the customers we refer to as “CustoMonsters” if you didn’t already pick up on that.

CustoMonsters:

• take up your time
• take time away from your good customers
• unable to be pleased
• cause problems
• voice-tress
• rude to employees
• a disrespectful bully

The 3 things you need to say to a CustoMonster are:

1. Thank you but we don’t need your business.
2. Here is our competitor’s number.
3. Click.

My mouth completely dropped after he told me that. People actually do that? Here’s the problem with that…while the customer wants to save money they are costing the business owner a good deal of money by using the larger cups, taking their supplies of milk and whatever else you put into your “poor man’s latte” and you waste their time.

It’s understandable that people want to save money in different areas but if you don’t like how much it cost for a normal latte at a specialty coffee place then don’t bother going there. Go to the gas station to get your coffee if you’re going to whine about it. What’s funny is most of the people who do this are the ones who can afford to buy 20 lattes in one day not the average person.

Here’s how it breaks down for those that don’t understand the business side of things and only want to complain and tweet about it…a business is in business to make money not give away everything for free. Owners work hard to get where they’re at and to keep the doors open everyday. Production, labor, materials, employees, utilities and more all go into the cost of running a business. So next time you try and get a “ghetto latte” you should think about how you’re cheating the business owner. Don’t be surprised if that owner says “we don’t need your business.” When you do this you are basically what we call here at Business Beware a CustoMonster.

For more stories like this check out our new section “The Retail Chronicles.”

If you don’t like it go somewhere else and quit wasting their time. Another good example of this is the “pen pal” customer from Southwest. Watch this to learn about what good ole Herb did about this CustoMonster…

While that’s awesome of him to do that, at the same time it could totally cause problems for him down the road…Thomas states: ““Since we began the business back in 1983,’’ he said, “I told my sons and all of my employees, ‘Do not focus your attention on the dollar. Focus your attention on the customer and the dollar will always follow. Communicating, understanding, and reacting positively to your customers’ needs will have people ranting and raving about you. I am very thankful and feel very blessed for having such wonderful people to work for.’’

Sounds like an awesome guy who knows what he’s talking about and a great business owner. While most business owners feel this way it doesn’t mean that all customers truly appreciate that gesture. Some might even take advantage of that if you don’t charge them and the next time you go out for a service call they will expect that. The lady probably had full intention of paying but was treated to that since she was a long time customer and the predicament she was in with the ice everywhere.

It proves there are good people out there and those businesses who do love their customers. Good for you Thomas but just be careful not to let customers take advantage of you when you’re doing such good things because they totally will and those are called….CustoMonsters.

You can read the full article here.

As you know we are going to be at UnGeeked in Orlando March 3-5 and so should you. Here is a little info about what we will be talking about and why UnGeeked is better than other “conferences” out there.