Ask small-business owners and they’ll tell you they need to please every last customer they serve. You count on dribs and drabs of revenue coming from a variety of sources throughout the year, and it’s important to keep those customers happy so you can make payroll, pay expenses for fuel, insurance and rent, and put enough money in the bank to support your family.
Whenever you hear a complaint from an unhappy customer, you take it seriously. Dealing with service shortcomings might mean replacing battered restroom inventory or sitting down with a driver and having a difficult discussion about picking up the pace on a route or paying more attention to details. You do everything in your power to ensure all of your clients want to recommend your service to friends and business associates.
But what if you take all the positive steps with a customer and you just can’t make things right? What happens when you expend a tremendous amount of time and money on an account and it just doesn’t help? Is there ever a time to give up on a portable sanitation customer? You bet there is. As I sometimes tell a PRO who’s dealing with a chronically unhappy client, “Some customers just aren’t worth having.”
With the summer season winding down, it’s a good time to take stock in your clientele, strengthen the golden customer relationships that help your business succeed and consider cutting loose a few turkeys that don’t advance your bottom line.
Maybe you’ve heard of the 80/20 rule, which says that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. These business partners are the cream of the crop, the special-event organizers and construction clients who value your service the most and make your phone ring regularly. Heading into the slow season, you need to take time to bolster your relationship with these great customers.
On the flip side, I’ll introduce a new 80/20 rule, which states that 20 percent of your customers create 80 percent of your headaches from day to day. These are the customers you dread hearing from. Their infrequent phone calls don’t make you think “profits,” but rather leave a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. You welcome their orders, but in the end you may regret taking them. They may be difficult to satisfy, slow to pay or there is little profit in serving them.
You may be better off without these customers. The time you spend trying to make them happy may be better spent tracking down new customers who may fit into your top 20 percent. I know dropping a customer – even a marginal one – is difficult to do. But sometimes you need to take a step backward to move forward. And some PROs have told me – only partly tongue-in-cheek – that there is a silver lining to dropping a few customers who are a thorn in your side: They may move on and make life miserable for a competitor.
I’ve come up with five signs that it might be time to dump a customer. Look for these symptoms of a counterproductive business relationship:
They’re not listening to your professional advice
A special-event customer orders 10 units every year and wants you to line them up on the same corner. As the event grows in popularity, you see the restrooms become overused. For several years, you recommended placing more units and spreading them out to reach other high-traffic locations. Your advice falls on deaf ears, and every year you hear complaints about your restrooms from attendees who think you are providing poor service. You make a little bit of money, but your reputation takes a big hit. It’s time to flush the customer.
They aren’t paying
ABC Construction Co. calls occasionally for a restroom at a residential build. They want it on site today and keep it for a few months. Then they ignore your billing cycle and you have to call them for three months to remind them to pay. You might even occasionally have to pull a unit from a work site to drive home the point that they must pay their bills. They eventually pay, but it’s a constant cash-flow annoyance. Cut them off.
Units are lost or abused
You land a big commercial construction account for the new medical clinic in your town. The customer orders a half-dozen restrooms that need servicing twice a week. Your driver reports back to you every week over the past month that a unit is tipped over or vandalized, requiring replacement. Unfortunately, you didn’t have the customer sign a damage waiver mandating extra payment for units with drill holes in them. The extra cleaning and repairs eat away at your profits and the customer refuses to pay more. Send them packing.
They pit you against a low-ball competitor
There was a time when the local park system paid your competitive rate for units placed all summer long at several locations. It was a great account for years. Now that a few upstart companies have come along the parks director wants you to cut your fee by 40 percent to match what the low-ball contractors are willing to take. You can’t imagine how the other companies can offer those rates while still turning a profit and providing quality service. Tell the parks department no thanks; it’s a good chance they’ll be back when they receive horrible service and complaints from the public.
You don’t get any respect
For one customer, you’ve become the Rodney Dangerfield of the portable sanitation industry. They rent a few units from you and they think that means they own you. They make unrealistic demands on your time to deliver units at all hours, call you out to clean up messes made by one of their workers, and expect you to go above and beyond with service but never treat you like a professional in return. Your drivers have told you this customer is rude and berates them in front of others on the job site. Don’t put up with it.
Loyalty - It's a two-way street
Navigating customer relationships isn’t always going to be a breeze. Your customers can be extremely demanding at times, and to a certain extent, that’s what they pay you for. That occasional midnight call to clean up a tipped-over unit is to be expected. So is an infrequent complaint about service or a customer asking you to shave a little off a big bill.
But you don’t have to put up with constant hassles, rude behavior or deadbeats. Keep an eye out for those few customers who take it too far. Most people you work for will value your service and treat you with respect. They follow the golden rule and want to maintain a positive working relationship with your company. Those are the folks you want to please every day.
