If you’re a new business or even an established business it can seem crazy to turn away potential customers.
Who would want to turn away money?
This thought can overcome all of us. We’ll take any client that comes through our door, but sometimes we’ll look back on the moment we brought a client on board with regret. We’ll think that no amount of money is worth dealing with a client that just isn’t a good fit.
And that’s the case sometimes – not every business is a match for every client.
I like the saying that the customer is always right. But I think it can work both ways. Sometimes, the business is always right and if it doesn’t feel right to work with a certain client then there should be no issue telling that client that you’ll no longer work for them.
Turning away customers or clients from your business can improve things. It can make your business better by putting you and your colleagues in a better mood. When you’re dealing with customers that put you in a bad mood it’s going to affect the rest of the work you do. It’s like one bad apple spoiling the entire barrel.
And one customer could sap your entire team’s time. That takes away from the time you could spend working on other projects that could grow your business.
Don’t let you and your business get too reliant on any single customer. You can hold back your business and it can make your life miserable. It’s not worth it. You most likely got into business to be happy and to have freedom. Sometimes you have to turn away customers in order to focus on the ones that will make your business enjoyable.
Here are a few ways to filter out the bad clients and turn them away.
Note: The term “bad” clients might not be appropriate. They’re usually not bad people. It’s just the fact that they’re not a good fit for your business. Some people just aren’t meant to work together.
1. Too Much Back And Forth
These points may not apply to every business, but hopefully you can draw parallels for your business and see if you have a customer that isn’t a good fit.
The first one is having too much back and forth with the customer. This is usually a sign that the communication in the relationship just isn’t good. It’s common for this to happen at first and improve over time, but if you’re not seeing things improve it’s usually a sign that things won’t get better.
You’ll spend a lot of time going back and forth. It might be on revisions or maybe the customer just prefers talking on the phone. This can take up a lot of your time, which robs you of time you can spend working on other things in the business.
2. Too Many Changes
If you find yourself continually making changes and customizations or revisions for a client it’s another sign that things probably aren’t worth continuing. Usually this is a sign that expectations for you and for the client are too different. You likely have a number of clients that are happy with what you can provide, but one or two that aren’t happy. You have to go above and beyond for those clients.
That can be fine on some occasions. If you’re happy working with the client it can be fine or if they’re paying you more, but if you’re not happy and you’re not getting more money it’s probably time to move on.
See if there is value in the relationship for you. If there is then you’re fine, but if there isn’t it’s time to move on and focus on finding more customers that fit better with your company.
3. Too Much Arguing
Sometimes argument can be positive, but often it’s negative. It’s negative for your mood and for your business. You’ll wear yourself out if all you do is fight with one particular customer.
I would say that no amount of money is worth being angry or upset all the time. There are different ways to make money than working with a customer that drives you nuts. Sometimes you have to just cut the line and start over again.
It’ll feel like a big weight is off your shoulders and you’ll be free to be happy and to focus on other things again.