May 22 2008
Ever consider firing a client?
I take great pride in providing top notch customer service for all of our members on a daily basis. I make it a top priority to take calls from our members, return calls, and respond to emails in a timely fashion. I enjoy the calls to check in and say hello, calls that are complimentary of our receptionists’ professionalism and polite phone manner. Calls offering constructive criticism are also appreciated because this feedback helps us to better serve our customers, creating long term business relationships. Because I enjoy doing as much as I can for our members, I often call members just to check in a make sure they are satisfied with the quality of our service.
There are also calls that make me hot. My blood pressure rises, and I dread saying “okay, put the call through”. This is because these clients call multiple times a day about issues that are out of control. Important calls are missed because clients fail to check their voicemail. Instructions on handling calls are unclear and changed so frequently that their appointments are compromised. This type of customer prevents me from providing the quality of service that I pride myself with.
Firing employees who do not perform their jobs adequately is a task I am familiar with. When is it acceptable to fire a customer? Some customers are so time consuming they prevent you from performing daily tasks. I recently had the pleasure of informing a long time member “Some people just cannot be pleased and I feel that you fall into that category, regardless of my own and our staffs efforts”. This was a liberating experience. The customer had been a member of our service for over four years. For this person to remain a customer so many years, my staff and I were doing something right.
Tim Ferriss said it best in his latest book, “customer service is not becoming a personal concierge and catering to their every whim and want. Customer service is providing a excellent product or service at an acceptable price and solving legitimate problems that may come up in the fastest manner possible. That’s it.” I think that sums it up. I encourage all business owners to fire that customer of theirs that can’t be pleased and is preventing them from giving great customer service to those that deserve and appreciate it.
Jessica Matyi is Office Manager of Intelligent Office of Red Bank
Thanks Jessica-
This is solid advice.
It is my goal to give my best clients the best possible service and then spread my attention down the list. Every so often there is always that one person that is unreasonable or difficult. It is always a difficult decision to let a client go but sometimes it is just the best thing to do.