The world is a huge place, and it’s filled with a wide variety of personalities and character types. It stands to reason, then, that your customer list might be subject to the odd bad apple or two. Unfortunately, these particular customers might cost you far more than they’ll ever give back to your business. Likewise, the reverse is also true. That leads us to our main point of contention for today’s article: does your business really need more customers… or just better ones?
The terrifying truth about bad customers
That old adage ‘the customer is always right’ has a lot to answer for. It’s this type of thinking that leads to countless companies pouring time, effort, and money into customers that will never become profitable. This type of consumer may return lots of items for inconsequential reasons, or they might make frequent complaints that really amount to nothing, or they might simply take a lot of your time and then not even make a purchase. As your business grows, it should become easier to recognise this type of customer before you engage with them, giving you a chance to focus your attention elsewhere. And speaking of better customers…
The wonderful reality of good customers
Some of your best customers will often be those you never actually hear from. They simply do business with your company and that’s that – with the occasional little chat thrown in for good measure. This customer can be very profitable in the long-run, as they make multiple purchases with very little impact on your resources. This type of customer may be the quietest, but they’re also the ones you want to focus on the most. Learning when to cut a customer (or a client) off is a key skill when it comes to Customer Relationship Management. By observing what your better customers do, and how they interact, you can speed this process up considerably.
Why more isn’t always better
Most business owners would tell you that they want more customers, but when bad customers are a real threat, that might not always be best. That’s why it’s actually more beneficial for you to focus on landing better customers, rather than simply more of them. Their lifetime spend will be higher, and the strain on your customer service resources will be much less. We’re not saying you’ll always be able to avoid those bad apples, but by knowing what they look like, you’ll stand a much better chance than you did before.
If you’d like to optimise your business processes to attract better customers all the team, why not check out AutoVu? A fully-fledged CRM & FSM platform all in one, AutoVu can make bad customers a thing of the past.
If you would like to know more about AutoVu and what we can do to help your business, why not check out our Frequently Asked Questions page, or Contact Us any time to discuss your specific requirements.