All businesses have “good” customers and “bad” customers. The “good” customers make you a lot of money – directly and indirectly; while “bad” customers do not make you much money and in some cases incur you losses. These “bad” customers not only make you lose money directly; but they also drain your energy and resources in other ways. For many small business owners, the “bad” customers appear to be helping your business on the outside; but when you scratch the surface you may realize that it may not necessarily be the case. They may be doing you more harm to your business than you may realize.
The term we like to use for “bad” customers is “undesirable” customers. The term conveys the proper meaning – they are the customers you may not desire to keep. These customers are opposite of “best” customers we identified in an earlier post. Here we will show you how you can identify these “undesirable” customers that may not be quite apparent on surface.
- The always complain about your products and services
We are sure you have come across this type of customers more than once in the past. No matter how well you serve them, they always find something to complain about. Either the pizza was not cooked properly or they were not served quickly or something else. No matter what you do, they are impossible to please. - They ask lot of unnecessary questions
While asking questions may not necessarily be bad; these customers do it irrespective of time or situation. You have a long line of customers waiting to be taken care of and these customers just keep on asking questions to get every minute detail. Many of the questions they ask are very simple and can be addressed by themselves; but they ask question just because they want to be certain or they just love to talk. - They look to use all kinds of coupons
When these customers make a purchase, they come with multiple coupons to use on items that are already on sale. When you combine all discounts and coupons you may end up selling items for a loss or make very little money on them. We do understand there is a place for coupons in the business and you do want to encourage the use; however these customers stretch it to the limit. - They will ask for all ancillary products and services
When these customers purchase something from you they will ask for everything else that might come with it for free. If they order salad at your restaurant they will want loads of dressing and other items without having to pay for it. If they go to bar they will empty all the nuts and munching on the table with just one beer. Again, there is nothing wrong with this; but there should to be a limit.
Now, there is nothing wrong or illegal about any of the things described above. It’s just that they take up too much time and energy away from your ability to serve other customers. As a business owner you do have a choice as to how you treat your customers. You cannot treat these type of customers the same way you do other customers; particularly the “best” ones. In many cases it may be better to not have these as customers.
