Firing customers

[lbhsbz]

Is one of the greatest thrills in life.

 

[Singleton]

My strategy teams fires customers more then I want! When they fire one of my customers, I don’t get commission money until I replace the lost revenue.

Example - they fired someone today and I now need to make up 350k in annual reoccurring revenue until I get a commission again!

 

[Angler]

Is one of the greatest thrills in life.

Weeding out bad customers is great!

 

[LHC Kirby]

My strategy teams fires customers more then I want! When they fire one of my customers, I don’t get commission money until I replace the lost revenue.

Example - they fired someone today and I now need to make up 350k in annual reoccurring revenue until I get a commission again!

I hope you know why they fired them. That’s a lot of revenue to drop kick to the curb.

 

[rivrrts429]

The stories I could tell firing customers. In my 25 year selling career they almost always come back. Just have to have the balls to stop their behavior.

 

[YeahYeah01]

Some of the most profitable customers are the ones you don't work for.

 

[OC Daytona]

I hope you know why they fired them. That’s a lot of revenue to drop kick to the curb.

I get paid on the amount of profit in the deal.....the revenue amount doesn't mean jack shit.
A $2 million deal doesn't do you or your company much good if you lose $$$ or make a tiny profit.
It's not worth your time to keep customers that grind you to the last nickel that think they're doing you a favor by giving you their business.

 

[NicPaus]

One of the really successful Guys I know. Said you have to fire at least one a year. Whether it's one that beats you up on price. Or is a pain in your ass.

He was talking about my ex future father in law when he told me that. And he made him millions. But after a while the headaches he caused him wasn't worth it anymore.

 

[Singleton]

I hope you know why they fired them. That’s a lot of revenue to drop kick to the curb.

i know the reason. Dont agree with it, but life goes on

 

[Singleton]

I get paid on the amount of profit in the deal.....the revenue amount doesn't mean jack shit.
A $2 million deal doesn't do you or your company much good if you lose $$$ or make a tiny profit.
It's not worth your time to keep customers that grind you to the last nickel that think they're doing you a favor by giving you their business.

100% get that.
Software sales has always paid based on revenue. Discount % will drive/impact your commission % paid

 

[cofooter]

Company I worked for used to rank customers based on quality of revenue. At some point, it's not worth it and resources are better spent elsewhere!

 

[Todd Mohr]

There should be a website called Badcustomer.com, like a Yelp for customers.

 

[Cobalt232]

Over 10 years ago, when we were setting up a new direct-to-customer business line, my business partner suggested no phone number for customers to call. All email/helpdesk/online based. We thought he was nuts. It's worked great especially since our average order value is less than $75.00 per order. We know it costs us some business, but we figure it is business we really don't want due to too much handholding.

 

[C_J_J_C]

I will never fire a customer.

I change payment terms….

 

[poncho]

I get paid on the amount of profit in the deal.....the revenue amount doesn't mean jack shit.
A $2 million deal doesn't do you or your company much good if you lose $$$ or make a tiny profit.
It's not worth your time to keep customers that grind you to the last nickel that think they're doing you a favor by giving you their business.

When I was in the office products field I would tell my guy's 10% of our customers will cause 90% of your headaches, I will decide when they are aren't worth it anymore. Most of them eventually came back and toned it down.

 

[rivermobster]

When I became shop foreman at Longo, I was told...

"You'll never have to fire a tech, they fire themselves".

Same thing applies to customers.

 

[OC Daytona]

Over 10 years ago, when we were setting up a new direct-to-customer business line, he suggested no phone number for customers to call. All email/helpdesk/online based. We thought he was nuts. It's worked great especially since our average order value is less than $75.00 per order. We know it costs us some business, but we figure it is business we really don't want due to too much handholding.

Yep, and what I discovered was, it was always the "problem child" customers that required the most attention.

Once I got established, I would tell certain customers up front "price or service, pick one...you can't have both"
As cocky as that sounded at the time, it made some customers realize that my time was my money and if they were grinders, I wasn't going to have time to wipe their ass every time they f'd something up

Wish I would have learned it 5 years earlier

 

[badgas]

Many moons ago I had a customer that was notorious for trying to unwind contracts and get discounts after a job was underway. This guy tried to get $8k off of a $120K printing project because a lower bid came in after the fact. I wrote him a $8K change order in return because the scope of work changed.

Some of the best played hands are the ones you fold.

 

[dribble]

One thing I always told new shop owners is that when they get established and have a consistent revenue stream, they need to learn to fire their customer. In the auto repair business there are always those customers that make you earn every dime and end up being a losing or break even proposition.

 

[NicPaus]

Try being a Contractor for a day. Doing a job for another contractor and it's comical the shit I am dealing with. But it's not my first rodeo. Crazy what people will do to get something for free. Other contractors we work with warned me. I do this all day long and learned to laugh it off and never take it personally.

I once had a realtor throw her self down a flight of stairs to get $250 worth of work for free. She is a top sales realtor that owns numerous houses in the beach cities.

I was starting to lose my mind last week. So I am here at the River for some therapy. Few days here and I can handle anything a customer throws at me.

 

[poncho]

Try being a Contractor for a day. Doing a job for another contractor and it's comical the shit I am dealing with. But it's not my first rodeo. Crazy what people will do to get something for free. Other contractors we work with warned me. I do this all day long and learned to laugh it off and never take it personally.

I once had a realtor throw her self down a flight of stairs to get $250 worth of work for free. She is a top sales realtor that owns numerous houses in the beach cities.

I was starting to lose my mind last week. So I am here at the River for some therapy. Few days here and I can handle anything a customer throws at me.

That middle sentence has the makings for some top shelf fun but I was raised a gentlemen.

 

[Todd Mohr]

I will never under estimate how low someone will go to get something for free, complete loss of all morals just to save money. I've actually laughed out loud and asked if there is anything they wouldn't do to save 10 bucks a month.

 

[OC Daytona]

100% get that.
Software sales has always paid based on revenue. Discount % will drive/impact your commission % paid

Yes sir, I sell mostly Enterprise level IBM hardware, software and maintenance to large companies, so my example doesn't fit a lot of business models on here.
I know there are some businesses that have set pricing and the sales guys get paid on revenue, so I sympathize with you when a group outside your control fires your customer without your input. That would suck if that happened to me. I always know why I fire a customer and it's either they are such a PIA that the stress isn't worth it or they pay so slow that it's not worth the small profit we make after carrying costs.

What business are you in? Is biz good this year?

You have a nice boat so you have that going for you

 

[Singleton]

Yes sir, I sell mostly Enterprise level IBM hardware, software and maintenance to large companies, so my example doesn't fit a lot of business models on here.
I know there are some businesses that have set pricing and the sales guys get paid on revenue, so I sympathize with you when a group outside your control fires your customer without your input. That would suck if that happened to me. I always know why I fire a customer and it's either they are such a PIA that the stress isn't worth it or they pay so slow that it's not worth the small profit we make after carrying costs.

What business are you in? Is biz good this year?

You have a nice boat so you have that going for you

Enterprise Software. I focus on the audit and compliance software that supports our ERP, CX, SCM and HCM products.

We are a May 31 year end and I closed 4.5M in annual recurring revenue last fiscal.

 

[OC Daytona]

Enterprise Software. I focus on the audit and compliance software that supports our ERP, CX, SCM and HCM products.

We are a May 31 year end and I closed 4.5M in annual recurring revenue last fiscal.

Very nice, I have a few large SAP and JD Edwards Oracle accounts running on IBM Power Servers with i5OS, AIX and Linux OS's
Been doing it 34 years, so kind of winding down and just trying to keep my biggest accounts happy.

 

[Singleton]

Very nice, I have a few large SAP and JD Edwards Oracle accounts running on IBM Power Servers with i5OS, AIX and Linux OS's
Been doing it 34 years, so kind of winding down and just trying to keep my biggest accounts happy.

The Oracle accounts running on power servers will be coming to an end

While we keeping moving the EBS on-prem date, it will end one day

 

[DWC]

It’ll be interesting to revisit this thread in another year.

 

[OC Daytona]

It’ll be interesting to revisit this thread in another year.

Yep, and most of that is gonna depend on if Orange Godzilla or Kuntmala wins. Praying for orange

 

[Racey]

It’ll be interesting to revisit this thread in another year.

No matter how hungry you are problem customers are never worth it. They are even bigger cunts when the economy is shit.

 

[Singleton]

Yep, and most of that is gonna depend on if Orange Godzilla or Kuntmala wins. Praying for orange

I have had customers tell me, if X wins we will not be moving forward.
Those that say Trump, rely on government money. Those that say Harris, are publicly traded and make stuff.

 

[petie6464]

My strategy teams fires customers more then I want! When they fire one of my customers, I don’t get commission money until I replace the lost revenue.

Example - they fired someone today and I now need to make up 350k in annual reoccurring revenue until I get a commission again!

Sounds like your "strategy team" needs a better strategy..

 

[Singleton]

Sounds like your "strategy team" needs a better strategy..

They do. They don’t listen well at all

 

[DWC]

I have had customers tell me, if X wins we will not be moving forward.
Those that say Trump, rely on government money. Those that say Harris, are publicly traded and make stuff.

Guessing the Harris customers haven’t read her corporate tax plan.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Guessing the Harris customers haven’t read her corporate tax plan.

View attachment 1424306

How does someone get it across to a Democrat that raising the corporate tax just results in that getting passed to the consumers through raised prices and now you’re actually causing the consumer to spend more money than before?

 

[4Waters]

How does someone get it across to a Democrat that raising the corporate tax just results in that getting passed to the consumers through raised prices and now you’re actually causing the consumer to spend more money than before?

You can't, they're morons

 

[DWC]

How does someone get it across to a Democrat that raising the corporate tax just results in that getting passed to the consumers through raised prices and now you’re actually causing the consumer to spend more money than before?

Don’t think it’s possible. Denial, common sense, business acumen, desperation, hopey changey, It all gets in the way.

 

[OC Daytona]

You can't, they're morons

That's an insult to genuine morons.

Not knowing the truth doesn't make you ignorant. Not wanting to know the truth when it's readily available is what makes you ignorant.

 

[Blue Oval]

OMG, we are a small shop with great mechanics. We depend on repeat business. But sometimes you just can’t take it anymore. We parted our ways with a couple customers this year.