Who’s stupid idea was it to start “firing customers”?

The mentality of firing customers seems to be pretty vogue at the moment, so much so that I’ve seen people refusing to do work after hearing rumours that their potential new customer may possibly be hard work. I’m sorry to put it bluntly – but business is like everything else is life, with the good comes the bad.

I know, I know – we’re all just rebelling after having to grit our teeth over the “customer is always right” mantra of the last 50 years. I think we’ve gone too far.

In Sun Tzu’s ever famous “art of war” he accurately claimed that if a soldier misbehaves the majority (if not all) of the blame lies with the officer leading that soldier. The business world is no different, except that soldier is your customer and your the officer.

If your client is expecting you to do too much for them – you weren’t clear enough on the brief and your terms of service.

If your client doesn’t value what you do – you need to lay it out for them.

If your client doesn’t pay their bills on time – you need to refine your accounts process.

I can safely say, I’ve never had to fire a customer. Have you?