Alienate and Embrace Customers

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Permalink Reply by Andreas Andrews on November 26, 2009 at 12:41pm

I am personally guilty of trying to please everyone all the time. In my line of work (photography) it is quite often the unprofitable customers who not only misunderstand the level of quality that I provide, but who don't appreciate the level of (customer) service I provide, and it is in fact a brave professional move to alienate those customers, which I was made more aware of (on a concious level) through the eye-opening creative marketing workshop held by David Parrish, and reminded of by this handy discussion. I wonder who else is in photography and shares the same views?

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Permalink Reply by Jenny Roberts on November 26, 2009 at 1:26pm

I think it's a fine balance at times - I'm particularly finding it difficult to turn my back on any customers having only recently set up my business. In particular I have one customer who I do technical drawings for, but it's not the best paid work in the world and more to the point it's not very exciting! However, he does pay me so I feel obliged to do the work as I need the income.

I guess what I find particularly difficult is that I am marketing myself as an exciting and dynamic product design consultancy and so imagined that I would be working with forward thinking companies on interesting projects. Ultimately this is what I aim to do, and what I spend most of my marketing time focusing on, however until I am in a financially comfortable position it is extremely difficult to say no to any kind of work!

So in short, I definitely agree with this concept in principle but think that it can only be implemented in earnest once your business becomes established enough.

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Permalink Reply by Andreas Andrews on November 26, 2009 at 2:11pm

That's a really good point, and I can relate to what you are saying being in a very similar position at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.

Something that you may find interesting is that a client recently approached me wanting a simple bit of photography, but as it happens I currently want to begin my transition (and exploration) into a specialist field (timelapse video) so what I realised in this case is that I could simply do the still images for this client as I simply needed the money, but after explaining that I now specialise and that I could offer a lot more, which would be of benefit to this forward thinking client I quite easily increased my pay for the job quite considerably and won an exciting commission, and instead of doing something quite normal that any local photographer could easily fulfill (in their own style) I opened up the chance for increased pay, and a highly exciting commission that I can happily pour my heart and soul into, and will serve to further advertise what I do as word is spread, not to mention being able to showcase the exciting, innovative work the client is paying me to produce.

It's very difficult to know when is the right time to turn customers away (if not immediately), but for me now is the time to increase my prices, and sell something that I personally believe will add a lot more value for a client. I took a risk in the example I gave, but the worst thing that could have happened I think was that the client turned down my offer, and asked for simply the original job he had suggested, in which case this would have posed a difficult choice for me, and it probably would have been wise for me to take it on board anyhow for the money. I agree with what you've said and to add to it once the business is established enough it would be much more damaging taking on the wrong sort of non-profitable customers, but the question for some is how soon do they begin?

I think knowing and understanding this concept will prove essential, and otherwise getting the balance right would be impossible. Now that I know and understand this concept, I will make more informed decisions and create a better reputation for my business based on this understanding.

Feeling like you absolutely must take on every job can be a bad train of thought (that I admit to once having) but I think this discussion is also about attracting the right customers in the first place, and certainly steering the wrong customers away by means of alienation. Wouldn't you hate to speak to a potentially big client for a whole hour just to realise that you have to turn down the job because it doesn't fit with your values? (ie. you might not want to be commissioned by the army to provide a service that makes killing people in warfare more efficient, but not realise until just before the deal is done that it will involve betraying values, and disrupting your reputation)

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Permalink Reply by Richard Wilde on November 26, 2009 at 1:45pm

I think this is an important point, it is often scary to turn your back on certain customer groups because you are effectively closing the door to a potential opportunity with someone that could lead to a lot more in the future. If not though you will just be stuck trying to please everyone which is impossible anyway, and worse still you are likely to lose all direction with your business.

I think by turning your back on certain customers the bond is likely to be strengthened with the customers that you do deal with and loyalty will increase as a result. If you don't deal with everyone, core customers may feel more valued, but I think it's very important to get it right when assessing who not to deal with.

With the case of company values, I agree that if someone does not share your values then they are likely not to do business with you, but somebody who does definitely will. I think this can be extended even further to say that loyalty will increase dramatically from the customers who do deal with you because of your values being aligned with theirs.

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Permalink Reply by Andreas Andrews on November 26, 2009 at 2:15pm

I ended up reading the whole 33page PDF from LateralAction and it was great! I found it very useful.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Risaria Langley on November 26, 2009 at 4:43pm

Hmm this has got me thinking! Just today I let myself be persuaded into expanding my workshop to include a category of people who aren't creatives - in fear that I won't get enough creatives along. I had my last workshop cancelled and don't want to risk another cancellation. Reading this was like a red flag! So I've just called and cancelled the potential booking with a non-creative. Only writers on this workshop! Fingers crossed. And the waivering booking I've had today I'm going to ask for a deposit now.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Kinsey on November 26, 2009 at 7:08pm

Reminds me of the old addage, 20% of your customers will create 80% of your turnover. Re focusing on the clients that are more profitable has to be the way forward!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Green on January 3, 2010 at 5:04pm

The longer you are in business, the more you realise this is true.

I have learned to segregate clients into 4 categories which I label as A to D.

A list clients are the ones that appreciate your work and the level of detail that you go to. They also pay well for your time.

D list clients want your best services on their crappy budget and then demand more than originally agreed.

Do this now with your existing clients. Put them on an A to D list and SACK the ones that are in the C and D area.

Then have a look at your A and B clients and use them to build a picture of what your ideal client looks like and go after more people like that.

All this sounds very simple, but more than often it is the simple things that we keep forgetting to do.

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