Things are tough all over—tough economy, tough business and often enough, tough customers. A tough customer can be someone who is highly demanding, simply impossible or even someone who seems like a great client until it comes time to pay the bill for services rendered. At one point or another, everyone in business is going to have to face at least one tough customer. In addition to dealing with the issue at hand, a difficult customer often raises an equally difficult question—what to do about it. There could be many different solutions depending on the niche market, but overall there are some standard ways in which companies can successfully deal with tough customers, regardless of the circumstances. Regrettably there will be times when there is no solution available that will please both parties and the best one can do is damage control. This is especially true if the client is demanding beyond reason with things such as deadlines.
Although the face of the market has changed dramatically over the past few years, one tenet of business still holds true: if a person is happy with your company, he is likely to tell one to two people. If he is unhappy, he is likely to tell 10 people. With social networking, it is easy to assume that those numbers could be multiplied ten times over.
Discount Store Mentality
More and more business owners and service industry companies are becoming victims of discount store mentality. As consumers, Americans have become spoiled and oftentimes unreasonable because there are places out there that offer fast service and deep discounts without necessarily considering the needs of the consumer or the quality of the products they sell. This is a generalization, but the trend is certainly worsening by the day. The discount store mentality is spreading like wildfire, even into areas that are not remotely related to retail sales.
Unfortunately this mentality encourages people to shop solely on price, and to cast aside loyalties even if it means sacrificing quality. However, the trend doesn’t end there. Because these large discount mega stores have tremendous leverage with vendors, they are able to drive prices to the lowest possible point making it difficult—if not impossible—to compete. Smaller companies do not have that kind of leverage, so their prices cannot be as low as the mega store. Still consumers have come to expect, and even demand, that kind of price point, even if it is completely unrealistic.
There is much to be said for being frugal and spending wisely. There is also something to be said for getting what you pay for, particularly in the printing industry. One of the key factors to maintaining a decent profit margin is finding a way to educate clients. Unless they are privy to the ins and outs of the business, clients can’t possibly know the cost of labor and materials that must go into each job. With tough customers, those costs may be a great deal higher, and somewhere along the way someone has to absorb that cost. Steven Haedrich of The New York Label & Box Works said that in some cases, the client will recommend using lesser ingredients to reduce the cost. While some printers will agree, his company will not.
“Pricing is our number one problem,” said Haedrich. “It’s causing long term problems.” For New York Label, integrity is worth more than saving a few cents. For example, clients will often tell Haedrich they don’t care if their boxes and labels match. For a company that has been in business since 1878, that mentality does not exist. “Some people don’t care,” said Haedrich. “They are driven solely by price.”
Stand Your Ground
There are times when it will be necessary to stand your ground when it comes to tough customers. Naturally, this should be done with effective communication and tact, but in the end, you have a business to run and must protect against profit loss. It took a while for my company to realize that there will be customers you don’t want, even if it means sacrificing income. Some simply are not worth the grief. For every difficult client in the world, there are most likely a handful of good clients just waiting to take his or her place.
It will be up to the business owner to determine which clients are worth keeping, hopefully with input from those who must deal with the client directly.
No comments:
Post a Comment