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Choose your customers with care
By Lauren | October 2, 2009
Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, here’s one that may blow your marketing director’s mind. Forget everything you’ve ever heard along the lines of “we’ll take every customer we can get.” Believe it or not, there are some people whose money you just don’t want.
It would be lovely if everyone who indicated interest in doing business with you was on the up-and-up. Unfortunately, that’s not always true. Sometimes, clients want to engage in risky or even illegal behavior, and are looking for someone (maybe you?) to take the fall if they get caught. Some managers deliberately look for service providers they can sue if something goes wrong, in order to placate difficult investors or demanding board members. And some customers are so suit-happy that they’ll start screaming for their lawyers before you even have an opportunity to address a potential problem.
You can’t always tell when a prospect is going to turn into “The Client from Hell,” but there are some warning signs to look for. If a prospective client has a history of suing other service providers, don’t assume that you’re immune. If customers want something that’s legally or ethically questionable, think twice before you give it to them. If a client drives you crazy with nickle-and-dime haggling about your fees, prepare for pressure to cut corners that could get you in trouble later. And if you get a whole lot of aggressive questions about what you’ll do if things go wrong, consider the possibility that your client has reason to expect that they will.
In a tough economy, it’s often tempting to take on any and all business even if your internal warning bells are ringing full blast about a particular customer or client. Take a step back, look carefully at the client and consider whether the short-term financial benefits of the business being offered to you outweigh the risks involved. It may cause a little immediate pain, but if you think a customer represents a high risk of suit, it’s usually more prudent to “just say no.”
Topics: Business Ethics, Professional Ethics, Risk Management, business communications, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |