Managing the Sub-Primes in Your Customer Base
With the recent woes in the mortgage business and the huge hit the economy is taking, it occurs to me that if you don’t manage your customers, your business could follow the same path of peril and pain. Everyone has heard the old adage, get rid of your worst customers, but how do you manage the ones you need to keep? Almost any relationship can be improved if both parties see more value in doing so, then they do in letting sleeping dogs lie, so here is a good and easy way to make things better.
1. Reach out and set a new expectation of both your role and responsibilities as well as theirs
2. Agree with the party on these new expectations (win-win of course)
3. Strive to meet this expectation and set a good example for your customer.
4. End the relationship if there is no reciprocity or rejoice in the valuable improvement you both have created.
The biggest threat to any relationship is the decay and ultimate end of communication. And the hardest part is finding the time for the people, customers, and prospects that matter. Reach out to those who do because the best relationships are often those that have been damaged and repaired through reversing the decay and confronting the differences. What do you think?
Read: Managing Customers From Hell: How to Keep Your Nose Clean!
