JoeCamaro

Experts: How to get rid of unwanted customers?

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I thought it would be good to learn some techniques on how to get rid of unwanted customers.

Experts, please share your experiences, tell us why was that an unwanted customer and detail what you did in that case (cases).

Thank you.

Joe

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I refer them to my competition  :lol:

Then they get to deal with the headache of a irritable, cranky, demanding, whiny, cry-baby.  It is a good trade off.

In fact I have had my competition call and berate me for sending them a difficult customer.  It was awesome!

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im just honest and tell them that theyve overstepped their boundaries, and are no longer welcome to my service or product...

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i do both mention above. send them to someone else or jack the price for my pain and suffering :lol:

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I am going through this with one of my main customers right now. Every time I install some lights on a truck,

there is something wrong with them or with the way that I installed them.

I am about to the point of telling them that I written specs of how they want it done, that way it will be on them instead of me.

And if that dont work, I will just tell them that I cant do business with them anymore.

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u know sooner or later u have to tell them. i had to tell a customer last week who complained and tried to tell me how to do the job. after a while politely asked her being that she knew so much about the precedure would she rather do it her self of course the answer was no i don't know how to. after a couple of days of nagging and bitching about something that was not possible i sat her down, said a prayer and then i told her, maam i have done all i can and know how to please u, i have never in all the years of doing this job had i had such a difficult time pleasing a customer, and as a matter of fact i have never had any complaints from any customer that i serviced in all this years. i also told her that there was nothing else to be done to job, everyone in her family had already approved the job with no problem, they were very please that why they came to me in the first place because they knew the job would be done right. anyway, i suggested she was welcome to take her files and find someone else to do the job. i even gave her a couple of locations. after a long moment of silence she looked at me with the saddest face and apologize she didn't want anyone else to do it. she admitted to being difficult, her excuse was she was going thru a divorce and was coping to well. long story short. do what u have to do, because u really never know what's on the other persons mind and some of them will take u thru pure hell because of it. good luck

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Guest rvgraphixs

I just told em " I am not wearing the dress and the price is 50 bucks! "

lol

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u know sooner or later u have to tell them. i had to tell a customer last week who complained and tried to tell me how to do the job. after a while politely asked her being that she knew so much about the procedure would she rather do it her self of course the answer was no i don't know how to. after a couple of days of nagging and bitching about something that was not possible i sat her down, said a prayer and then i told her, maam i have done all i can and know how to please u, i have never in all the years of doing this job had i had such a difficult time pleasing a customer, and as a matter of fact i have never had any complaints from any customer that i serviced in all this years. i also told her that there was nothing else to be done to job, everyone in her family had already approved the job with no problem, they were very please that why they came to me in the first place because they knew the job would be done right. anyway, i suggested she was welcome to take her files and find someone else to do the job. i even gave her a couple of locations. after a long moment of silence she looked at me with the saddest face and apologize she didn't want anyone else to do it. she admitted to being difficult, her excuse was she was going thru a divorce and was coping to well. long story short. do what u have to do, because u really never know what's on the other persons mind and some of them will take u thru pure hell because of it. good luck

I expect you charged for your extra time? Shops around here require a deposit before even starting a design. Then charge a setup fee.

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U KNOW I DID. FOR PAIN AND SUFFERING. ACTUALLY IT WAS 100.00 MORE BECAUSE OF DELAYS ON THIER PART.

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I agree with the above...if you already know you will have a customer that is going to be a headache MUCH later after doing the gig, quadrippling the price of what you would normally charge gives you two good results.  You either get rid of him, or you are getting bank for 4x the amount.  Either way, you won't mind both.  And if he comes back after the job, you are too busy to take any orders at this time.

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I agree with the above...if you already know you will have a customer that is going to be a headache MUCH later after doing the gig, quadrippling the price of what you would normally charge gives you two good results.  You either get rid of him, or you are getting bank for 4x the amount.   Either way, you won't mind both.  And if he comes back after the job, you are too busy to take any orders at this time.

Devils Advocate:  What happens if they decide to walk, and tell potential customers how expensive you are, and that they found XYZ to do it cheaper.  Anyone they talk to will usually go to XYZ.

I PERSONALLY, have never been a huge fan of jacking the price up.  I understand the concept, but having a pretty extensive sales background (from Tinmen no less), I always had a different idea on how to get rid of them. 

I would find out their time line, and overshoot it if it's anything realistic (which is normally tomorrow at noon) LOL  I would just tell them people know what quality I do, and generally I'm backed up like this at this time of year (what do they know about the 'time of year')...but that never stops people from waiting a little longer to get quality.  I'd let them know I'd love to do their work if it fits in their timeline.  Nothing wrong with charging a little extra if they don't mind waiting a few weeks, but just straight out whacking the price 3x, 4x, or 5x has never been my cup of tea.  Call it a PITA charge.  PAIN IN THE @#$%

If they walk at that point they say "That guy has so much work lined up, he couldn't get to me for a few weeks"  I think that holds better when they tell others about you versus  "Oh, he's WAY TOO EXPENSIVE - I got this OTHER company to do it for 1/2 or 1/3 of the price he/she wanted"

I personally would be inclined to atleast talk to the guy who's slammed solid with work vs calling the guy that's really out of the ballpark.

My .02 worth - Your milage may vary

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If they walk at that point they say "That guy has so much work lined up, he couldn't get to me for a few weeks"  I think that holds better when they tell others about you versus  "Oh, he's WAY TOO EXPENSIVE - I got this OTHER  company to do it for 1/2 or 1/3 of the price he/she wanted"

Speaking as a consumer myself I learnt a long time ago:

1.) If someone is 1/2 or 1/3 the price..........they're usually 1/2 or 1/3 the quality or 1/3 the customer service

2.) If I want it now, I'll pay double.

I'm the kind of guy that pays $20 for overnight shipping on something that costs $10.  I'm also the kind of guy that pays the extra $40 here and there to places that offer me better customer service.

Money I can make, time I can't.

If the guy down the street wants to cater to cheap customers that are time wasters, let him.  I've seen plenty of businesses go under with that marketing plan.

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I agree with the above...if you already know you will have a customer that is going to be a headache MUCH later after doing the gig, quadrippling the price of what you would normally charge gives you two good results.  You either get rid of him, or you are getting bank for 4x the amount.   Either way, you won't mind both.  And if he comes back after the job, you are too busy to take any orders at this time.

Devils Advocate:  What happens if they decide to walk, and tell potential customers how expensive you are, and that they found XYZ to do it cheaper.  Anyone they talk to will usually go to XYZ.

I understand your point completely.

I guess it is a little different in my situation.  At least for what i do, it is already expected that im not the cheapest painter in the market for i do way more than just flames or drips.  97% of the painters in my field don't give their clients a full digital rendering of their cars so they know exactly what they are getting.  Since i actually do do freehand art and not just masked or stenciled work, if they decided to go to xyz painter, and believe me when i say...no amount of money is worth dealing with a PITA Client, they are free to.  There are sooo much business available for everyone...serisuly, if they know how to find you, they will find you.  Loss of a few bux in a bid is way better then $$ coming out of my pocket for MORE work because a drop shadow is 1mm too low and want another free paintjob.  Or even worse, they used a solvent to clean their paintjob, ruining they paint, then wanting you to redo it.

No...if i see the signs of a potential client who would cost me heart ache and money out of my pocket...especially clients who say "I can put your kids through college i can give you so much work" i would gladly turn them away. 

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