Dec 3 2007 12:50PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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^{(Honestly, I can't write that without thinking "... so you've got to please yourself." Which is odd, since I wasn't even born yet when that little ditty was a hit for Ricky Nelson (thank you Wikipedia!) and I can't even say I like the song. I blame it on constant exposure to oldies radio in my formative years. It's the same reason I know all the words to "Love Potion No. 9.")}

But I digress ...

I was recently talking about this issue (pleasing clients, not Ricky Nelson) with an Arizona remodeler, who I thought was refreshingly honest about this. He decided a few years ago that he couldn't make every client happy. His employees still fix their mistakes and try to address clients' concerns, but they've realized you can't satisfy everyone. It's made their lives a lot easier.

And you know what? They're absolutely right. Now, I've talked to plenty of remodelers who have the opposite attitude; that you should do everything humanly possible to please the client. The reality is some people don't want to be happy. 95 percent of your clients are probably good people, but that other 5 percent are going to drive you crazy. They're serial complainers that are only happy if they're making somebody else unhappy. So the question is should you spend an inordinate amount of time and money on these people? Frankly, you're an idiot if you do. In some cases, you're probably better off not getting complete payment rather than spending months trying to satisfy them.

I'm not saying ignore customer service. I'm just saying know when to say enough is enough and recognize that you just need to forget about the loser you've got on your hands.

^{("Even the Losers" by Tom Petty ... now there's a good song. You know, this is why I shouldn't blog while listening to my iPod.)}