COULD COMPANIES “FIRE” UNPROFITABLE CUSTOMERS?
Today I read a post in Josh Mullineaux’s blog, where he presented a very interesting article,No Phone for You! Sprint-Nextel Cuts Off High-Maintenance Customers.
This article presents and comments the decision of Sprint-Nextel, a giant telecom to “fire” 1000 of it’s customers, with the excuse, that they called too many times customer support and the company could not afford them, although they had been paying regularly their bills! Sprint-Nextel sent them a letter, which simply announced them: “The number of inquiries you have made to us … has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs.”
The years I am student, I have worked for many companies and I have learned many things about management and how to handle customers. With this expierience and although I am not an expert nor I have a degree in management, I will try to give my point of view to this situation.
First of all, I support the decision of the company to cut off these customers.
I use to hear that “customer is always right”, which I think is an out of date expression. I would say better “customer is not always right”. This should not be misinterpreted. The company and the customer must be in the same level in their interaction. The company should listen to the customer and try to satisfy his needs and the customer pay the exact price of the service.
But there are many customers who take advantage of this service and have illogical demands. They are irritable and make trouble, manytimes “loudly”! This kind of customers could not be satisfied and they make bad comments for the company. I strongly believe that they should be early founded and fired because it’s a habbit for them to make trouble and complain about everything so it’s unusefull for the company to try to satisfy them as they would do it continuously. Many good customers don’t make trouble and don’t complain even if they have a problem but they react by leaving the company and the company must be careful at this point.
I’ve also learned, that a satisfied customer will tell his expierience to 3 people and the unsatisfied to 11 people and that’s why the company should try to satify everyone because looses money from these bad comments. I believe, that this is really simplyfied. The opinion of this kind of problematic customer, I described before, is not reliable enough to take so many people away from the company. I don’t use to believe people who complain about everything and they are not objective.
I want just to notice, something which the article refered, that it’s very important the way a company deals with these customers and the way it cuts them off. This should be the last reaction. Other products should be proposed to these customers and if in any way they could not be profitable, the company could make them leave willingly offering products they wouldn’t choose. If they don’t leave then the company could fire them very politely and not so agressive Sprint-Nextel did.
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