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When is it OK to fire a customer?

Business

Experts answer this challenging, yet important, question

Huffington Post | May 5, 2011

It's likely you have at least one difficult customer. But is it ever OK to fire that customer?

The Huffington Post's panel of experts answers that question.

Our staff, vendors and clients are held to our core values and culture. If a client violates our core values -- particularly respect, or morals and ethics -- I will discuss the issue with the client. If the problem persists, fire the client. Our staff are people pleasers. A difficult client can undermine good staff, erode the culture and adversely impact the treatment of other valuable clients. --Tom Walter, Tasty Catering

This is a great question -- especially critical for startups as you are looking to establish and grown your business. You should focus on the lifetime potential value of the customer -- are they a customer for "now" with not much potential in the future or is there a lot of potential for growth in the future? Weigh the economic value of the particular customer. --Leonard Schlesinger (@lschlesinger), Babson College

Read the other answers here

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