The Holistic Accountant - How to fire a bad customer

How to fire a bad customer

06/25/24 • 7 min

In this episode, Mena and Stuart tackle the challenging but crucial topic of how to fire a customer that doesn’t suit your business. They explore the impact of bad customers, who not only fail to refer new clients but also take longer to serve, increase business risk, and are generally less profitable and enjoyable to work with. Mena and Stuart explain that bad clients can hinder business growth and make it difficult to attract and retain great staff. They stress that success often comes from saying no to certain customers, even though many people find it hard to do so.
The discussion includes identifying what a good target client looks like and ensuring that the whole team understands this. Mena and Stuart provide practical strategies for firing a bad customer, such as increasing prices, setting future deadlines for service completion, or making excuses about capacity constraints. They highlight the importance of having a clear strategy for managing client relationships to ensure long-term business success.
Tune in for valuable insights and actionable advice on maintaining a healthy and profitable client base.

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Previous Episode

Top 5 reasons why businesses fail

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In this episode, Stuart and Mena delve into the top five reasons why businesses fail and offer practical advice on how to avoid these pitfalls. They start with the crucial issue of running out of money, emphasising the importance of adequate working capital, maintaining a profit margin, and keeping a financial buffer. Next, they discuss the impact of a poor business model or marketing strategy, highlighting the necessity of understanding how your business operates and effectively reaching customers while managing acquisition costs.
The conversation then shifts to poor margins, explaining that a business must generate profit to be sustainable and not just function as an underpaid job. They stress the importance of achieving good margins to enable growth, noting that stagnation equates to decline. Lastly, Stuart and Mena tackle the dangers of expanding too fast, using the restaurant industry as an example to illustrate how rapid growth can lead to decreased productivity, increased mistakes, and compromised quality.
Tune in to gain valuable insights and practical tips to ensure your business not only survives but thrives.

Next Episode

Business planning for a new year

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In this episode, Mena and Stuart explore key strategies for planning your business for a successful new year. They start by emphasising the importance of reviewing the past year's performance through a thorough analysis of financial reports and key performance indicators, while also evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. They highlight the need to define clear, SMART goals that align with your business vision, and the importance of breaking down these goals into actionable projects and tasks.
The discussion then moves to resource allocation and budgeting, ensuring you have the financial, human, and material resources necessary to implement your plans. Mena and Stuart stress the value of involving your team in the planning process to gain insights and increase commitment. They also delve into creating a detailed financial forecast to project revenue, expenses, and cash flow, and identifying potential risks to develop effective contingency plans.
Additionally, they underline the importance of setting key performance indicators to measure progress and scheduling regular review sessions to keep your plan relevant and effective. By documenting your plan in a concise, written format, you'll ensure clear communication and easy reference.
Listen in for practical advice on making incremental improvements that add up to significant gains, and prepare your business for a thriving financial year.