"How to Handle a Bad Customer"     Published in Awards & Engraving Magazine

I thought long and hard before deciding to write this one, and this is the reason why-- my bad customers may be your greatest clients, and vice versa. But, after discussing this with several engraving shops and Equipment Distributors, I came to one overwhelming fact -- and that fact is, that there are bad customers. If we, as business people, can learn to spot them -- we can save ourselves time, money and frustrations galore.
The first step towards this is to develop a business ethic that will apply to this subject. For example, we at Engravers Choice have always lived under one hard fact, that when we sell a laser, engraver, or router we are married to that client for the life of that unit. Their success is our concern, and we need to do all we can to promote their business. This attitude, we believe, is the reason that better than half of our annual sales are for second and/or additional units. This positive word of mouth is what makes us sleep well at night and continue to drive our success, and the success of the clients we sell to. So, that is the up side, what about the downside? In 12 years in this industry and 20 plus years in customer service, I have only had to refuse to sell to a few customers. I have had to learn to spot a few types of Demographics that can be a problem child, so I do not market to them. But, percentage wise, I have said many times that 90% of our industry is made up of good solid people, 5% percent is just OK -- you can take them or leave them-- and the remaining (negative) 5% are pretty easy to see coming. But, the point is, if you associate your business with a customer that cannot be made happy, that person will cost you 11 other potential clients one of which may be a gold mine.

I understand that Equipment sales are a little different from engraving jewelry in a mall (the Point of purchase market) however I have had many engravers' tell me that 20% of their client base gives them better than 40-50% of their annual gross. That a client that may have started out as a $3.00 name badge (that you stayed late for on a Friday) ended up being 30% of the your monthly gross. If we apply this thinking to our subject matter, if that engraver would have handled a bad customer poorly, weeks before, and the lady with the $3.00 name badge would have heard that negative information, 30% of that company's monthly gross would have never materialized. 

Evaluation of the client is critical. How and when to evaluate? What we do with that information is important. We need to evaluate this new customer as soon as possible. First ask, why are they that way -- maybe they are just having bad day? Can they be turned around? If not, how do we complete our interface and send them out into to the world, not hating us.

This is a lot of seemingly tough questions, but with a little patience and practice, you can do the evaluation quickly. From this point forward in the article I am going to talk to you as someone who owns an engraving shop. This way we can better streamline the answers to your needs.

So, question one, how and when to evaluate?

Phone interfaces --these cannot tell you as much as a face to face interfaces. I always give the client more of the shadow of the doubt on the phone, because we are not going to get all the information we need on the phone. But the fact is many times this is the only interface we are going to get. So, let's talk about some hard fast rules, never raise your voice -- the stronger the client talks the more you want to sound like a counselor. Never cuss and respond with facts. If you do not know, say it. 

Let us talk about a scenario that should allow us to use a lot of these skills together; a guy calls you on a Monday when your Shop is normally closed, and catches you cleaning up a little paperwork. He needs four plaques by close of business Wednesday, and of course you are booked solid and one of your employee's is out for a week. So, you say you'll try. Well, of course this guy did not hear that you will try, he heard that his job will be done by Wednesday AM (because this is what he wants to hear). He thinks he should dictate the price. That short phone call has just set you up to produce the worst client of your career. 

You need to never say you will try -- they always hear that it will be done. We need to postpone the evaluation until you can get a face-to-face interview, if possible. If not, assume he is a nice guy until he proves otherwise, and talk to him as though he is standing right there and has been referred to you by a friend. As the data is given to you, you find that he is pushy and short with you. Try to get him to see you as his white knight. This guy's whole career could depend and these plaques. Take notes, and get a fax number. Have him fax the text of the plaque, and here give a second attempt to get him to come in. If he will not fax the text, the interface is over. NEVER take phone dictation-- especially with a problem customer. You will end up doing the best job of the year, and have the job rejected for an incorrect spelling of a name that he misspelled. Normally they will fax the information, or better yet e-mail the data to you. Once you have all the information, plug it into an already established layout, and don't get caught up in trying to create a new masterpiece. If it made an established client happy -- it will make him happy. (Also, remember, you are fighting time). Then, fax it back with a final price quote, pick up estimate. You may have already given some general prices - try to high ball the prices, so when he gets the quote it will a little lower. At this point you have decided to do the work, as usual, now get a credit card for the product. Think of your business as a bakery for this kind of client -- get the money up front. If you get him into the shop, you can show him samples and get a deposit. If you can get him face to face -- judge body language: is he tried? Does he look-away when he is talking to you? This is a sure sign that he is hiding something from you. You need to get him to sign off on the paperwork including a print out of the layout. At this point, get the balance of the money owed. If this guy does not come back, you have already been paid for your time. These guys are famous for making promises and then not coming back. You would have then been out valuable time and product. Last item, establish an AM or PM pick-up time, and put it in writing that he is to call you before driving over to pick it up. I always say, the definition of an estimate (by Webster's dictionary) is your best guess.

Remember, the more of a pain the client may be, the more you may want to charge. But if it gets to a point that you feel you are hosing him on the price - don't do the job, or refer him to another shop -- explain to him that you cannot meet the deadline, or feel you cannot do the job at the professionalism that you both require. Do not be afraid to charge a rush fee, this is a way to maintain you price list and get paid for the extra-time and effort.

The final part of the this scenario is that if you made a mistake, or he came on the time decided and it is not ready for pick up, this is when you better have a fast engraving machine (this is where a servo-driven unit will pay for itself! i.e. being able to produce a job in 5 minutes versus 38 minutes could save you from a tongue lashing!). But, of course, be prepared to get a short lecture from the client no matter what. Again, talk calmly to the client, but do it quickly and without a summary of your week. Send them out to eat and do the darn job! Offer them a 10% discount on their next job, but do not refund them any money if you can help it. Remember, they are the one who called you at the last minute, and miracles take time and cost money.

Lastly, if you have done everything right and you still did not make them happy, PUNT and go on. The problem is with them, not you. I once did a baby cup for a woman who, as always in my shop, filled out the service work order herself. She came in two days before it was due, so we tried to accommodate her on the spot by doing it right then. She waited about 5 minutes. I brought the cup out to her, and when she examined it, she found that the date was wrong. So I showed her that this was the date that she had written on the paperwork. She then started to cry, and tells me it was family heirloom from the civil war. I looked on the bottom of the cup and saw that it was made in 1998. I turned the cup over and showed it to her - and she suddenly stops crying, throws $20.00 down for $12.00 job, took the cup and left quickly. Remember, to service humans, make your standard procedures to make the largest group happy. Bend it for the minority, but don't break it. If you can take one person from your 5% group that was just an OK client and turn them into a great client, then you have issued procedures that will allow you to hold onto that great 90% of the customer base. I know you have heard 80% of your revenue comes form 20% of your customer base, well, somewhere in that 20% was a bad customers that your turned back from the dark side.