I’m sure you have heard the timeless saying of “the customer is always right”, this usually implies that the customer is not necessarily right, however, you don’t want to loose them or create bad word of mouth advertising through them so you comply with their wishes.
Of course, there’s a balance. Not every customer is going to be a dream, and there will always be customers who are more demanding than others–maybe more demanding than they’re worth. But you need to draw a line in the sand when the stress of catering to one customer negatively impacts other customers. Parting ways might be difficult, but your company’s welfare may depend on it.
When a not so great customer gets to the point where they are impacting you and your company, this could be very bad news for you as it is also likely they are causing the good customers to go elsewhere, and this is all around bad for your business. While we can’t always please everyone and it can be difficult to let go of customers, it is necessary sometimes for the survival of your business.
If you find yourself in the position where you feel you need to let go of a customer permanently try to be as calm as possible and let the customer know what sort of negative impact they are having on your company and first see if there are some solutions that can be determined. If there is no reasoning with this customer, then as politely as possible you may need to tell them that you will no longer be able to welcome their business in the future. There may be a slight impact on financial situations in the beginning of this change, but it is nothing that you can not work through in order to save your business.