HAMMER YOUR CUSTOMERS!

There was an excellent book written in the 90's called The Discipline of Market Leaders. This book discusses the importance of choosing your customers wisely. This is very important for an entrepreneur to consider. We generally get so excited about the prospect of passing the wallet test that we take a customer that is just flat out not worth it. This generally happens because the value proposition that we are offering isn't in alignment with the one the customer is looking for.


For example: if your business is set-up to sell hammers at a low cost and you have a customer who wants your sales person to spend an hour with them talking about the features of each hammer, then guess what? Your margins are negative! You need to sell to customers who are looking for the lowest price. This customer group probably already knows about the features of each hammer and just wants to find the one they need fast and cheaply.


Here's a great article about firing your customer.