Increase Your Profits — Pick out the Bad Apples
Once you your small business gets off the ground, you will realize that you are getting all sorts of customers. The key to increasing your profits is to filter out the bad clients and rope in the good ones.
Here are some types of bad clients – and how to make the best of the situation.
Clients Who Haggle Too Much
These are clients who haggle too much, decreasing your profit margins and eating away a lot of your precious time. If they happen to pay on time and you want to retain these types of clients, try quoting a higher price initially, then bring the price down to keep them happy.
If you have clients like this and find that your strategy isn't working, then stick to your guns, making clear that you value their business but will not reduce your prices any further.
The key is to not waste a lot of time in dealing with them. Time is money.
Clients Who Pay Late
If you have a business and extend credit to your customers, then you might find that there are some clients who do not pay on time. You could either reduce the amount of products that you sell to them gradually, or you could warn them that you need to be paid on time before revoking their credit altogether
Either way, take firm action or you could lose both your money and your clients in the long run.
Clients Who Continually Return Products
At one time or another, any small business that sells physical products has run into a client like this. The way to handle them is to have a specific period that returns must be made. If they continue to abuse the system, you have no other choice than to refuse their business.
Beware of the above types of clients who, instead of increasing your business, only manage to slow it down. Use the above steps to keep them in check.
