The Customer Is Not Always Right

Sometimes it is better to not serve a customer, especially when their expectations are unreasonable. One time I met with an executive at a major regional transit authority who wanted a new payroll system implemented in 90 days.

I said, “Honestly, it can’t be done.”

His face grew beet red, and he threw me out of his office. He hired another company who promised to meet the unrealistic 90-day time frame. After the implementation was six months late, the executive and the firm he hired were dismissed. I was glad he was not my customer.

At times you have to fire a customer. At one large enterprise, my team was often retained by several departments to provide various services. We developed Service Level Agreements to set expectations for the levels of service. However, we had a unique situation where we experimented with a hybrid approach of having a local customer support staff coordinate with our team. This wasn’t a win–win. The person in the department would step in, cause problems, and then point the finger at us.

After several occurrences, I invited the department head, a peer of mine, to lunch. After describing what had been happening, she looked up and said, “You’re firing me as a customer, aren’t you?”

I replied, “Yes, I am” and explained to her (and later explained to my team) that we did not have to provide services to everyone, especially if they are a pain. I did buy her lunch, and we did not charge them anything since the arrangement did not work out.