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What are your favorite and least favorite customers

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Jan 2, 2010
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I am interested in what types of customers you like working with and for and which ones you find to be the most difficult including getting paid for.

For example I seem to work well with Lawyers and the customers that I find are the most difficult to work for are Doctors. They are cheap and do not want to spend very much and their staff are not very friendly.

Real estate customer right now are all prepays because of the economy. They all talk big and want the best systems but do not have the money to pay for them

How about you?
 
I did have one customer that had been established with me for a long time. I was in their office doing some MAC work one day when their COO saw me and started in on me that I was responding too slowly and my work was unsatisfactory. I motioned to him to step aside so that others in th office would not hear us. I said "I'm a big boy and I can take you yelling at me if that's what you want to do. But this business owes me over $8,000 for over 120 days. I would appreciate it if you wold pay up before you yell any more". He did stop and he did pay. PS - Not related???? - he is out on bail for kiddie porn trading.
 
Every customer has a price and a priority. The bigger the pain they are the higher the price and lower the priority.
 
When I worked in Houston I walked into a new site and got the chewing of a lifetime and basically boiled down to 5 techs had already been there and nothing had been fixed.

I just looked at him and smiled and said I have not been here yet. Problem was fixed in 30 minutes.

Another time I was at the reception desk getting the key for the switchroom when it crashed. I got blamed and said well I guess it is good that I am here already. UPS bad.

I don't mind them looking over my shoulder and slowing me down. I charge by the hour!

Most of the time I want to know what you need and then leave me alone to figure it out.

The customers I love are the ones that can take NO for an answer. No you can't do that you didn't buy that feature etc.,

Signature===========================================

Aastra Authorized Reseller
 
I was out of work for awhile and to put beans on the table I worked for a landscaper friend of mine. What a hoot.
He had a very rich customer who was very hard to satisfy despite excellent work. When my friend sent him the bill one of the charges was simply listed as PITA charge $2000.
I asked him what that was about and he told me it was "Pain In The Ass'.
He used it frequently and he rarely got asked what it was, but when he did, he pulled no punches and told the customer.
No customer ever refused to pay it.
 
The ones i like are the ones that say this is what i want it to do.
Normally they don't have the tech knowhow but admit it and know what they need.

The ones i don't like are the ones that say this is what i want.

Normally they think they have the knowhow but don't. So after you've installed / modified to what they have specifically ask for they turn round and say but it doesn't do what i wanted.

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umm,it IS supposed to do that, right??
 
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