Customers from Heaven and Hell: Not all Customers are Created Equal.

Buckle up, folks, because we're about to embark on a journey through the wild world of customer relationships. Now, I know what you're thinking – every customer is valuable, right? Well, yes — and no. It turns out not all customers are created equal. Some are like a warm hug on a cold day, while others make you want to retreat to a remote island with a lifetime supply of margaritas. You may ask, “Why is a marketing guy talking about this?” Well, bear with me for a minute.

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Finding more Customers from Heaven and Sending the Customers from Hell to Your Competitors.

We always conduct a customer from heaven and hell assessment with our clients before we develop their marketing strategy. It may seem odd for a marketing company to do such an exercise, but to us the reason is obvious. We don’t want to waste our clients' marketing dollars attracting customers from hell. We want to segment and bring in as many prospects from heaven as possible while disqualifying the obvious customers from hell. 

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Customers from Heaven

These are the customers who make your heart sing. They're understanding and patient and genuinely appreciate your efforts. They pay their invoices on time (hallelujah!), provide valuable feedback, and even refer their friends and colleagues to you. Working with them is a breeze, and they leave your team feeling energized and motivated. Sure, customers from Heaven can be demanding, but in a way that challenges you, makes your team step their game up and learn new skills, and forces you to improve your processes. 

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Customers from Hell

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the customers who suck the joy out of every interaction, just like the Dementors from Harry Potter. They're unreasonable and seem to take pleasure in making your life miserable. They're constantly complaining, nitpicking every detail, and threatening to take their business elsewhere if their every whim isn't catered to. Dealing with them is like wrestling a greased pig – messy, frustrating, and leaves you and your entire team feeling utterly exhausted.

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What about Purgatory? 

Of course, most customers fall somewhere between these two extremes, but for the sake of our exercise, we want our clients to think in a binary fashion. It makes them consider the aspects they are looking for in an ideal customer, and more importantly, it helps identify their non-negotiables.

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The Ripple Effect: How Difficult Customers Impact Your Team

Dealing with difficult customers isn't just a minor inconvenience—it can seriously impact your team's morale, productivity, and overall well-being. It's like a contagious disease, spreading negativity and frustration throughout your organization.

When your team constantly battles demanding clients, it can lead to burnout, high turnover rates, and a general sense of dread. It's like being trapped in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, where every time you solve one problem, another one pops up.

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The Profitability Puzzle: Not All Customers Are Created Equal

Let's face it – some customers are simply more profitable than others. They might require less hand-holding, generate higher revenue, or have a greater lifetime value. Focusing your efforts on nurturing those relationships can lead to greater success and a more positive work environment for your team.

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Using Targeted Marketing to Exercise the Demons

Many times we uncover psychographic traits that lead to unacceptable behaviors that are common in specific sub-segments. Here’s a real-world example.

When working with one of our SAAS clients, we determined that some of their customers were immature regarding their digital maturity. That meant that they didn’t have the infrastructure in place to work with our client. It required a lot of upfront work that was frustrating for our client’s team and their customer. Plus, it drove down the profitability of our client’s projects and more importantly pulled resources away from their profitable customers.

Many times, these customers were small or mid-sized businesses with revenue under $200 million with no CIO or CTO. The solution? We quit advertising to those kinds of companies. Instead, we armed the sales team with some qualifying questions at the beginning of the sales process, such as “How available will your CIO be during the onboarding process?” This massively reduced the number of customers from hell, improved the company’s profitability, and made their engineers MUCH happier.

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