This is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in the past year:
Sometimes it’s better to lose a customer.
I think as entrepreneurs – particularly new entrepreneurs – there’s a huge temptation to hang on to our customers for dear life.
And I don’t think that’s entirely misguided. Customer service is hugely important. Especially in a social world like ours.
But you know what? Some clients just aren’t worth it. Some clients are bloodsucking vampires who will bleed you for more than they ever paid you in the first place.
By the way, the cost isn’t always financial. Vampire clients also attack your peace of mind, your passion, your morale, your creativity.
In short: vampire clients suck. Terrible pun intended.
Spotting the Vampires
It can be hard to tell the difference between a vampire client and one who’s justifiably upset. A few good rules-of-thumb to help you spot the vampires:
- Upset customers are happy once their problem is fixed. Vampire customers always find something new to complain about.
- Upset customers are respectful (if also a little angry). Vampire customers are manipulative.
- Upset customers ask you to step up and take responsibility. Vampire customers order you to grovel.
The acid test is this: if a customer expects you to do a better job of executing your business model and fulfilling your obligations, he/she’s a keeper. If a customer expects you to change your entire business to suit him/her, you’ve got a vampire on your hands.
Signs of a Vampire Infestation
Getting rid of vampires is messy. It will hurt. But the alternative is worse. A single vampire client can paralyze your company. And if you let them, they’ll take over. I know this from personal experience (unfortunately, I can’t say much more without getting into legal trouble).
The symptoms of a vampire infestation:
- Instead of seeking out new business, you’ll spend all your time trying to keep your vampire client from leaving.
- Instead of spending money on rewarding employees, you’ll spend it all on trying to placate your vampire client. It won’t help.
- Instead of making money from a vampire client, you’ll be losing it.
- Instead of a passionate entrepreneur, you’ll be a beaten slave. And you, your employees, and your other customers will all suffer.
Do Some Vampire (Client) Hunting
Do you have a vampire problem? Take a minute today to answer this question. For each client on your list, ask yourself: “If all my clients were like this, could I still run a successful business?” If the answer is no, it may be time to cut that client loose – even if it hurts to do so. It’ll be worth it in the long run.
Have any tips for identifying and dealing with vampire clients? Share them below by leaving a great comment!
10 Comments on “Do You Have a Vampire Problem?”
says:
This is so true. You want customers who will lead you, not drag behind you like a penance.
says:
Brilliant, everyone spends a lot of time stressing “good customer service” and “client is king” but the vampire customer is a real problem. Especially when you start out freelancing. Very important, as you say, to hunt and stamp out the vampires :-).
One more flag to identify vampire clients, I think, is if/whether they pay on time. Following up on invoices is always such a chore for the new entrepreneur, that we tend to ignore any “problem clients”, but if you are not getting paid, time to ask if you have a vampire on your hands :-).
Great post, looking forward to more practical tips ahead!
says:
That reminds me a lot of what Howard Roarke from Ayn Rand's Fountainhead would do. He would only build his houses for certain customers, as he was in a tough business so that he could set his own terms.
says:
Jeffrey, A really helpful post and very much to the point. Your list of differences between vampires and customers with the right to be upset is excellent. From time to time, the engineering company I worked for in Boston had vampires as clients. And you're absolutely correct about what a huge waste of time and energy it is to deal with them.
By the way, years ago I came across and skimmed a book called Emotional Vampires. I remember that it had a near-perfect description of my then-supervisor. She was an Emotional Vampire of the Perfectionist Type. The book may still be available
says:
Jeffrey, that's a great article.
I've been working in customer service for a while and I totally understand what vampire clients are. Sometimes they made me so mad that I thought I would explode. No matter what you do they are not satisfied and they will never be. After all there is no ideal service that will be perfect for every client. You can actually do them a favor by refusing to deal with them, maybe they will find what they need somewhere else.
says:
Thanks for sharing this Jeffrey… some great insights here. I especially like the way you differentiate people who want you to grovel vs. take responsibility.
says:
Jeffrey, that's a simple, powerful question ('if all my clients were like this, could I still run a successful business?'). I'll use this next time I start feeling that something's not quite right with a client.
I used to have a client who was a vampire–the interesting thing is that she was not an obvious one. She was friendly and well-meaning. But week in and week out she really drained me. She was making it much harder to do the rest of my work. Your test question would have been great to use in that situation.
says:
Sounds like I've got another addition to my reading list, haha :) Thanks for the recommendation. You know, people always talk about the amount of information available online … but it's amazing how much information's just floating around out there in print.
says:
That's a good point, Kye. Not all vampire clients are vampires by choice. Sometimes they just haven't entered the business relationship with the right mindset.
says:
My experience has shown that most entrepreneurs start their businesses to provide a better product or service than is currently available and naturally want to go that extra mile for their clients. When they start out they are so glad to have any clients that they cheerfully accept these “vampires” not knowing that they will slowly suck the energy out of them.
Once they have been identified, I find that most entrepreneurs use the ignore them and hope they go away on their own method of dealing with them. But most “vampires” are stubborn and will do a lot of damage to your employee's morale and your company's reputation before they are finished. The best approach is the “it's me not you” break up.
“I realize that you have been unhappy with us for some time now. Though we have tried our best to meet your expectations, I do not feel that we are able to do so. You deserve to have a company that can do so and we will do everything we can to make sure the transition to that company is as smooth as possible for you.”
Most of the time they will try to talk you into keeping them as clients, but hold firm and continue to stress that you are only thinking of them.
P.S. I love the design of your website. Very clean and crisp!