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Bullshit. Some customers are not worth having. Learning who is not your customer is important. Examples: • You offer a self-service product and someone come

by wheels 16y ago

Bullshit. Some customers are not worth having. Learning who is not your customer is important. Examples: • You offer a self-service product and someone comes along and wants extensive hand-holding for the self-service price. • You offer an SMB product and an enterprise comes along and wants enterprise level customization and support at the SMB price. Less obvious: • You offer an SMB product and think you can make an enterprise sale. You get distracted from your core audience and overextended. There are different types of "pushy" customers, some who are simply adamant about their needs and will teach you about your own offering and some who are simply hard-nosed. In the prior case, if your product hasn't been validated in the market it may mean that you're just wrong in your assumptions and need to adjust, but if it has been it may be an indicator that you've stepped too far away from your target market.

edw519 16y ago
Your examples are prospects, not customers. You're right, some prospects should not be converted into customers. But existing customers should be treated with respect and not abandoned. Their "pushiness" is a symptom of a larger problem which needs to be identified and solved one way or the other. Not quite sure where the "bullshit" came from.
- wheels 16y ago
  In non-enterprise sales often there is no prospect before someone becomes a customer – i.e. they just sign up. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that's the case in most web startups. As such there's often an (ideally small) segment of paying customers that are outside of the market you can service well with your offering and if they become pushy (i.e. begin making requests / demands that pull you away from your target market) it would be better if they were not a customer than for the company to lose focus trying to make them happy.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  My most pushy customers are my best customers, they really care about the product and want to improve it themselves, the 'outlet' I give them is they can mail me directly and I'll always take them serious. If something is not feasible I tell them why.

by wheels 16y ago

edw519 16y ago

Your examples are prospects, not customers. You're right, some prospects should not be converted into customers. But existing customers should be treated with respect and not abandoned. Their "pushiness" is a symptom of a larger problem which needs to be identified and solved one way or the other. Not quite sure where the "bullshit" came from.

wheels 16y ago
In non-enterprise sales often there is no prospect before someone becomes a customer – i.e. they just sign up. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that's the case in most web startups. As such there's often an (ideally small) segment of paying customers that are outside of the market you can service well with your offering and if they become pushy (i.e. begin making requests / demands that pull you away from your target market) it would be better if they were not a customer than for the company to lose focus trying to make them happy.
jacquesm 16y ago
My most pushy customers are my best customers, they really care about the product and want to improve it themselves, the 'outlet' I give them is they can mail me directly and I'll always take them serious. If something is not feasible I tell them why.