Not only that, but sometimes you’re not right for the customer either.

In today’s society with things like Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor and Facebook being at our customers fingertips, we tend to bend over backwards to please them because everything we do seems to be under a microscope. Sometimes, with very little provocation, your customer can complain about you online before you even have a chance to fix the problem.

THE CUSTOMER ISN’T ALWAYS RIGHT

There are certain customers that you’re never going to win over. They take advantage, and it’s just not right. If you put out an excellent product and treat your customers with excellence, there are plenty of customers out there for you.

Become OK with the fact that you might have to fire some of your customers. It’s OK to stop dealing with them and to not always be flexible in your rules because it’s that flexibility that can make you and your staff’s lives more challenging and sometimes even miserable.

DARLING, WE NEED TO BREAK UP

A customer of mine has a very busy, but very small barbeque restaurant and once a month this customer would come in, order something, complain and send it back. It was never right, was always slow and there was always something wrong with the food. After I explained this mindset change to them, they fired the customer. The next time they walked into the restaurant they walked up to him and said, “We’re so happy to see you again, but we need to let you know right now that we’re not going to be replacing any of your food and we’re not going to take anything back. We’re happy to take your order, but too often you’ve come in and complained about things and it’s become a pattern.”

Of course, they were pissed, walked away, never came back and never left an online review.

YOU’RE NOT RIGHT EITHER

Your restaurant can’t, and shouldn’t appeal to everyone in every situation, so you might as well draw a line in the sand.

A client of mine has a high end wine bistro. They’re very small, with a small kitchen and limited equipment so they aren’t producing “full menu” because they don’t have things like fryers and such. But they ARE amazing at what they do produce and for what they put out on the plate, it’s quite pricey.

They used to get reviews from people saying that it was too expensive for the small portions and how they left hungry. They didn’t change their menu, they simply redefined who they were to make sure that customers who are going to leave reviews like that will never step foot in the door.

We redid their website and were particular about the pictures that were put on line, their menu and everything that they share on social media to make sure that people understood that this is what you were going to get, and if it’s not for you, please don’t show up.