I’ve long been a fan of Ron Baker’s ‘Baker’s Law: Bad Customers Drive Out Good Customers’. His comment that:

By viewing your firm as an airplane with a fixed amount of seats, you will begin to adapt your capacity to those customers who appreciate—and are willing to pay for—your value proposition.

is spot on.

But it really wasn’t until last week, when I read an article in smallbiztrends.com, that I’d come across a comprehensive checklist of ways to identify those bad customers from the good ones.

The article –  ‘How to Spot Bad Customers – and How to Deal with Them’ – sets out ’10 Ways to Identify a Bad Customer’. They’re great and should be pinned on every lawyers homepage:

1. They Don’t Pay On-Time (Or Ever)
2. They Don’t Pay Enough (Or Don’t Want To Pay)
3. They Have Unclear or Changing Demands
4. They Want ALL the Attention
5. They Aren’t Available
6. They Aren’t Honest
7. They are Abusive or Threaten Your Staff
8. They Make Unreasonable Demands
9. They Complain to Anyone Who Will Listen
10. They Don’t Listen to You

How many of us can identify with most, if not all of these!?!?

It’s a great post. As is Baker’s. Read them (while noting that there is a 13 year gap between the two posts and not a lot has changed!)!

As always though, interested in your thoughts/views/feedback.

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