I always think of the 4th of July as the summer season about a third of the way through due to the school calendar, and a time to take stock of how to do things better-meaning more profitably. The title of today’s post is actually the title of a book by the same name. Since we are here to get customers and make money, the title sounds counterintuitive.

The facts are that the longer we are in this business the more one my age looks back and realize not all customers are created equal. Some are terrific. Appreciative of what we do, sometimes even give a tip, never complain.

Others are trouble from the very start. As a class, engineers are the worst. Typically cheap, and because they are engineers, think they need to tell us that there is nothing really wrong with the clock (meaning it should not cost very much), but it only needs a “good” cleaning. Others whine from the very beginning. Usually about money. Or how long it will take to get to the job.

There was a great money manager by the name of Peter Lynch. Legendary in his day. I listened to an interview with him. He was asked what set him apart from mediocre managers. He stated he certainly was not any smarter than the others. The thing that made the difference was that he learned very early in a stock trade when to admit he made a mistake and to cut his losses. Other people due to arrogance or the unwillingness to take a loss, simply dig a deeper hole.

Everyone makes mistakes. Maybe the customer is a loser from the minute he walks in the door or calls. With experience we get better at identifying those folks. Maybe we made a mistake in quoting the job. It is better to either re-quote the job or to walk away and charge nothing and accept the loss. We might not find out until a year later about the clock or the customer being a problem. It is better to offer a refund and walk away.

Whether one is a doctor, or a repair person, or in our business, there is a point of decision as to whether a customer is one we can afford to serve.

In our business, to be honest, we operate on a 25% profit margin at best. To us, if a customer buys one movement a year or one every day, that customer is important and valued. Where we have to make a decision is when the return rate is more than the 25%. At that point the customer is unprofitable and can no longer be served.

One quick way to separate out a problem is on jobs requiring parts or a movement. Get the material costs upfront. If the customer balks, it is time to walk. That is especially true if the costs are more than the clock is worth and you really don’t want to own the clock.

Much if this is subjective I realize, but the object is to get the reader to start thinking about the process.