Has anyone had to fi
[2022-11-30 07:58:03 PM] : Has anyone had to fire a customer? Or ask them to no longer email you or purchase your offerings?
1 Reply
[2022-12-01 05:18:32 PM] : yes, a few times over the years… generally if it’s an infoproduct (e.g. I don’t have any data) we refund them (whether they want to or not), and tell them to go away basically.
it’s a bit trickier with SaaS customers but i have told people to take their business elsewhere and that we will not see, much less read, any future support emails from them (this has always been for verbal abuse to support staff, you can’t really abuse a time tracking tool in any other way)
[2022-12-01 05:19:29 PM] : it’s always worth it. 1. saves you so much pain later, 2. self-respect is critical to the long haul. if you don’t feel respected bc you sacrifice it for money (or worse yet, do it to one of your team), you will lose big in the end.
[2022-12-01 05:20:09 PM] : and in the case of a community offering like 30x500, 3. you preserve the quality and enjoyment of the community for everyone else who does act respectfully to begin with.
[2022-12-01 05:23:59 PM] : Thanks for sharing. In some ways I feel like a jerk, but my mental well-being was taking a hit from this person and it just felt like I needed to cut all ties.
[2022-12-01 05:29:06 PM] : protecting yourself absolutely does not make you a jerk!
[2022-12-01 05:29:54 PM] : business is an exchange of money for goods/services. some people think it’s an exchange of money for the right to abuse whoever took the money. and those people suck.
[2022-12-02 01:19:43 AM] : I had a mild stalking incidence once. Started with increasingly more (private) questions and ended with me receiving a present (luckily via email and not on my doorstep). The whole thing was very uncomfortable and it was even more difficult as the person seemed to be in a difficult state. I was also anxious of being a jerk or bring responsible for making their life even harder.
The person was asking more and more questions remotely related to my course. Probably to keep the conversation going. Back then alex had great advice. Basically I said "I'm sorry but I can't offer this kind of 1-on-1 consultation". Maybe I said that a couple of times but in the end the message was received and the customer asked for a refund themselves.
[2022-12-02 03:40:25 PM] : sorry that happened to you, that’s distressing. glad alex could help and the intervention worked
[2022-12-02 03:40:57 PM] : a lot of times, people will try to manipulate you with a sad story so that you will feel guilty about showing them the door… the trick is to identify when that’s happening vs people who are actually just struggling but not using it as a cudgel