10 Reasons Your Biggest Customer Decides to Breakup with You

Breakup. 

Does that word bring you back to your high school years?

You know, the dreaded breakup. 

Generally, no one feels good after a bad breakup. 

Especially for the person who is being broken up with. 

As you know, gossip flows like wildfire with teenagers. 

"Did you hear so-and-so broke up?" "Really, who dumped who?" 

The term "breakup" is typically synonymous with heartbreak. Humiliation. Depression. 

Ahh, the days of having your heart broken for the first time. 

Well, when something is broken, it most likely needs to be fixed. 

So let's turn the tables and discuss the term "breakup" in terms of business. 

In particular when your biggest customer finds it necessary to break up with you. 

Ouch! 

As adults do you find a customer breakup hurts any less than a teenage heartbreak? 

A customer breakup certainly has the potential to cause serious harm as well. 

For example, a customer breakup leads to financial damage, layoffs, idle equipment, and a severely bruised ego.  

An important question to consider, could this have been prevented? 

Related Article: Business Mission Statement: "BECOME THE BLANKIE"

We fall out of love "very slowly, then all at once"

So how do you handle a customer breakup? 

First, it is important to consider if the breakup could have been avoided.

For instance, were there honestly no warning signs?

James J. Sexton, divorce attorney and author of "If You're in My Office, It's Already Too Late," says marriages don't fall apart overnight.

Sexton claims couples fall out of love "very slowly, then all at once".

Most likely the exact same things happen with business relationships. 

First, you meet the new customer.

It's love at first sight. 

Next comes the puppy love stage. 

You nurture every whim and request. 

Everything is going along smoothly. 

Unfortunately, similar to many relationships and marriages, complacency sets in. 

In hindsight, odds are plenty of warning signs were ignored.

For example, suddenly a new customer comes into the picture who takes up more of your time, energy and resources. 

The "old" customer now takes a back seat. 

However, you're not worried. The "old" customer still loves you and would "never" think of leaving. 

Oh, oh, that thought process certainly sounds like trouble.

Taking a customer for granted is certainly a dangerous place. 

However, sometimes a breakup occurs beyond your control. 

So what actually did happen?

Let's take a look at common reasons that a customer breakup occurs. 

Related Article: "I’M DIVERSIFIED!" No, Actually You're Doing Five Things Horribly

 10 Reasons a Customer Breakup Occurs 

1) Your biggest customer gets bought out: Unfortunately new ownership has other plans that do not include you. 

2) A new buyer arrives: You find out the hard way that the new buyer has a tight relationship with a competitor.

3) A new management team takes over: They make sweeping changes and do not view your service favorably.

4) Vulnerability reduction: The company finally realized that they represented a vast majority of your total revenues and felt uncomfortably vulnerable with you. Vulnerability certainly works both ways.

5) An aggressive competitor outbid you: On price. Service. Quality. Customer service. Maybe they were simply hungrier than you. It is difficult to admit when we have messed up. 

6) A key employee leaves you: And even worse, they take your biggest customer with them. URGH! 

7) The business or industry declines: For example, brick and mortar retail, book stores, DVD rentals are a few that come to mind.

8) Your competitor offers more efficient technology: Plenty of disruptors hit the market causing chaos. When in fact they deliver incredible efficiency. Uber, Airbnb, and Zoom come to mind. You resisted change and loved staying below or completely off the radar. Well, unfortunately, you also fell off your customer's radar as well. 

9) Your customer went out of business: - Bankrupt. Gone. They grew complacent. Ignored drastic changes in the market. Think back to Blackberry, Blockbuster, Kodak, Sears and the list goes on. 

10) Cheap imports: Low cost labor countries are penetrating your market. Very slowly, then all at once. 

Related Article: 12 Helpful Suggestions to "Give Value First"

 Stay Hungry to Avoid the Breakup

Complacency kills.

So how do you avoid a bad customer breakup? 

For one thing, it is critical maintaining a "Honeymoon" mindset with each and every single customer. 

In other words, NEVER TAKE FOR A CUSTOMER FOR GRANTED.

Additionally, focus on building a diverse customer base to reduce the weakness and vulnerability of relying too heavily on one customer. 

Stay hungry and aggressive. 

Play offense. Simply due to the fact that an offense scores ALOT more touchdowns than the defense. 

Embrace new technology. 

Keep your staff highly trained as well as motivated. 

Above all, prevent a heartbreaking and painful breakup by dedicating yourself to making your customer's life easier and their business more profitable. 

This way they will stay tied and true to you. 

Thus, creating a long-term monogamous relationship so you can both live happily ever after. 

Wrapping It Up 

Thank you for reading this post. 

For additional articles to help with your entrepreneurial journey, check out these articles below: 

• The Definition of Entrepreneurtude: "Do Whatever It Takes"
• No Goal + No Direction = Where on Earth are We Going? 
• 19 Tips for Curing "I Hate Change" (Plus a Healthy Dose of eCommerce)