6 Warning Signs of a Crappy Customer

Sometimes spotting a crappy potential customer is simple—but most of the time it’s not.

There’s so much that goes into a decision to bring on a new customer, especially when you work closely with them like we do at my marketing agency Accelity.

Of course you want to know that a prospect fits your ideal customer profile, has the money and the follow-through, but it’s much more nuanced than that.

You also need to know: is this customer going to be a pain in the ass (PITA)? If so, are they a good PITA that holds people accountable and strives for results? Or a bad PITA that has unreasonable expectations or worse, treats a vendor partner disrespectfully?

During our sales process, we look at demographics AND psychographics. Sure, we want to know if our potential client has budget, authority, need for the service, etc. But we ALSO want to understand their fears, motivations, attitudes, values, and a lot more before we bring them into our world.

Read on to understand the warning signs and questions you need to ask during the sales process to ensure you’re not signing crappy customers.

The warning signs

How you’re treated during the sales process is a very good sign of how your team will be treated when the deal is done. And unfortunately, red flags don’t always wave obviously in your face—you have to sniff them out.

Here are six warning signs I typically look for:

Do the prospect’s needs match their budget? This is listed first because it’s a BIG one. If your potential customer has champagne taste on a beer budget, or their expected timelines are unrealistic, you’re setting yourself up for failure in the long run.

Does the prospect disappear for long periods of time? Yes, your prospect is busy. But if they’ve met with you a few times and promised a response - or a contract! - then ghost you, this is probably a sign of what’s to come even if you do get that contract. C’mon, a quick “need a couple weeks, hit you up then” email takes about 4 seconds to write.

Does the prospect speak poorly about others? I have heard some crazy things in prospect meetings—they dump on past vendors, current employees, coworkers, even bosses! People who talk like this about others will talk about you like this, too.

Does the prospect show up to meetings very late, or reschedule often? Again, we know your prospect is busy—but this could also be a sign that they don’t respect your time or the time of others.

Does the prospect negotiate too aggressively? Asking for unreasonable concessions in the sales process is a sure sign that this will happen while you work with them as well.

Does the prospect treat “power” (the people they view as in charge) the same way as the rest of your team members? If they’re kind to power but rude to another employee, that’s a big indicator that they’re the bad kind of PITA.

Finally, what does your gut say? If your prospect is rubbing you the wrong way during the sales process, don’t sign them until you figure out why.

But what if we really need the cash?

I only have three words for you. DON’T DO IT. Just don’t.

Every. single. time. I’ve signed a potentially crappy customer because we really needed the money, I regretted it.

A crappy customer years ago made my sole account manager so upset, she quit.

Another crappy customer went way over budget knowing they had no money, then never paid.

This one takes the cake: a really crappy customer started selling our same services to our own clients while we were still working with them!

The money is never worth it.

When you see a crappy potential customer… move on. And if you have a really crappy customer already on your roster, it’s time to strongly consider getting rid of them.

The health of your company depends on it.

A big thank you to Tara for submitting this question! Please submit more topics you want to hear about in this very short Google Form.

PS: I’m hosting a free webinar on Thursday, July 22! If you want to learn about the common marketing mistakes that companies make and how to fix them (or mistakes to avoid if you’re just getting started), check it out here.?