Good fit and bad fit customers

In today's episode, Mattias talks about the importance of the culture fit in a customer relationship and why you sometimes need to fire a customer in order to keep your people safe.

Customer relationships

People buy based on their emotions. This concept also applies to customer relationships in a corporate environment. If you and your customers have fun working together and share the same values, there will be many advantages. Some of them are:

- Better customer retention
- Better employee retention
- Better collaboration between your team and the customer's team
- Better time efficiency

Good fit customers

In the past, Mattias has also experienced what happens when the opposite is the case and you and your customers are not a good culture fit. He could clearly see that his team started to prioritize the fun and inspiring customers over those who made the team feel unappreciated.

However, he explains that company cultures aside, there are still different personalities representing those companies. So even if a company technically shares the same values, the individual person you're working with may not be a good match because of their personal attitudes and behaviors.
Mattias has experienced situations where they tried working with a customer with a lot of friction involved until another stakeholder came in and enabled everything to go smoothly from there.

Getting rid of bad customers

Not everything always works out smoothly, though. Some years ago, Mattias actually fired a customer because he felt that this person was discriminating toward people he worked with. Being aware of these issues and taking action becomes more and more important the bigger your team becomes. You, as a CEO, have the responsibility for your team and need to protect them at all costs.

Mattias encourages to even say no to customers when you're at an early stage with your business. You might think you can't reject customers because you rely on their revenue. However, all the time and energy you put into a customer who has contrary values and doesn't respect your team is better invested in searching for the customers you will have positive and fruitful relationships with in the long run. In addition, your team will notice if you are prioritizing money over their well-being, and you need to decide what kind of leader you want to be.

It is essential to have a defined culture that is teachable, and you can compare to the attitudes and behaviors on the customer's side.

💡 EPISODE TAKE AWAY
Your team will notice if you are prioritizing money over their well-being, and you need to decide what kind of leader you want to be.

How do you deal with customers who aren't a good fit?