Do you treat all clients the same? That question was posed recently on Succeed, a small business forum on LinkedIn. Always ready to share my opinions, here is the answer I posted there.

Like so many have said already, we strive to treat all our clients with respect. But in reality, some clients are better than others.

So, we divide our clients into three categories: A, B, and C.

Everybody starts out on the “A- list”, regardless of income potential. Size doesn’t matter. We’ve had small clients turn into large clients and/or great referral sources.

— Those who pay promptly and are pleasant stay on the A-list.

–Those who pay late drop to the B-list.

–Those who pay REALLY late or are difficult in other ways drop to the C-list.

Since much of our business is repeat business, it helps us prioritize our responses. Most of our clients are a sincere pleasure to work with. As for very few who are not — well, life is too short to put up with them.

Some further clarification. Just because they look like a good client does not make them one. Over the years, we’ve had to move a couple of well known companies to the C-List. Usually the problem lies with the bean-counters, not our direct clients.  But getting paid on time is important – and it shows appreciation and respect for your work!

Take care of your GOOD clients — and they will take care of you!

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