How do you deal with toxic customers?
June 11, 2021
In this episode, we talk about why you should keep toxic customers out of your business (yes, it's not worth the money).
All right. This is a two-part episode. On this episode, I'm going to talk about toxic clients and toxic customers and how to deal with them. And on the second episode, I am actually going to reveal a much more important discussion that's been inspired by the one that we're going to have today. So make sure you tune in for the next episode and check that out.
But for today's episode, we are going to be talking about toxic clients. So recently, I'm super excited because I've been starting or I've been working on my accelerator program and I really think that this accelerator is going to be one of the biggest game-changers because we literally are the only accelerator that helps you skip investor funding. Every other accelerator is hell-bent on making the investors happy. And we are I think one of the few, probably the only one, that is focused on skipping the whole investment process and just making the founder happy.
So, I'm super excited because we've signed on an amazing array of startups onto our first cohort and I cannot wait to get started to help them increase the size of their customer list. However, one of the clients, this was actually the second seat that I sold. He turned out to be a bad apple. It was really difficult for me to, okay, so let me back up a little bit. First of all, when we first talked, I think there was a lot of rapport I got, I got along with him, he seemed really nice, he seemed kind of all over the place, to be honest, and he was super excited about getting into my program. He gave me money and then he just disappears. So I was thinking in my head, okay, what an awesome client. Just give me money and then he disappears. But at the same time, I was like I can't just take this guy's money and not give any value. So I spent a lot of time kind of chasing this customer to try to get him on an onboarding call so we can start working on his issues and his problems and he would send a text saying he wanted to do all these other things first and I'm just like that's exactly what you hired me for dude. Like, let me help you out.
But it was really difficult to get them on the call and one month later he was on a payment plan and the second payment hit and I received a very aggressive message from him and I guess he just forgot about the second payment, which to me this is a learning opportunity. Note to self, I think when you're, even if it's on auto payment customers, they forget things and it's probably a good practice just to give a little bit of courteous notice and say, Hey, there's this big payment coming in and I just want you to be aware, something like that.
But that didn't happen for this. We just kept going and he sent me this aggressive message and it was so aggressive. He started threatening me on this phone and me, I don't do well with threats at all. So I will get aggressive right back. And essentially what happened is I did not want to deal with this guy anymore. So I said, hey, you are no longer in this program. And I gave him a full refund and that's it. I don't want this toxic person anywhere near anything that I'm doing. And this is what this podcast is about. Is keeping toxic customers out.
Because let's say, what would happen if I let this person stay in my program. Well, he's all over the place. I'm not able to help him get any results. So I can't get any meaningful testimonials from him. And it will actually make my cohort look bad. Because I am super vent on making sure we have 100% success rate. And if I can't even help this person, because he's unwilling to help himself. And I feel like I have to chase him to help him launch his company will. It's probably gonna be a losing proposition for both of us. And second, I mean, I just don't take threats lightly. So this aggression, if you're going to be aggressive in my program, I am not going to allow it. And I am going to kick you out.
And I think this really goes back into the episode about the Pinocchio and the Soup Nazi. Yes. This was a lot of money. Yes. I actually did believe in and start-up and I think that I could have helped him and this would have been an awesome thing. If we actually launched, it would have been an awesome thing that I can add to my own resume as well. However, it looks like it would have been a lot more pain than what it's worth. I am seriously doubting that this person's idea is going to get off the ground if he operates like this. So, I'm a little happy now. Well, I wanted to say that I was super upset when it happened. That was super upset. It was an anxiety-induced moment, but I think I'm really proud of the way that I handled it and there's a reason why that I'm really proud that I handled it and I'll go into that reason in the next episode. So, tune in for the next episode. This is Robin Copernicus, boom bam. I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
But for today's episode, we are going to be talking about toxic clients. So recently, I'm super excited because I've been starting or I've been working on my accelerator program and I really think that this accelerator is going to be one of the biggest game-changers because we literally are the only accelerator that helps you skip investor funding. Every other accelerator is hell-bent on making the investors happy. And we are I think one of the few, probably the only one, that is focused on skipping the whole investment process and just making the founder happy.
So, I'm super excited because we've signed on an amazing array of startups onto our first cohort and I cannot wait to get started to help them increase the size of their customer list. However, one of the clients, this was actually the second seat that I sold. He turned out to be a bad apple. It was really difficult for me to, okay, so let me back up a little bit. First of all, when we first talked, I think there was a lot of rapport I got, I got along with him, he seemed really nice, he seemed kind of all over the place, to be honest, and he was super excited about getting into my program. He gave me money and then he just disappears. So I was thinking in my head, okay, what an awesome client. Just give me money and then he disappears. But at the same time, I was like I can't just take this guy's money and not give any value. So I spent a lot of time kind of chasing this customer to try to get him on an onboarding call so we can start working on his issues and his problems and he would send a text saying he wanted to do all these other things first and I'm just like that's exactly what you hired me for dude. Like, let me help you out.
But it was really difficult to get them on the call and one month later he was on a payment plan and the second payment hit and I received a very aggressive message from him and I guess he just forgot about the second payment, which to me this is a learning opportunity. Note to self, I think when you're, even if it's on auto payment customers, they forget things and it's probably a good practice just to give a little bit of courteous notice and say, Hey, there's this big payment coming in and I just want you to be aware, something like that.
But that didn't happen for this. We just kept going and he sent me this aggressive message and it was so aggressive. He started threatening me on this phone and me, I don't do well with threats at all. So I will get aggressive right back. And essentially what happened is I did not want to deal with this guy anymore. So I said, hey, you are no longer in this program. And I gave him a full refund and that's it. I don't want this toxic person anywhere near anything that I'm doing. And this is what this podcast is about. Is keeping toxic customers out.
Because let's say, what would happen if I let this person stay in my program. Well, he's all over the place. I'm not able to help him get any results. So I can't get any meaningful testimonials from him. And it will actually make my cohort look bad. Because I am super vent on making sure we have 100% success rate. And if I can't even help this person, because he's unwilling to help himself. And I feel like I have to chase him to help him launch his company will. It's probably gonna be a losing proposition for both of us. And second, I mean, I just don't take threats lightly. So this aggression, if you're going to be aggressive in my program, I am not going to allow it. And I am going to kick you out.
And I think this really goes back into the episode about the Pinocchio and the Soup Nazi. Yes. This was a lot of money. Yes. I actually did believe in and start-up and I think that I could have helped him and this would have been an awesome thing. If we actually launched, it would have been an awesome thing that I can add to my own resume as well. However, it looks like it would have been a lot more pain than what it's worth. I am seriously doubting that this person's idea is going to get off the ground if he operates like this. So, I'm a little happy now. Well, I wanted to say that I was super upset when it happened. That was super upset. It was an anxiety-induced moment, but I think I'm really proud of the way that I handled it and there's a reason why that I'm really proud that I handled it and I'll go into that reason in the next episode. So, tune in for the next episode. This is Robin Copernicus, boom bam. I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
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