You can spend a lot of time, energy, and money on the development of new customer relationships. Often you can find this to be a rewarding experience for you. Relationships that will last years into the future might even be developed. Some of your customers may even become close friends of yours. All in all a very enjoyable experience for you. But sometimes the exact opposite can happen and depending on how badly you need the business of that customer it can become a nightmare for you. That is when you might have to ask yourself just how badly do you need them?

It is during the early stages of building your business that every customer really counts but at some point in time you need to examine your relationships with you customers. You need to ask yourself if all the hoops you jump through for them are actually worth the sales that you receive. You might be surprised by how many aren't. Does this mean you should drop them all as customers no? In fact it would be better if you could figure out a way to make the relationship more fruitful for you. But when you do finally realize that a customer is not worth all the effort you have given them then you should drop them.

Yes it is hard giving up on a relationship that you have worked so hard to develop but it needs to be done. This customer is taking up valuable time and resources by distracting you from the customers that you make money on. And the longer you wait to do something about the situation the more it is costing you. So how do you go about ending a relationship? Politely that's how.

When ending a relationship with a customer there is no need to be rude to them or have them develop any hard feelings towards you. You need to take the time to explain the situation to them. No they may not like it. But you need to be truthful with them. Don't be fooled into thinking things might change because this is often not the case. There are of course times when a relationship is worth salvaging and you'll have to make that decision yourself. But try not to let past sentiment be an influencing factor no matter how hard.

Developing good solid long term customers is about building relationships with them. But it is a two way street. They may think that you need them more than they need you and while at one time it may have been true. It is not always the case anymore. So just as you value your relationship with them hopefully the same can be said of them valuing that relationship also. If they don't then remember your first obligation is to do what is right for your business not theirs.