Increase Profits, Decrease Customer Base

Sprint made a bold move recently by canceling 1,200 accounts because they complained too much. According to their books, these accounts called in 40 to 50 times more than the average account.

Apparently, these whiners were dialing in “40 to 50 times as often” as the “average customer,” and after failing to appease them, the firm chose to “terminate the relationship with those customers to allow them to pursue other options.”

This was smart. Some people might cry about how ‘unfair’ it is, but the fact is that these are at-will relationships. If Sprint doesn’t want to do business with unprofitable customers, then they should definitely not be forced to. It wouldn’t surprise me if legislation is created regarding this issue (or at least the attempt will be made to create legislation).

Sometimes it’s hard for us to realize that we don’t have to do business with every willing customer. The fact is that if we aren’t profitable, we can’t long provide our services to any customers.

This article notes more detail on unprofitable customers:

Unprofitable customers are parasites. Harvard Business Review estimates that, on average, 15% of all customer are unprofitable. The book, Angel Customers & Demon Customers, estimates that, in most industries, the best 20% of customers account for 150% of profits. The worst 20% typically lose money equal to 75% of profits.

You could always raise the prices of these customers, but that has the potential to backfire. How do you explain to one of these parasitic clients that they are being charged an additional premium due to their overuse of services that were supposed to be unlimited. It may actually be illegal to do so. It’s far easier just to cut these clients loose, and let them find another company with which to do business. There are almost always alternatives for the customer.

If you have customers that are clearly unprofitable, just cut them loose. It is ethical, and it is the only sane decision that a business can make.

Google In-car Local Search

This is the in-car feature that all you Google fans were waiting for. You can now buy a BMW with a built-in local search engine powered by Google. Why is this important you ask? It is so much better than the best navigation system simply because it is Google driven. On top of having all of your most important local information such as; address, phone numbers and distance.Upon finding what they are looking for the driver transfer the coordinates from Google’s search engine directly to the vehicle’s navigation system or telephone.

Google and BMW share the same vision of providing the user with more innovative and convenient services. The integration of Google’s mapping technology with BMW’s excellence in manufacturing innovative car models a partnership that will certainly achieve the vision.

The BMW ConnectedDrive is an innovative concept of model cars which intelligently integrates the driver,car and surroundings that contribute to the overall driving pleasure.