Part of ensuring delivery on the part of an SME involves filtering bad situations in advance. Not all customers are good for business. Many customers drain the energy out of an organization through complaints, product enhancement requests, scheduling expectations, tight margins, and low morale. But eliminating bad customers can be difficult, especially after a contract is negotiated and work begins. So, SMEs are occasionally tasked with the responsibility of identifying bad customers before it’s too late. Better that an SME identify and eliminate counterproductive customers at the outset, than to start a relationship and be forced to unravel it under negative terms. Better to cancel a wedding than negotiate a divorce.

All employees involved in the selling process have a responsibility to identify and eliminate bad customers. SMEs, however, are uniquely suited to be gatekeepers and goaltenders for their organizations.

The typical sales representative is tasked with identifying and adding topline revenue, not removing it. Corporate leadership and sales management might say they don’t want bad customers, but truthfully, sales representatives are rarely incentivized to reduce top-line revenue even if that reduction will improve their company’s margin. Sales representatives are encouraged to think about revenue growth far more than operating efficiency.

SMEs, on the other hand, are not faced with the same mandate. They are responsible for trust, vision, and delivery, so that means they can see the customer through the lens of mutual viability. SMEs must know the customer’s expectations and must be confident that those expectations can be met and exceeded.

So, when SMEs become involved in the process of bringing new customers on board, they must consider all customer expectations, those contractually defined and otherwise. If we engage with this customer, what do they expect? Which expectations are most important? If an expectation cannot be satisfied, then what alternatives are available? When must each expectation be satisfied? How much effort is required to do it?

When an SME does identify a potential mismatch between the customer’s expectations and the company’s ability to deliver, it is incumbent upon the SME to bring the mismatch to the attention of their team. SMEs should not attempt to reject a potential customer relationship unilaterally. The decision to add a customer is always made in consultation with others.