TestPrepWizard.com is considering whether to end its relationship with

QUESTION

TestPrepWizard.com is considering whether to end its relationship with an especially demanding customer. Which of the following questions is LEAST relevant when making this decision?

A) If the relationship ends, is the customer likely to send negative messages about TestPrepWizard.com to other potential customers?
B) What contribution does this customer make to TestPrepWizard.com’s customer equity?
C) What is the cost of the resources required to service this customer?
D) Is it possible to identify especially demanding customers before any customer relationship exists?
E) If the people who are serving the customer were reassigned to other projects, how would their reassignment affect the value of those projects?

ANSWER

Answer: D
Explanation: D) How do you decide whether you should “fire” your customer? The cost of the resources devoted to the customer (and the opportunity cost of those resources) is important, as is the amount of revenue the customer provides. Another important question is whether the unhappy customer will try to ruin your business. The irrelevant issue here is whether it was possible to identify the problem customer earlier on. That might be important for a future case, but knowing how to spot problem customers doesn’t help you decide what to do with the problem customers you already have.