You often hear people say when it comes to customers you should treat everyone the same and that every dollar counts towards your success. That sentiment is especially true in customer service roles where consistency is key as well. But the other day it got me thinking as there was a person I knew who grew his presence so big that he gets more than enough opportunities to live comfortably. However, with that said he recently decided to simply drop a large portion of his userbase that generates very little money compared to others. Did he make more money? It would seem so.
That’s not advice that you would usually hear as your early supporters would probably feel betrayed. But the fact is many people indeed simply abandon the customer base that was with them early on if it means more profit. I have never been in a position of running a billion-dollar company, but I can’t imagine ever doing this as say a small business if what you are doing is still working where you have the ability to maintain your existing base while still growing.
Imagine having a small restaurant that was community grown and supported where all of a sudden they didn’t feel they need lower end customers and went all high-end after. I think for myself if I was trying to target a new customer base that extremely deviates from what the company is known for I would be inclined to just keep the existing business and launch a new one separately. That way you don’t cannibalize what is already working while having the opportunity to duplicate your success in other ways.