Good Customers / Bad Customers

Link to WSJ Article

This is a great article on Best Buy selectively choosing their customers. I read it back in 2004 prior to canceling my WSJ subscription but was recently reminded of it. I've recently seen this in person and it really rings true: there are times for customers that you just don't want -- low margin and/or high hassle. You're better not taking their money and focusing on the segment of your market that is going to generate high market / low hassle business for you.

The tough part is that this takes discipline. Everyone's general instinct is more revenue = more profits. But not all revenue is the same and in the heat of battle that becomes difficult.