Don’t be the expensive customer

There’s this notion you’ll probably hear if you spend enough time in software development (and probably many other industries):

The customers that contributes 20% of your revenue take 80% of your time

Many companies will agree. Essentially, the customers that have so little money to spend that they are looking for discounts and choose the cheapest tier available are also the ones with the most problems and the most needy of value from their suppliers. They will spend $10k per year and expect $1M in products and services, because that’s how great their needs are. They will call and email all hours of the day for issues big and small.

Meanwhile, for companies that have stable revenue and are growing, they tend to have well paid and capable engineering staff, and have figured out most of their problems already. They come to you to solve a specific problem they don’t want to look after themselves. More often than not, they won’t actually care that much if the price is $10k or $100k, as long as you solve the problem. They will mostly check in once a year to renew, but as long as the service is running they won’t even send you an email.

It’s not good or bad, just how things tend to play out.

So here’s my thought: when I find myself reaching out to my suppliers and partners, asking more and more specific questions about how they could lower the price and increase the service or improve the offering to suit my needs… I should probably take a step back. I am becoming that expensive customer.

And it often betrays something deeper: I am trying to offload too much of my business value to someone else, without wanting to pay for it. Instead of complaining that my provider is under delivering, I should rethink how I am structuring my business. Where is my value really coming from? What can I do to generate that value myself, without leaning on someone whose shoulders were not built for the weight I am applying?