The Perry Marshall

5, Issue 3

“Sometimes you’ve just gotta FIRE a

customer”
(And the avalanche of emails I got when I did)

It’s been a loooong time since something I sent out generated this much response!
A couple weeks ago I sent out the following message:

Jack Welch, who led GE to blazing success, had a rule: You gotta get rid of the
bottom 10% of your employees every year. Controversial, but it obviously
worked.

I say, the same applies to customers. The worst of them are NOT worth it. And
in today's we celebrate the firing of one of MY customers. This one's a case
study in "jerk factor."

This guy (we'll call him "A") registered for the $95 application fee to come to the
seminar but his credit card didn't go through. Then when Jeremy contacted "A"
to straighten this out, "A" started demanding to be given a whole bunch of
information (almost all of which was already on the sales letter BTW!) and then
he just got nasty:

"If the seminar isn't good or is just a sales pitch or is a bunch of eager yahoos all
running forward to lick boots and ingratiate themselves like whining curs, frankly
I'd rather sit tight where I am."

"I could deliver a two hours speech on AdWords and 25% clickthru ratios in the
toughest industries out there at 5¢/click."

"Your reticence to give me the information (basic: schedule and accomodations)

and eagerness to whack my card non-refundable fees has me very, very wary of
your entire organisation at this point. Most of the goodwill the the Definitive Guide
to Google AdWords created is down the drain."

Jeremy spent an entire week trying to be nice to this guy. Which is really
incredible considering the guy apparently can't read - the application fee IS
refundable, and the details are on my site. But you have to understand Jeremy,
he's just about the nicest guy you can find.

If Jeremy's sister calls him up on the phone and asks him to pick up a gallon of
milk on the way home, he'll say "I love you, Abbey" before he hangs up. That's

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how nice Jeremy is. I'm a nice guy too but I'm not THAT nice. (Not to my sister
anyway.)

Well all this was going on without my knowledge. But when I saw his email
("eager Yahoo's all running forward to lick boots...") I snapped.

I wrote him back:

"You are not invited to this seminar; all further discussion about this is terminated
and also I am terminating your Renaissance Club Membership. I will not tolerate
having my employees being treated the way you have been treating Jeremy,
especially when you refuse to pay. I am sorry for any misunderstanding but I
expect my members to use good etiquette with our staff at all times."

End of discussion. People like "A" do not belong at my seminar. They do not
belong on my customer list. They do not belong on YOUR customer list. We
don't need "A" to deliver a 2 hour speech on Adwords.

People like "A" need to be left to rot in their pool of misery and not smear it all
over us. They need to be fired. They eat up time, resources and emotional
energy better devoted to customers who treat you and your employees right.

Now here's the real point: YOU have customers like this too (right?) and truth be
told you can see 'em coming a mile away. The only thing that makes them happy
is when they get their pound of flesh out of somebody.

I'm giving you permission to fire them. Get rid of 'em. Cancel their purchase
order, give 'em their money back, send 'em packing. Then give your precious
time and attention to another customer who deserves it. The one who deserves
it is almost always less demanding and doesn't have this nasty entitlement
complex. And spends money with you, with less resistance.

Here's a little secret: The best-paying customers are also usually the ones that
treat you with the most respect. You get the best of both worlds, or the worst.
You decide. I don't care how much you think you need the business, you don't
want it from "A". Get rid of him. He's easily replaced.

Make it your Friday celebration today. Do it before noon and celebrate at lunch
time!

And to all the people out their who want to build a business with positive energy
and good will, I can't wait to give you a MacBook Pro at my seminar April 7-9.
Today's the last day I can get my orders in to Apple and have guaranteed at-
seminar delivery, so let's get this going: http://AdwordsSeminar.com

Happy Firing,

Perry Marshall

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 P.S. Got a great "I fired a customer" story? Reply and send it to us, I'll compile
them and let everyone in on the fun.

Boy, did they ever join in on the fun! Here are some of the letters I got.

Perry,

Timing is amazing. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. this morning, had a bad nights sleep because
of the way I was treated by a client. I had (notice the past tense) a client who I went
out of my way to help out in the past go to another real estate agent to buy a property
because I did not get back to her in 20 minutes.

Because I could not sleep, I went to my computer to do some work and check my email.
I have just finished reading your email.

Thank You!

If I had done yesterday what I will do this morning I can tell you I would have had a
better nights sleep. Perry, you are right, I have been in sales 28 years, but sometimes
we all need a small reminder. My best clients are the ones who treat me with respect.

I know that. As you have said, I did see this coming, but I chose to overlook her
behaviour in the past. Well no more.

Dealing with your "A" can be emotionally draining and is just not worth it. Not only can
it bring us down but it can affect the way we interact with our loved ones at home.

This client will be fired by noon ( I feel better already) and I will be off to spend the
afternoon with friends celebrating St Patrick's Day.

Last night I sent in my application for your Chicago seminar and I am looking forward to
your reply. I have subscribed to your newsletters from the day I discovered google in
Nov of 2004. Filling in that form last night was a breakthrough for me. Part of the
reason I did was the way you treat your customers. Not only are you an expert on
google, you have often given out sound advice like your email this morning.

Looking forward to meeting you in Chicago, thanks for your advice and have a great St
Paddy's Day.

Dave O'Kube
Calgary

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 Perry,

I've been doing this for nearly 30 years, except I go you one better.

As you well know there are people in every business who are scum, low ballers,
and other forms of low life. Used car dealers who add sawdust to weak and noisy
transmissions, contractors who substitute cheaper parts for the expensive ones
they bill you for. You know the type.

When I have a customer like "A" I'm very pleasant to them and tell them that my
services may not suit their needs, however, I believe that perhaps "X," "Y," or "Z"
might just be the ticket they need. "X," "Y," or "Z," of course, are one of the pond
scum in whatever industry I'm working in.

In this manner I have managed to put out of business several unscrupulous

operators, making the world better for all others needing those services.

I commend this addition to your suggestion.

Best,

Allen Schaaf

Perry,

I've been an advocate of shedding unwanted clients ever since I

first heard Dan Kennedy's "Brass Balls" talk, and it was again
refreshed in your latest e-mail.

What I've copied and pasted below is the exact word-for-word note
I sent a client about a month ago. After a few bouts of
communication that led to him (let's call him "J") thoroughly
****** me off, I decided that enough was enough...regardless of
the money involved.

What's discussed below refers to a piece I wrote for him, and

cites some of his more undesirable traits.

J:

I don't understand what you are smoking over there.

You wrote me on 2 separate occasions saying my work was

great (especially the first time)...one when I first sent
it to you, and one whenever you made a couple factual
changes just a few hours ago.

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 The purpose of this letter was to advertise the new site
and our new strategies to get people to sign up...and
that's exactly what it does...the most recent changes
break my original meaning so we might as well go ahead and
flush the whole thing down the toilet right now.

Because it isn't going to work... and I will not be

responsible for results that are not mine.

If this sort of mangling of my work and weird,

contradictory criticism with many scattered "bits and
pieces" emails each and every day that read as if they were
written by a 3rd grader, I'm going to have to discontinue
doing work for you.

There are just way too many people knocking on my door,

wanting my services, who appreciate me, and I'm definitely
not hurting for money...so I don't have to put up
with !@#$% if I don't want to.

I have plenty of money...especially for a 24-year-old.

What you owe me right now is a decent sum, which I will

gladly waive... just to rid myself the horror of having to
wake up to another day of 267 e-mails from you in my
inbox... before breakfast.

You Suck,
Greg

Special Note to Perry: Oddly enough, this letter had the opposite
effect... he actually straightened up (almost right away) AND has
since become a very well mannered client who is polite,
considerate, and groups all his thoughts into one big email
before sending. And you know what? My work for him has been a
success ever since.

Greg

Note: I do not (!) advocate being this rude to customers. However I include this
example because of the interesting result that it produced. Truth is stranger than
fiction sometimes, isn’t it? -Perry

HOW I FIRED A NEW CUSTOMER

I used to have a struggling electronics repair business that I and my wife ran; TV,
radio, computers, etc.
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 One day I went to a gentlemen's home on a service call. I decided that I would
need to take the guts of his television into the shop for more troubleshooting to
make sure it kept on working after I left. This cut down my recalls a lot. There
was no extra charge for this.

As soon as I got the set back to the shop, later that afternoon, the guy was
already calling, driving my wife nuts asking when it would be fixed. Next call I
politely let him know as soon as I know, he will know.

Well he kept calling like every couple hours for two or three days! I was never
rude to this guy. But after a call I decided to return his television.

I arrived at his home unannounced and rang the door bell. Wow was he happy
as I reinstalled everything just as I had found it. No money had changed hands,
but a lot of work was done. I zipped up everything put my tools away and wished
him a good day. He asked, "Aren't you going to test it." I said, "No, need,
cause it doesn't work." "What," he said. I simply told him, look, your making me
nervous, I'm making you nervous, life is short, so I think it's best that you get
someone else to fix this thing. His eyes were like saucers as I just walked out
and drove away.

It made me feel so good to feel the freedom of firing this guy, although I
needed his business. I have kept that attitude since then in my businesses. Not
rude, just focused :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce

Hey Perry....

I didnt "fire" this customer...but it is a good way 2 deal with jerks.....

While working as a register operator at a local Rallys Hamburgers I would occasionally

get the jerk that treats me like dirt....

one lady in particular came in and THREW her sandwich at me yelling that it wasnt
made right...

I sanitized my hands and made her a new one....absolutely *the* freshest possible
ingredients...on *the*absolutely freshest piece of meat....in *the* absolutely freshest
bun...

i wrapped it nicely took it to the window and THREW it at her...

I told her if she wants to have an attitude she needs to go to McDonalds...

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She was very polite to me from then on.....

<-----evil

maybe I handled that wrong...but it worked......

Joseph Ford

(Shocked her out of her stupor, huh? I don’t advocate throwing sandwiches (!) at
customers, but a funny story at least. And it had the desired result. -Perry)

Wayne Davies sent me this article….

============================================================
How To Fire A Customer
-- by Wayne M. Davies
Copyright 2006 Wayne M. Davies Inc.
===========================================================

It must be Tax Season. How do I know?

I'm swamped with work. Piles of files as far as the eye can see.

And I just fired a client. Again.

It happens every Tax Season -- I don't like to do it, but it's something that just has to be
done every now and then.

Let me explain.

First, let's define our terms. I use the word "client" to describe the people that pay for my
tax services. You may use the word "customer" or "patient" or "subscriber".

Ya' know, whoever buys what you sell.

Second, let's get something straight here. When you own your own business, you get to
call the shots. It's your business, so you get to do things your way.

That's how I see it, anyway.

So I have certain rules that my clients must follow. Policies, procedures -- the way
things are done around here.

Example: I prepare tax returns in the order received. First come, first served. Fair
enough? I don't know any other way to do it.

So last week a client comes in and says, "Can you please 'put a rush' on my return. I
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really have to get it filed right away. My ex-wife and I don't have a written agreement re:
who gets to claim our children as dependents. So whoever files first gets to claim them."

"Last year I didn't file first, but I went ahead and claimed the kids anyway. So the IRS
rejected the return. My refund was delayed. I'd really like to avoid all that mess this year.
I know my ex hasn't filed yet, but she told me she plans to do so within a few days. So I
need you to do my return right away -- I really want to stick it to my ex this year!"

Here was my response.

"I'm sorry Mr. Client. Normal turn-around time for a return is 3-4 weeks. When you bring
me your return, you just got in line. You don't get to go to the front of the line at the
grocery store, do you? And you don't get to go to the front of the line here, either."

"The fact that you and your ex-wife didn't put something in writing about this doesn't give
you the right to expect me to treat you different than any other client. Your problem
doesn't become my emergency."

[NOTE: most divorced people put this kind of thing in writing, usually as part of the
divorce agreement.]

Mr. Client didn't like my answer and began to plead his case more fervently. He became
unreasonable. He wanted me to stop what I was doing and do his return immediately. I
finally just told him, "You need to find a new accountant. I'm not in a position to provide
the type of service you're looking for."

(There are plenty of tax prep firms in town that provide faster service than me, and who
offer services like "rapid refund", etc. That's not what I'm about.)

I then politely escorted him to the door and told him it was best that we terminate our
relationship.

In your business, I'm sure you deal with unreasonable requests on a regular basis, don't
you? How far should you go to provide superior customer service without compromising
your integrity or your sanity?

Sometimes it's a tough call. Here's a few guidelines.

1. When firing a customer, always remain calm and polite. No need for a shouting
match. Be firm yet pleasant.

2. Not sure what to say when confronted with this type of situation? Sit down beforehand
and write out 3 or 4 possible scripts. Not sure how to say it? It may take some practice,
so practice! Stand in front of a mirror and rehearse how to tell a customer that it's best
he go elsewhere.

3. Do not focus on the lost revenue that results from firing a bad customer. Focus on the
resulting reduced stress and the simple fact that you'll feel so much better knowing that
you won't have to deal with this jerk any more.
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Think about how much time you'll save. Problem customers are really a losing
proposition, aren't they? You end up spending so much time and energy putting out the
fires they cause, do you really make any money on them, when you factor in the value of
your time?

4. When business is slow, firing a customer can really be hard to do. If you cannot afford
to fire your problem customers, then you need to take a hard look at your marketing. If
your marketing plan is producing a steady stream of new customers, then getting rid of
the bad apples every now and then should not be a problem -- they will be replaced
soon enough with better customers.

Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 tax-slashing eBooks for small business owners and the
self-employed. For a free copy of Wayne's 25-page report, "How To Instantly Double
Your Deductions" visit http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com

Here’s someone who disagrees with the action I took. A Little Dissent is Sometimes
Appreciated…
Perry,

I appreciate hearing your take on things, but I think I'm going to file your e-mail under
"really bad advice".

I agree with your premise that some people are not worth your time, but the solution to
that problem is really simple: DON'T SPEND TIME ON THEM.

What I don't get is how it can possibly help your business to essentially tell a customer to
drop dead and then follow this up by excerpting his correspondence in a mass mailing
within which you also refer to the guy as a "jerk" who should be left to rot in his "pool of
misery"?

In my experience the people who are annoying and entitled as customers become twice
as annoying when they are afforded an excuse for becoming angry and spiteful. The
difference is that once you've "fired" them that way, they definitely won't be giving you
any more money, they'll just be causing you grief.

Hoping that they disappear quietly under those circumstances is taking an unnecessary
gamble.

Who knows, maybe you'll be lucky and never hear from 'A' again. Maybe he'll even see
the light and apologize. On the other hand, he might just decide to get the last word by
posting a negative review of your course on usenet or on a forum and then for the rest of
eternity every time someone runs a search on your name google will spit up a link to a
page titled "Perry Marshall is a thieving con man. STAY CLEAR OF HIS COURSE" or
some such thing.

In my experience some basic principles for good customer relations are:

1. Never, ever, ever let a customer get under your skin. If he succeeds in annoying you,

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 have someone else handle him.

2. Always be nice and always be respectful to your customers (even when you're telling
them you won't be caving in to their unreasonable demands).

3. When a customer is angry, diffuse the situation don't inflame it. Better yet, do your
best to address a problem before your client becomes angry.

My response to your customer's e-mail would have been along the lines of the following:

"Thank you very much for writing. Your feedback is always appreciated and welcome.
Here is a link to a page that answers your questions. I've also attached a copy of an e-
mail we previously sent which also addresses those issues. Thank you again for your
continued patronage. Please let me know how I can be of further assistance."

In other words, don't take the bait. Ignore the insults and address the e-mail as if it was a
polite request. Next, forget about it and move on with your day. To an entitled jerk who is
just itching for a fight, maintaining your cool and composure represents the worst form of
torture. It's also the best way to "fire" them without exposing yourself to unnecessary
aggravation.

My two cents...

Best Regards,

Isaac Billig

Comment: I got several notes along these lines, including one admonishing me that as a
Christian I must turn the other cheek [or make Jeremy turn the other cheek] which for
theological and other reasons I don’t think can be universally applied in customer service.

But Isaac certainly has the right idea here, and one must be very careful not to stoop to
the level of the jerk, even though you want to soooo bad, I did not publicly humiliate this
person, I kept him quite anonymous, and in my personal response to him was brief and to
the point, including an apology for any misunderstanding.

Had it been appropriate I would have refunded him his money too.

The following is probably the best of the bunch, for reasons I shall
explain after Adriel Brunson is done telling you this story:
Perry,

Congratulations on firing your customer and for letting us all know about it.

I don't think there is anything a business owner can do that increases employee loyalty more
than holding the posture you describe in this story.

You asked for our "firing customers" stories and here's mine.

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Back in the mid-90's I owned a small company that designed and developed internet sites. We
were experts in the use of database driven sites before there were good tools or lots of
experience and our client list was full of great companies like HP and Sun. But we were
struggling with the cost of explosive growth and every new project was celebrated.

I had a call from a hot new company in Silicon Valley who had been referred to us. The CEO was
interested in our content management system for his sports news site. It was a perfect fit for our
technology and it would be an awesome showcase. We took the job for much less than what it
should have cost and it was still just a bit over $100K. The whole team jumped into it full force.
His team had been managing the site by hand and they were even more excited than we were.
Plus we had to do a complete site makeover to take advantage of the database system. It was a
win-win all the way around.

Except that the CEO was a fanatic micromanager. And he blew up at people at random.

I understood the pressure he was under from his venture partners and the competition in his
marketspace was fierce. I worked with my team to deal with it as best we could. Then, during an
internal project meeting, the project manager told me she didn't know if she could work with this
project anymore. And she told me some of the things he'd said on the phone to her and others
on the team.

This was my best project manager. She was well trained, competent, professional, experienced
and - on top of all that - one of the sweetest people you'd ever meet. I'd never seen her in such
a state and, inside myself, I knew that it was time for me to take responsibility for my team.

I thought about it overnight and got my team together the next morning. I told them I was firing
this customer and refunding all their money. It was a huge hit in every possible way but they
agreed that it was for the best. I was in Colorado and the customer was in Palo Alto, California so
I decided it was wiser to give them the word over the phone immediately rather than flying out in
person.

I called the CEO and told him - using the most level voice and manner I could muster - that we
could no longer work for him. He'd never blown up with me before, but he did then. He made all
kinds of assumptions about my company and our ability to perform. I let him blow off his steam
and then told him that none of those "reasons" were why I'd made the decision. I then gave him
three explicit examples of his actions toward my team and why they were unacceptable. I told
him that my decision was final and that a check would be in the mail that afternoon.

After a few minutes of dead silence I heard a completely different person speaking on the phone.
He asked me a few more questions about his interactions with my employees and then said,
"Well, you've got to do what you've got to do and so do I". But it didn't sound like a threat, it
was just a deep resignation.

I told the team what had happened and we started picking up the pieces and moving on. About
half an hour later my phone rang. The CEO was on the line.

He told me he'd called his top managers and asked them about his actions. They all confirmed
that he made their lives a living hell and that it was embarrassing when he did it to their trusted
partners. He thanked me for being straight with him and asked if I'd meet with him and his team
the next day. They wanted fly out and straighten things out so we could move forward.

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I told him that I'd have to take it up with my team because we'd all agreed that it was over.

We decided that we would take the project back up but only if the CEO agreed to stay out of it
completely and to use professional behavior during any interactions with our team. He agreed.
We met on Saturday for a full day and the tone was amazing. He talked to me privately for
almost two hours and poured out his soul.

We finished the project on schedule. He got another round of venture funding and sold the whole
business to ESPN for a ton of money. But I think we got the better end of the deal. There is
nothing more empowering than good boundaries clearly stated and held. It was a defining
moment for me as a leader and for my employees as a team.

Adriel Brunson

PS - I'm looking forward to meeting you (and my new Mac) in Chicago!

Comment: There can be little doubt this CEO had both management problems
and personal temper problems. He was totally acidic and Adriel handled this perfectly.
A lot of other stories here are great for ‘blowing off steam’ but this is the right way to do
it. And it led to a resolution.

I’m guessing that this pointed the way for this CEO to start to deal with his issues.
Without this confrontation, those issues would have stayed swept under the rug. Adriel
did the man a huge favor. (His employees too.)

We’ll all do well to remember that as suppliers, we play a critical role in our
customers’ business and we’re often not as interchangeable as we sometimes think. We
have the power to effect change.

The World’s Absolute Best Model for Solving Personal

Conflicts
What I’m about to relate to you is the absolute best model for conflict
resolution I know of. HUGE piece of advice that has saved me countless days of
agony:

"If your friend does evil to you, go privately and point

out the fault. If the other person listens and confesses it, you
have won that person back.

“But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with

you and go back again, so that everything you say may be
confirmed by two or three witnesses.

“If that person still refuses to listen, take your case to

the entire group [the church]. If they decide you are right, but

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the other person won't accept it, treat that person as a pagan or
a corrupt tax collector.”

That’s the ‘Jesus method’ of conflict escalation, from straight Matthew chapter
18.

It almost always works if followed correctly. If it doesn’t work, it gets rid of the
problem, with eyewitnesses and documentation.

But… here’s what most people do: They talk to everybody except the person who
did wrong, (often exaggerating the story at the same time) and create a bunch of bad
blood. Usually the person who did the offending isn’t even aware of it.

Then they take some kind of “official” action, register a Big Complaint or
something, and pound the snot out of the guy. He recoils and a big fight gets started.
There’s so much ill will generated that the situation careens out of control.

Why do they do this? Out of cowardice and fear of confrontation, mostly. This is
the most unhealthy kind of fear there is.

I was just involved in a project where an entire company folded, for precisely this
reason. One guy thought another guy was mis-handling some funds and rather than
notifying others in the company (who would certainly have been willing to address the
problem) he just pulled all the money out of the bank account.

The result: Checks bounced, partners got black eyes, feelings hurt, hard work
undone, trust irreparably damaged.

The company was officially dissolved just the other day.

Totally unnecessary. (They had a very promising business plan, too.)

¡Qué lástima! Don’t let that happen to you.

Sometimes You Need to Fire Employees, Not Customers

Some time ago I worked at a company where an officer of the company – who
was also a shareholder – was proving to be a hideously evil person. Kind of like the CEO
Adriel Brunson just told you about, but arguably worse. He was a brilliantly cunning,
lying genus.

His temper frequently flared out of control. He was spreading insidious rumors
within the company, pitting employees against each other. He was lying to customers,

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bypassing lines of authority, disobeying direct orders, wreaking havoc. He was literally
destroying the company from the inside out.

The president of the company was urged by many people to fire the guy but he
wouldn’t. I strongly suspect the reason was that the president knew that if he fired him
he’d have a lawsuit on his hands that would financially ruin the company. (Actually I’m
fairly sure that was the case. His hands were tied.)

So the Evil Genius stayed. And life at this company was sheer misery.

You know what I think the president should have done?

He should have kept paying his salary and forbidden him to talk to any person
inside or outside the company. Don’t talk to employees, don’t talk to customers, don’t
talk to suppliers, don’t talk to investors.

It would’ve been cheaper than all the ill will. Because this one man utterly
destroyed the morale of the company.

Once your company’s morale is destroyed, it is almost impossible to rebuild. One

person can murder the soul of a company. That person can be on the inside or the
outside.

This is the most insidious of all problems, and when you see it you must stamp it
out. You must. Onward…

Dear Perry,

First off, thanks for all the hard work on the Adwords book. I just bought it again--that's how much
I think of it. I use it as a reference as I consult with my PPC clients--and hope they don't find out
about you!

Here's my "fired a client" story:

I worked with a commercial real estate broker for ten years. You've met her kind before--
professional, well dressed, somewhat wealthy, and very smart. I started as a marketing intern
doing direct-mail and cold calling. Unfortunately, she had a nasty temper and a mean streak a
mile wide. I quickly learned that she was disliked by her coworkers.

After 2 or 3 years with her, I left to pursue computer consulting. She retained me to support and
train her new staff, as well as to provide consulting and programming for her. My initial rate with
her was $35/hour. Not bad for a kid in college. I figured that since I only saw her every few
weeks, I could deal with the personality issues. Was I wrong!

Eventually, I said to myself "This isn't worth it." With trepidation, I moved her rate to $50/hour.
She accepted it and we moved on. A year or two later, I moved to $75. We definitely had our ups
and downs over the years. Last fall, however, I came to the breaking point. There was no dollar
figure high enough to prostitute my personhood to her tirades.

©Perry Marshall All

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Perry Marshall’s Renaissance Club Page 14
I sent her a letter outlining new "Terms of Service", as well as a new rate. $125/hour, and no
phone calls--only e-mail correspondence to schedule visits. She was livid! She demanded,
whined, and cajoled. I have stood firm. Her rate is $125/hour, and I will not discuss business on
the phone. All talk time is billable. If she wishes to rant, rave, scream at me, she can pay for the
privilege. Needless to say, she has not been back. I do miss the checks, but I don't miss the
stress.

Blessings,

Mark Stedman
Director, General Services
Latin America Mission
http://www.lam.org/

Stand Up For Your Employees!

Perry,

I just wanted to thank you for writing this, and for standing up for your employees. I left
my last job for many reasons, but primary among them was the fact that my department
manager would never, ever, stand up for us.

Customers could abuse us all day long if they wanted to, and many times the manager
would not only not stand up for us, she'd reward the abusive customer with extra
services.

No jerk is ever going to change his or her ways if rewarded for being a jerk. Employers
who are willing to show the jerks the door should be rewarded in all possible ways.

Every business in this country should have a sign on the door: NO JERKS ALLOWED.

Ms. Marte Brengle

P.S. Folks, my #1 reason for firing “Mr. A” was to make a point to my employees that I
respect them and expect them to be respected. It definitely scored points with Bryan,
Mendy, Jeremy, and Jeremy’s sisters (whom he loves.)

Love must be tough.

Perry Marshall

©Perry Marshall All

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Perry Marshall’s Renaissance Club Page 15