I am a huge advocate of picking your customers and choosing not to work with some. But lets face it. Sometimes you just need the sale. So you are forced to pick up a customer who may not be a perfect fit, but you simply need the money.

Lets take a moment to define a customer that you don’t want. There could be a lot of reasons you don’t want a customer. Here’s a few:

• Too big
• Too small
• Too far away
• Too picky
• Takes too long to pay
• Too many people involved
• Too indecisive
• Too impatient

Add your own “too”s to the list. These are all legitimate reasons to avoid working with a customer. But how do you work with them when you can’t avoid it?

Never Show It

Never, ever, let a customer know that you do not want their business once you have it. When they enter your fold as a customer, you must treat them the same as any other customer.

A customer is never a one time anomaly. Sure, you may never want to work with that customer again, but you may want to work with other people or businesses in that customer’s area of influence. You don’t want any customer talking bad about your company if you can help it.

So, be all smiles. Commit to this on a deep level, so that you are really trying, not just pretending. Also, make sure you keep up the strong front inside of your business as well. If employees catch the scent that you don’t want this customer, they are more than capable of making sure you get your wishes.

Go the Extra Mile (Literally if Need Be)

Remember, you are working with this customer because you really need the money. It would be too easy to let your normal customer care slacken. Heck, it would be easy to develop a grudge toward the unwanted customer. So, to combat this, commit to going the extra mile for this customer. Yes, you may be doing that literally if you picked up a customer outside of your normal region.

Instead of hemming and hawing about the extra work you need to go through to keep this customer, look for additional things you can do to make them happy. Make it a game. The goal here is not only to make the customer happy, but to make you happy as well. You can change your attitude about the customer with your mental commitment go above and beyond.

Improve the Customer

There is the possibility that some customers who you didn’t want in the first place could become really good customers. There are some ways that you can improve every customer. You can’t make a small customer bigger, but maybe you can convince them to buy more often. You can’t move a customer who is far away any closer, but maybe you can sell them additional services that don’t cost a lot to deliver.

In the cases of the customers that are just hard to work with, you can improve the relationship by clearly laying out your expectations and explaining your work process. Good communication is often the start of great relationships.

Sometimes, you will have the opportunity to educate the customer and help them improve their business, which will come back to you in increased loyalty and revenue.

Its hard to take on a customer that you don’t want, but you will only make it harder on yourself if you embrace a bad attitude. Go into it with a good outlook, and work to change things for the better. Always remember the three points of value of any customer, which are revenue, referral, and testimonial. You can make a bad situation good if you just try a little. The customer that doesn’t bring in much money themselves may be able to provide you with a great referral or testimonial. The hard to work with customer may turn around with good, honest communication. In the meantime, you do need the money, and you don’t need a chip on your shoulder.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow Bradford on Twitter @bradfordshimp.