If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.
—Jeff Bezos

George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four depicted what is becoming a truly terrifying reality of the twenty-first century. Orwell envisioned a world where people had access to every bit of information about you—even your thoughts. A famous scene is a bedroom where a plaque above the bed is actually a “telescreen” that allows full visibility into the main character’s life. Because Winston Smith’s thoughts wander to things that are not politically correct, the Thought Police torture Winston with his fear of rats. With every passing day, that scene becomes less fiction and more reality.

In the Internet-empowered world of the twenty-first century, you cannot hide. If you deliver bad quality to a particular client, all six billion people on the planet will know about it. Or at least they can know about it with a couple clicks on the computer.

This presents both opportunities and risks. The opportunity is to deliver outstanding value and then become overwhelmed with business opportunities. The risks are that the tiniest dissatisfied customer could tarnish your reputation or your competitors could sabotage you by putting misleading information on the Internet.

There is not a lot you can personally do about unethical behavior on the Internet. But you can make sure you conduct yourself with the utmost integrity and outstanding quality. If you don’t, everyone on the planet will surely know all about it. 

One approach that seems almost inevitable is to satisfy customers—at all costs. But this can quickly become unprofitable.

A better approach is to choose customers wisely, then satisfy them fully. In other words, have closer relationships with fewer customers. Wise customer choices include customers who:

All other customers simply lower your profit margins. Of course, the choice between revenue and margins is an age-old dilemma for executives and scholars alike. The collapse of many companies in the late 2000s will provide fodder for a whole new generation to study this question. However, the change leader’s decision is simple: It is better to be small and successful, than large and tenuous.

Zealously maintain your brand. Have closer relationships with fewer customers. Disengage from marginally profitable customer relationships.