The Hidden Value of Challenging Customers

Key Takeaways:
-Building service contractors who transition from a generic vendor to a trusted facility partner can unlock long-term account retention and shared operational investment.
-Managing complex, high-traffic commercial facility accounts with round-the-clock shift staffing challenges forces operations to evolve and improve their workforce scheduling.
-Demanding cleaning managers and strict service level agreements push janitorial teams to adapt to operational nuances.

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I spent several years leading business development for a regional building service contractor (BSC). When I ran the numbers on that decade of work, the revenue and profit were significant and, honestly, more than I had expected. But as I reflected on those years, I realized that while the financial returns were strong, they may not have been the most valuable thing those long-term customer relationships produced.

One customer stands out above the rest. We added them about 10 years ago: a large, 300,000-square-foot visitor attraction hosting over 1 million guests each year, with event spaces heavily used for everything, from corporate meetings to concerts to private celebrations, and open nearly every day of the year. The learning curve was real, and we did not get everything right. But as they saw us working to improve, something shifted.

That customer began to see us as a trusted partner, not just a vendor. We were invited to their weekly staff meetings as a contributor to the overall operation. They invested in our team; we invested in their facility.

That kind of two-way respect does not happen overnight, and it cannot be manufactured.

Demanding customers have a way of asking hard questions, and they’re not always asked directly. Instead, questions are formed through the complexity of what customers need—from staffing across multiple shifts to meeting high expectations to understanding an operation’s nuances.

Figuring out these things changes you. You become better at scheduling, better at communication, and better at anticipating problems before they become complaints.

Those takeaways rarely stay inside one account. They transfer to everything else you do.

One of the hardest leadership lessons is helping our managers see what we were learning. It is easy for a team to feel worn down by a customer who always seems to have feedback. But as leaders, it’s our responsibility to reframe feedback as communication.

Customer feedback is not complaining—it is information. The customers who care enough to tell you what is not working are giving you something most never will. Learning to listen, even when it is uncomfortable, is one of the most valuable skills a BSC leader can develop.

What surprised me most was how our team evolved over time. Successfully serving a complex, demanding customer changes the people doing the work. It builds quiet confidence, a belief that they can handle just about anything. That kind of confidence is hard to teach and impossible to rush. But it is exactly what a growing company needs in order to take on larger opportunities and reach new levels. Some of our best growth came directly from what a difficult customer taught us.

We talk a lot in this industry about finding new customers, and that matters. But some of the most valuable growth is found within the relationships you already have. The customers who push you the hardest, who expect the most, who never let you get comfortable—those are often the ones worth staying committed to. Not just because of the revenue, but because of what they make you become.

Jeff Carmon, CBSE, is the Business Development Director at Frantz Building Services. He is also a consultant, content creator, and speaker for Elite BSC, which provides resources and education for like-minded BSCs.