Link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_44/b4056431.htm

Not every client can be your favorite. That's what Debra Brede, an investment adviser and owner of five-person D.K. Brede Investment Management in Needham, Mass., used to think about one of her most demanding customers.

For 20 years, the woman showed up at appointments with bags stuffed with every slip of paper connected with her investments—proxy statements, annual reports, dividend notices—expecting Brede to go over each one with her. Brede did. She wanted to offer good service, and this woman had a $1 million account. That's a healthy amount for Brede's company, which has about $1.7 million in revenues each year.

But is she profitable?
and is that the only criteria for assessment?

Of course, you don't want to let a profitable client go if losing that revenue could sink you. And no one is advocating firing clients just because they are demanding or you simply don't like them. This situation demands objectivity.

That means it's time for a coolheaded assessment of your clients — how much you're bringing in from each, as well as how much each really costs your company.

Do you do that?
However, what if your "clients" are internal? What can you do then?