This clause prevents you from doing business with the company's customers after you leave. For example, if you sold insurance to ABC Corporation, you cannot approach ABC Corporation to sell them insurance again for a competitor. This is considered a high-risk restriction because it directly impacts your ability to earn money—your customers are often your most valuable asset. Courts will enforce customer restrictions only if they are narrowly tailored to customers you personally worked with or had access to confidential information about, and only for a reasonable time period (typically 1-2 years). A blanket restriction on "all customers" is likely to be struck down as unreasonable, especially if the company did not actually have a genuine relationship with every customer on their list.
This is the most dangerous clause for you—fight hard to narrow it. Insist it only applies to customers you personally serviced or sold to, not the company's entire customer list. Negotiate the time limit down to one year maximum, and ask for a specific written list of protected customers (not a vague "all customers"). If the list is huge, ask which customers you actually had contact with and restrict it to only those. Consider whether you can accept a restriction on approaching customers, but not on accepting business if they contact you first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this clause mean in simple terms?
This clause prevents you from doing business with the company's customers after you leave.
Why should I care about this clause?
For example, if you sold insurance to ABC Corporation, you cannot approach ABC Corporation to sell them insurance again for a competitor.
What are my options?
This is considered a high-risk restriction because it directly impacts your ability to earn money—your customers are often your most valuable asset.
How does this affect small businesses?
Courts will enforce customer restrictions only if they are narrowly tailored to customers you personally worked with or had access to confidential information about, and only for a reasonable time period (typically 1-2 years).