3 Clear Ways to Avoid the Client From Hell
I instantly felt the ting of fear as the adrenaline squirted into my stomach .
We were in the hotel bar of a conference venue – just finishing up
on a 2 day marketing conference.
She had been referred to us as a potential client
but something wasn’t right
We’d literally been introduced no longer than a minute and
she launched into a fiery character assassination on some sales trainer she had
dealt with previously who had very clearly fallen way short of her
expectations.
Here’s what was going through my head…
“Ok that’s fair enough but now she was…was she directing that aggression at me…?”
“wait on…now she’s warning me that we’d better not be like this other guy or else…”
“Woah! was that a threat?”
Immediately my mind went into fast forward.
This woman really had a bad attitude – and it’d become very clear, very
quickly that working with her would not end well.
after being silently listening and watching her without saying anything
in a small gap of her tirade, as another piece of broken glass that she was
spitting out whizzed past my ear about this past consultant, I said…
“We don’t have to do this”
to which she replied “HA ! nice try on the take away sale !”
Thinking I was running some sales technique on her
To which I replied “no I really wasn’t doing that, I really don’t think we are the right fit for you
but I would be happy to recommend you to someone that might be a better fit”
Phew ! I thought we well and truly dodged a bullet on that one
You see, even though this contract would have been a big one, I could tell that it would be about as much fun
as 20 deadly wasps in a zipped up tent !
3 FILTERS FOR CHOOSING PROJECTS
here’s the thing…
We spend A LOT of time at work and you spend a lot of time with clients
plus if you are a business owner you will get A LOT of opportunities that come past you
The trick is to know what to say no to and as Kenny Rodgers says “know when to walk away and know when to run”
I have always worked on 3 filters that have served me well when deciding to accept projects and clients
For accepting projects they are…
Will this make me money in the next 30 – 90 days ?
Will it dovetail into what I am already doing?
Will it be fun ?
3 FILTERS FOR CHOOSING CLIENTS (and avoiding the client from hell)
Can I help them?
This is a big one. Often in our haste to convert a new client we take people on that we really can’t provide value for. Making sure you CAN actually assist someone is extremely important and it will work out way better if you can refer them to someone who is a better fit for what they need as opposed to taking someone on under the wrong pretence.
Is this person coachable and will they implement what we agree to do?
This is also huge. Accepting knowledge and being able to implement are two different things. I have 2 industries that I avoid like the plague because in my experience they aren’t coachable and they don’t implement. When your clients get good results your reputation grows when they don’t you go backward.
Would I hang out with them socially?
This is also a good one. For the project to go well you need to click.
Asking yourself if you would hang out with tjis person in a social setting is a great acid test as to if you would take them on as a client.
Clearly, in the example I used at the beginning of this post, the answer would well and truly
been no on both counts.
Then you have your other criteria in terms of who your ideal client is…
For my ongoing 12 month program mine is…
They have a minimum of 3 sales people
They are doing 2 million plus in turnover
They see the value in nurturing, developing and investing in their team
They are coach-able (the business owner) and have a team that are coach-able
They are predominately selling a service, selling business to business or run a professional advisory
So what is your criteria?
Who should you be accepting, not be accepting or running as fast as you can in the other
direction from
Having clarity on this does a couple of pretty magical things…
It helps you create education based marketing
It helps you identify people in your target when you see them
It makes you more likely to attract those type of clients and repel the ones that
aren’t a fit.
If you know who you want as your dream client and are serious about putting together a
strategy to systematically get in front of and win them as a client, simply complete the form below
and I will share with you how you can use my direct to corporate formula for attracting and converting
the dream clients that you would ideally love to have but are not showing up
from your existing marketing efforts
