Imagine you suddenly need life saving surgery. Would you tell your surgeon how to operate?
Chances are you’d be told, “It’s my way or you die”.
So as an expert in your field, why would you allow your clients to dictate how you deliver your solution?
But it happens all the time.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of clients.
The first constantly argue with you. It feels like you’re in a constant head butting battle. They don’t take your advice, then complain and don’t pay. In short, they try and bite your fingers off.
The other? They work collaboratively with you to achieve their outcomes. They realise it’s a partnership and they have to play their part and take responsibility.
They’re fun to work with and you even become friends.
I’ve seen a lot of businesses tear their hair out in frustration working with the former.
Why? Couple of reasons.
One is they don’t have enough deals coming in. So if it fogs a mirror, it’s a prospect. The second is they don’t set the agenda from the beginning.
Fix the first by improving your marketing and selling systems so you get a stream of enquiries from quality, ready to do business, high quality clients.
Trust me. Nothing will have more impact on your business posture than knowing you can select your clients from a clamouring pool of people wanting to work with you.
It’s the old, “The fish John West reject that makes John West the best”.
Second, set the agenda from the word go.
We have three rules. I didn’t invent them, but we sure live them.
- We must be able to add real value.
- You must take our advice and implement without fuss.
- And we must like working with you.
Full disclosure. We didn’t start out this way 16 years ago. Back then if it fogged a mirror, we’d fit in with them.
Sure, we got some great clients. But we also got our fair share of bad fits. And nobody wins there.
Setting the agenda takes guts. You have to stand up for what you believe, outline your values and be willing to walk away if you feel working with the prospect is going to cause grief.
A good way to accomplish this is by educating your clients as to how you want to be treated via your marketing collateral. Clients learn about your values in a hands off way which is less confronting than being told face to face. It also allows them to self-select – out!
You don’t have to be arrogant about it.
Just be “centred” and calm when you communicate.
Now this isn’t always easy, especially when you need the work.
But not standing for your values and how you wish to be treated will inevitably cause issues down the track. Your choice.
Rashid & Barbara.
P.S. If you don’t already have a steady stream of high quality enquiries, giving you choice, we can design a lead generation and sales funnel which will fix that. Call Rashid on 0414-913-334 and get your business posture back.
