“Hire” the right clients
Posted in Sales on October 9th, 2006 | No Comments »
I really enjoy reading the posts of Jason Fried and the 37Signals crew on the Signal vs Noise Weblog.
In one of his posts “Hire” the right clients he writes:
Working with the right clients is absolutely critical. The trick is knowing when to say no. The wrong client can kill morale, force good employees out, and cost you big opportunities. Working the right client isn’t work at all — it’s a pleasure.
Yes, I have been there myself. It doesn’t matter if you are in retail, in an industry or offering consulting services. You will always run into “troublemaking” customers. Your are negotiating the deal, but you are feeling uncomfortable. The client presses a bit too much on price, seems complicated to work with or you may just have this “gut feeling”. If this happens, you stand a pretty good chance to get into trouble all along. You may get a sale now, but you will loose money in the long run.
I firmly believe in WIN-WIN relationships. Only they lead to successful partnerships and repeat business. Take this advice and don’t waste your money and time on the wrong clients.