By Will Turner
While we often focus on bringing new clients on board, we often don’t take a good look at the clients that need to go. In our exuberance to make a sale, it is easy to rationalize or overlook potential issues with new clients. And the reality is that salespeople that are anxious to close a deal are usually more than willing to try to cram a square peg (client) into a round hole (your product).
The results can be anything from a mildly irritating operational issue to a bona fide client-from-hell. Most companies have a mix of clients; some are poor fits, some are good fits and some are excellent fits. It’s the ones that are a poor fit which will drive you and your team crazy.
Approximately 80% of your customer service issues will come from 20% of your clients. These clients are usually a poor fit for you and your organization. Often times, they need modifications that stretch your abilities, they are too demanding or they just aren’t going to be happy no matter what you do.
If you stop to analyze the extra costs in time and resources required, these “bad-fit” clients almost always cost you more and are consequently less profitable. Sometimes you actually lose money on them when you account for all the staff time needed to make adjustments and amends; not to mention the toll that these clients can take on your staff with their constant criticism or demands.
Here are a few quick questions you can ask yourself to determine which of your clients should be positioned in front of your team’s firing squad:
* What customers have the most complaints about our product or service?
* What customers constantly push us outside of our normal operational procedures?
* What customers have the lowest profit margins?
* What customers do my fellow team members dislike the most?
It can seem scary to fire a client (particularly a large one), but the ill-will created on both sides will ruin your reputation, do more harm in the long-run and cause lots of frustration. So…READY, AIM, FIRE.
About The Author:
Will Turner is the Founder and President of Dancing Elephants Achievement Group, a sales training and consulting company focused on getting dramatic sales growth for service-oriented companies that want to grow their business-to-business sales. Will is a speaker, author and trainer with 25 years of sales, marketing and sales management experience. Will created the Sales Magnetism program and co-authored Six Secrets of Sales Magnets. His clients increase sales an average of 56% in the first year of working with Dancing Elephants. Visit www.DancingElephants.net for more tips, strategies and ideas to become a sales magnet or email Will@dancingelephants.net.
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