Posted by: Troy White
February 5, 2008
Issue #347

Finding and Firing Your Ideal Clients …

In this issue:

• The magic in Vegas … and the 3 BIG lessons I walked away with last week …
• 4 simple ways to position your business, your products and services, and your employees to attract all the right people … and get rid of those “not right” …
  
• How to feel like Trump and happily fire the next problem client that comes your way …
• 2 easy ways to get rid of the difficult ones … once and for all …
  
• And Much More!

Fellow business builder,

So … are you selling your merchandise … or are you focused on the people you are selling to?

The difference may seem insignificant, but it is the differentiator for those who want to sell to a better quality and caliber of client.

We’ve all heard the saying “sell them a solution to their problem” … but if you want to target a more affluent client, you must focus on the people before the products.  Discriminating buyers do not buy on price, features, or even exclusively on benefits. 

They focus in on WHO they are buying from first.

This past week, I was in Las Vegas for a planning session with a new client.  We are launching a new business, and we pulled together all the team members, to be locked away in a room for 2 full days of strategic planning.

The Vegas experience is an article in itself!  I hadn’t been there in over 12 years (New York-New York wasn’t even done when I was last there) … and it looks and feels like a brand new city.  It is bigger, badder, and highly focused on the adult marketplace (which is much better than trying to keep both adults and kids happy).

I am not a big gambler on the card tables or machines … but I AM a big people watcher.  So, while everyone else was plunked down at a table trying to beat the dealer, I was wandering around watching the people there.

Fascinating.

From the 19-year-olds looking for a party and some sin … to the 75-year-olds looking to pad their retirement nest-egg – Vegas has one of everyone!

Despite the differences I noted, there were some commonalities worthy of mention:

• Vegas visitors are looking for entertainment (the experience is more important than the money they are about to spend).  From the machines, to the tables, to the live shows (adult and not-so-adult) … there is entertainment supplied for every taste possible. I didn’t have a chance to venture around much, but I would imagine some of the off-the-strip spots cater to every bizarre, unusual and scary interest as well.
• Visitors there are looking to make some serious money (and casinos feed them EXACTLY what they are looking for … a teeny little chance it could happen to them).  When someone wins big, the crowd collects and everyone starts cheering them on, silently cursing them for being the one that won big.  Vegas is ALL about gambling and adult fun – and they know exactly how to cater to the people who arrive en masse every single day.  The machines show off the HUGE prizes that can be won – they don’t talk about your odds of winning the $3million slot machine prize though.
• People are looking to lose themselves in a new environment for a while.  Almost a form of escape from reality … and Vegas is a far cry from the typical reality we all face daily.  From the endless supply of casinos, shows, restaurants and bars you can frequent.  To the countless offerings of adult style entertainment (thank God they finally got it that Vegas is, and always should be, a place for ADULTS – not kids – that’s what Disney is for!)

What really fascinates me with Vegas is how they cater to the high rollers. 

From the VIP rooms, to the big money tables, to the complete pampering they supply those who are ready to spend. 

They KNOW who the high rollers are, and how to treat them.  They are on constant watch to find new high rollers they never knew about – and as soon as they find them, they are all over them with gifts and incentives to stay and gamble.

I joined the Rock Star Club at the Hard Rock Café Casino.  Both to see what kind of follow-up I get, but also to become part of the “club” that so many others are part of (plus, for every $20 you put in the Hard Rock Club, they give you an additional $10 – an immediate 50% on your money! Kind of.).  I look forward to seeing what kind of mail I start getting from the Hard Rock.

Now, this is not about Vegas
– it is all about your customers …

It is about gaining access to their own world – and then bringing that world into yours. 

You can do this by:

1. Demonstrating a passion for your clients and prospects as individuals (rather than treating them like a number and an inconvenience like many businesses do).
2. Getting personally involved with, and becoming visible inside their own network(s).  Again, this goes back to marketing 101 – if you don’t know who they are, where they shop, what they do on their free time – you will be missing out on the greatest opportunities to get to know them, and getting them to trust you.
3. Research, research, research.  You must be authentically curious about, interested in, and actively engaged in every detail of their business and business goals.  This comes about through phone calls, personal contacts, online research, talking with employees and suppliers, and anything you can think of to discover their inner world and what it consists of.

Once you understand all these pieces,  you must cater your business and marketing efforts to focus in exclusively on what you know about them.

Your ads are laser targeted at them.  The headlines and body copy screams out to them that you know a LOT about what makes them tick.

Your employees are dressed like them, act like them, and speak their language.  If you are targeting an affluent client, you CANNOT have teenagers at the front of your business with piercings sticking out of their noses, cheeks and eyebrows.  They cannot have tattoos across their neck.  They must be dressed like, have haircuts like, and be just like a "Mini-Me" version of your clients.

Your follow-up correspondence talks their language.  If you write all your materials yourself, there will be a consistent look and feel to it.  But, if you outsource each piece of copy to a different writer, your customers will notice the inconsistencies.

Your front end sales people are trained on how to sell to the affluent.  They do not do product pitches or data dumps – they get to know the customer, their needs, wants and desires, and then customize a presentation to each person. Again, training is the key with anyone you employ who is front of the customers.

When you do use these strategies, and you specifically raise your prices and focus on the more affluent buyers, your sales will go up.

BUT, that is not to say that everyone you attract will still be the perfect client. 

In Vegas, there were people getting kicked out ALL the time (maybe it was just me, but I saw this happening with alarming frequency).  They have pit bosses and “muscle” scattered everywhere to make sure the people that are buying there follow the rules.

How, when, and why you should fire
the troublesome client

Eventually it happens, how you deal with it is up to you completely.  After all this work, you find you are still attracting some buyers who just aren’t fitting in.

Telling a client you have to fire them, or no longer work with them, is a tough decision to make.

The potential for things to go wrong in the process is large.

• You lose money (although, the time they were costing you probably more than makes up for the money).
• You do damage to a person’s (many times) fragile ego.
• You lose any goodwill with that person (chances are good they will talk badly about you to as many people as they can).
• You may find it incredibly difficult to do – sometimes even reversing your "firing" and taking them back (almost always a huge mistake)
• You may find it hard to do and it may keep you awake at night

BUT …

• You may find it the MOST liberating experience of your business life when you finally realize it is YOU that is in control, not them.

So, how do you know when the time has come?

If you find they are eating up way more time than they should be. Calling throughout the day, insisting on meeting after meeting, saying things that just don’t make sense, even putting words in your mouth as to what you promised (contracts in place fix that).

At times, you will have that feeling deep inside the pit of your stomach that tells you this is not a good, healthy relationship.

Having just gone through this process not long ago, I can say one thing – ALWAYS listen to your intuition or gut feeling.

In this case, right from day one, I had a feeling something was amiss … but ignored that feeling.  Which was a completely stupid decision on my part … I almost always listen to my gut feeling and it has almost always led me in the right direction.

This was one of those cases where I thought
 I would use the facts to outweigh the intuition.

A successful business person (so they claimed). A fascinating business model.  An exciting project. And a decent compensation model for my work (base retainer plus residuals from sales).

All combined, it seemed like a good thing.

Not.

It was trouble from day 2.

So, I bit the bullet and fired them.

Yikes!

True colors get really shown in a situation like this.  This is when you experience what the person is truly like behind locked doors.

You know what else is interesting?

Once they have been fired, chances are good you will also start hearing other people complaining about this same person – even if you never brought their name up.

Other people will somehow sense what is going on and contribute their experiences with that same person – in this case, it happened 3 times without my bringing the person’s name up.

If you have a client
that is causing you more grief than they are worth,
fire them!

It may be a difficult thing at first, but once you get used to it, it will be the most liberating thing you do.  Now YOU are back in the driver’s seat and you can pick and choose who you work with. 

You will realize that there is no sane reason to put up with a client’s abuse – let them drain some other poor soul’s blood and energy.

Once you gain back control, you will experience a completely different outlook on life, and you will start attracting more of the right type of client.

Don’t let these kinds of clients drag you down – it is not worth it at all.

Be like Trump – "You’re Fired!"

Or you can be more understated:
"I just can’t continue to work with you right now"

However you say it, it will open up a new world. Try it, you’ll like it.

Please let me know your thoughts, and if you have any further topics on this you would like to see discussed.

To your success,

Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE™

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A Final Note:

If you have specific subjects you would like addressed, or have any comments on what you have seen here, please submit a comment below and I will see how I can help.

"Don’t wait. The time will never be just
right.”

–Napoleon Hill

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4 Comments »

1. Comment by AnnieB — February 5, 2008 @ 1:11 pm

   Clayton is so right. At some point I recommend the strategy of \”firing that client\” to all of my clients. Small business owners take note: just because the client has a pulse, doesn\’t mean he\’s a good client! There is a polite way to let them go - you explain to them that you don\’t believe you can effectively meet their needs. In other words, you\’re not the best person for the job. Every small business owner I know - especially those in small towns - throws up some initial resistance to firing those energy-sucking clients. I\’ve even held their hands through the whole thing. They do it. Then they wait for the phone to ring and the backlash to begin. And you know what, it never does. And what about the revenue you lose when you let them go (assuming they are actually paying you)? Well, when you fire the troublesome client, your time frees up and most exciting, your energy level picks up. Your enthusiasm for Monday returns. Your elevated energy is contagious and before you know it, you have new, better clients and more income. I see it all the time. It even happened to me early in my new career. I politely left my largest client. When i say largest, i mean one who was responsible for over 50% of my revenues. Think about it - if you\’re busy working for the wrong client, you don\’t have time to notice the right one and you just may miss him!
   Clayton, I\’m like you. I\’m a people-watcher with a well-tuned gut instinct about people. When that antenna goes up, I tread carefully. Like you, it doesn\’t take long to figure out why.
   If you\’ve got these kinds of clients, your gut is probably in a knot by now. Do yourself a favor - take it on blind faith of the experts if you have to - but let your competition deal with your troublesome clients!

2. Comment by AnnieB — February 5, 2008 @ 4:53 pm

   Troy, sorry I called you \”Clayton\” in the previous post. But you are so right about firing those difficult clients.

3. Comment by Sara — February 5, 2008 @ 7:01 pm

   I agree wholeheartedly with the necessity of firing customers. In today\’s world, unhappy clients not only tell people they are unhappy, they also blog and have social networking sites where they communicate their displeasure. Obviously, this would not occur with every \”fired\” customer. But, what do you consider key indicators for this type of behavior which might (only might) justify keeping a high-maintenance customer?

4. Comment by AnnieB — February 6, 2008 @ 8:46 am

   Sara, the only time I recommend holding onto a difficult client is if they play a critical, strategic role in your business. If you were an accountant in a small town and a difficult client brought you everyone in their family and half of their friends as referrals, you\’d think twice about firing the difficult client. You\’d want to assess the risk. If you \”fire\” him, will he take his referrals, who by the way are all great clients, away when he finds another provider? If he might, and you\’re not willing to risk it, then you might keep the difficult client for strategic reasons and chalk managing his difficult behavior up to part of doing business. I will add however, that even when i thought i might lose business, i did this anyway. The key is in how gracefully you exit the situation, up to and including suggesting alternative resources / providers for your new ex-client. And, if you aren\’t willing to fire this client then you absolute must start managing his interaction with you, including his expectations of your service, payment, etc. (whatever is causing difficulty).
   Does that help?