Divorcing Clients - When It's Time to Say Goodbye

“The secret to winning is constant, consistent management.” – Tom Landry, Legendary NFL Football Coach

In a recent sales training session, we started talking about the issue of difficult customers and the strain they place on a business. One of the participants stated that his high-maintenance clients took up about 80% of his time but contributed only 20% of his revenue. That’s the old 80/20 rule in reverse. He was frustrated that his high-maintenance clients kept him from doing his job but was fearful about losing them.

I believe that especially in these tough times, you need a client base that will yield as much profit as possible and not be a drain on company resources. Here are some actions to help you develop a desirable client base:

The first step is to identify who your ideal clients are. Make a list of at least ten characteristics of an ideal client – consistent payer, a certain company size, a likelihood of repeat business, a minimum order amount – whatever makes sense for your company.

Next, go through your existing client base and see what percentage of your customers fit this profile. What percentage of your sales do they represent? What percentage of profit? Then look at your clients who fall outside this profile. What percentage of your time do they take up? What percentage of your profit do they represent?

Year end is a great time to do this kind of analysis. You can always institute new terms of agreement with your clients at the beginning of the year. Do you need to rewrite and enforce payment terms? Do you need to make your contracts more stringent as to what types of customer service you provide?

Once you know what kind of client is best for your company, work hard to find more of those kinds of clients. Where do they network? What kinds of associations do they belong to? Who are they buying from now, and what can you offer that they might not already be getting?
Don’t waste time pursuing prospects that don’t fit your definition of a good client. Sure they may pay a little, but in the long run, you stand the chance of losing out on getting good clients that pay regularly and are nice to deal with. I firmly believe there are still a lot of possibilities for doing business with good people in this marketplace.

Finally, what to do about those problem clients? Be professional and polite as you show them the door. If you have clearly stated your conditions for working together, and they have repeatedly abused the privilege, then explain that you can no longer service their needs.
It makes no sense to be spending 80% of your time on the worst 20% of your client base. Let your competitors put up with high-maintenance, non-paying clients. You go after the cream of the crop. You will soon find that this strategy frees you up to be more productive and work with people who pay. And that’s a winning strategy in any economy.

Are you ready to win?

Gratitude is a Winning Business Attitude

"Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Lou Gehrig, Hall of Fame Baseball Player

It's that time of year when we all sit back and count our blessings. That's usually easy to do on the personal side where we are thankful for family anf friends. What about being thankful for your business? Have you thought about the things in your business that are creatying abundance in your life? Or are you constantly focused on the things that aren't working?

Let's do an exercise geared toward identifying what's working in your business. Are the lights on? Is the rent paid? Is most of your machinery working? Di you have some loyal staff who show up on time and do their jobs? make your own list, but be sure to jot down at least ten things, no matter how minor you think they are. the list is designed to illuminate where you are doing things right as well as to inspire gratitude for those things.

Are you surprised by some of the things on your list? Maybe you wrote down "Shipping Department." The unsung mailroom may not seem like a key part of your operation, but if it's humming along, working efficiently and cost effectively, and the staff show up and do their jobs well, you should be grateful!

Next, you should think about how to translet the mailroom's success to other parts of your business. Are there systems and strategies that the mailroom uses that could be translated to the production floor? And by the way, if the mailroom is your only high-performing department, be sure to acknowledge their contribution.

This next week, pay attention to where your business is winning. For one week, make this the most important thing you notice, rather than what's broken. Workplace gratitude is an idea worth the effort, and the results will show up throughout your business. You may find yourself re-energized and full of new ideas based on what you learn. Those ideas can be incorporated into your business plan for 2010.

At Possibilities Unlimited, we are grateful for the opportunity to work with clients who want to win in the game of business. We can help you design an abundant future for your business and coach you on how to achieve it.

Are you ready to win?

Your Business is a Reflection of You

"Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play." Mike Singletary, Hall of Fame Football Player and Coach

One of the fundamental principles of my work with clients is the idea that your business is a reflection of you. That may sound simple, but when you dig into that concept, it opens up a wealth of ideas that help people design the businesses they really want.

Your business is as much a part of you as your family or your outside interests. When you start a business, you have a vision as to what that business can bring to your personal life. We desire success in business so that we can enjoy a fulfilling and abundant life. The two go hand in hand.

When you are worried about everything that's going wrong in your business, and that worry becomes your focus, your business will suffer right along with you. If you go to work every day knowing that business is a series of circumstances and actions that can all be handled, and with the attitude that there is always a way to win the game, your business will be a reflection of that mindset.

The way you carry yourself in your business shows up in your relationships. relationships are the essential building blocks of any business. You have to have relationships with your employees, your suppliers and, of course, your customers. If you being the best of yourself to these relationships, you will enjoy more productive and profitable responses from those who do business with you.

A coach can help any business person recreate how he or she is occurring in the business. If you are unsatisfied with your business, and your relationship to it, give us a call. We can work with you to redesign your relationship to your business so that it reflects the positive, fulfilling attitude of a winning entrepreneur.

Are you ready to win?