Why would a series of posts about marketing for the newly promoted include a discussion about turning away business? Mostly because it’s one of those things that everyone seems to learn the hard way. You are probably going to prefer to learn it the hard way yourself, but here goes.
This is one of the things that I typically get the most push back on when working with customers – narrowly defining who you serve. Their brain tells them that they will be leaving money on the table and that this is bad. Particularly with the recent economic conditions, it can be very difficult to turn away business that we really shouldn’t take.
If we want to get past competing solely based on price, if we want to be known as the “go-to” resource in our area of expertise, then we must learn what business not to take.
We spend a lot of time thinking about the characteristics that make an ideal customer. Can you readily identify your non-ideal customer?
If you are newly promoted, talk with the managers and partners in your firm. I’m sure all of them have stories about clients and projects they wish they had turned down. Learn what makes a non-ideal customer. Were they over demanding? Always complaining about price? Disrespectful to employees (yours and theirs)? Did they ignore advice?
In order to make this conversation more than just a bitch-fest, talk about any early warning signs that were ignored. Usually, there were plenty. Everyone who has is responsible for bringing in business has an “I should have known…” story.
Once you learn how to identify your non-ideal customers, have a plan for how your will deal with them. Most of us do not like to tell people “no”. We don’t want to be the bad guy. You can still help them by having people that you can refer them to – people better suited to meeting their needs. It’s much easier to say “I want to help and I think this other firm would be a much better fit for you”. Whatever you do, don’t take work just because you feel too uncomfortable to say “no”.
Did you already learn this lesson the hard way? Care to share so we can all learn?
