The 7 Surefire Signs of Clients to Avoid
You've heard me get on my soapbox several times about needing
to really hone in on your target audience BEFORE you go out
there and market yourself extensively. One of the major reasons
is that most people try to market to EVERYBODY, fearing that if
they niche themselves too much, they'll narrow down their
prospective client pool too much.
We now know that this is actually not true, quite the
contrary, because experts make more per hour than
generalists, the media is ONLY looking for experts and not
jacks-of-all-trades, experts stand out in the marketplace and
it's much easier to market to a specific group than it is to a
whole mess of people. Otherwise, our message isn't compelling
enough and we don't catch anyone's attention.
Today, I want to take you on a different spin of your "ideal
client." I want to talk to you about the surefire signs of
clients to AVOID; at least in my point of view. Some of you
may have read on my website www.ClientAttraction.com
a> that I am very selective about whom I work with privately. I
cherry-pick my clients and go so far as to state exactly who I
work with (personality-wise) and whom I don't on my website.
I talk about working best with "high achieving go-getters who
are super-ready to get going and just want to know exactly
what steps to take to get clients" and that "I don't enjoy
working with whiners or skeptics or people who make excuses
because the results aren't the same."
I know it's a little bold, and I'm certain it ticks off some
people (usually though, it's the people who recognize
themselves as bad cases of whiners, skeptics, and people with a
general bad or negative attitude about everything). The funny
thing is; my ideal clients say they LOVE that part of my website
and it strengthens their conviction that they want to work with
me. Many say they have a "Go girl!" feeling when they read what
I wrote. :))
So, if it's a little bit controversial to some, why do I have
this on my site? Because, probably like you, in the
beginning, I took on ANY client that was breathing, had some
cash, and was remotely interested in working with me, despite
sometimes having a strong feeling in my gut that I was doing the
wrong thing and might regret it. I was that desperate for
clients. (Ever been there? It's not a good feeling.)
Lo and behold, every single time I took on one of these
non-ideal clients, I regretted it. I ignored all the signs,
shunned my intuition, and later wished I hadn't taken on that
client. It was always a disaster. Either their attitude made me
think "why is this person SO negative!?" or their credit cards
declined, or perhaps they stopped working with me after just one
month, blaming me for the fact they weren't getting their work
done.
These were the same people who became what I now call
"heart-sink" appointments. You know the ones. They're the
people you see on your client appointment schedule for that day
and your heart sinks. Instead of being psyched for your call,
you dread it, drag your feet on preparing for their stuff and
generally get in a bad mood knowing you'll have to talk to them.
With an average of 10 clients a day, back-to-back, I can't
afford to have my energy brought down by ONE client who's a
chronic crankypants. It's just not fair to the other clients
whom I'm psyched to speak to and work with, those I get off the
phone with saying "YESSS! She is doing sooooo well." (By the
way, my practice is full of these people now.)
If you're not having that "YESSS!!!" feeling with every
client, you may need to listen to your intuition more and
better yet, make a list of your own surefire signs NOT to pursue
a working relationship with someone, no matter how much you want
the money.
Here's what I noticed as surefire signs, in my own
experience, of non-ideal clients:
1) People who don't show up for the call and make up
not-so-believable excuses for why they didn't show up. (I take a
no-excuses approach to getting clients and to life in general. I
expect the same from my clients.)
2) People who don't fill out the paperwork or follow
instructions sent to them prior to our first call. (I give a lot
of useful paperwork during my coaching and if someone's not
going to do it in the beginning, they'll probably not do it
later either.)
3) People who aren't nice to my client relationship manager,
Naomi. (That is a HUGE no-no for me. If someone treats my
business partner like less than equal from the get-go, they'll
have ZERO chance of working with me.)
4) People who are rude to me too. ('nuf said?)
5) People who whine, complain, or resist everything, make
excuses, or sometimes even lie. (I prefer to hang out with
really fun, upbeat people, and people who are "up" to good
things.)
6) People who ask me if I offer a money-back guarantee. (If
they're already thinking it won't work for them, they're right;
it probably won't work for them.)
7) People who try to negotiate my fees, despite the fact that I
offer different programs at different affordable price points,
one for every budget level. (I don't believe in de-valuing my
services. It's been my experience that people who take an inch
will always try to take a mile down the road.)
Have you ever experienced people doing one or more of these
things? Perhaps not yet. But it may happen over the years,
and after a while, you'll start recognizing the signs and their
consequences.
How go I deal with these situations? If they're a
prospective client, I just don't go further in the relationship,
or explain to them that I'm probably not the right coach for
them. If they're a new client and I didn't spot this behavior at
the beginning, then I find a graceful way to end the
relationship. It happens only rarely, but when it needs to
happen, I do what it takes.
Let's face it. Non-ideal clients will never give you
referrals (and if they do, those referrals will also be
non-ideal), will never write you glowing testimonials, and might
even start spreading the word in the marketplace that you're not
that good at what you do. Stay away from them!
At this point in my practice, being that it's virtually
always full and that I have standards for how I want to
work, I have no room for people to run their stuff on me
anymore. It may sound a little harsh, but whenever I talk about
this in seminars, I see a lot of people nodding their heads, who
know EXACTLY what I mean, and who wish they didn't have
heart-sink clients either. So, that being said, I'm probably not
too far off base talking about this.
Your Assignment:
* Make a list of common denominators among your non-ideal
clients (not every client has all of these, sometimes just one
or two).
* Set standards in your practice about whom you'll work with
and whom you'll turn away.
* Then, follow those standards like your practice depends on it
(it does).
* Even consider putting it down on your website, for all to
see, as I do on mine.
You deserve a practice FULL of "A" clients, not "D"
clients. The only one that can let them into your practice
is you. You're the gatekeeper. Besides, when your practice is
filled with "D" clients, you become so cranky that you're not
going to BE client attractive. That's not good for business. So
take action on this and don't break your own standards. You have
the ultimate choice, so use it. :)
To find out more about ways to attract only "A" clients in
your practice using proven, tried-and-true marketing
techniques, check out www.TheClientAttr
actionSystem.com for more info on the ultimate Client
Attraction self-study manual.