Aug. 1, 2017

Ep08: My Safeword Is Cinnamon.

Why would you need a safe word in business? This week on So Here’s My Story, Eliot and Jodi talk about clients we don’t love. Why is that important for business? What do you do with clients that you feel like you can’t do your best work with?...

Why would you need a safe word in business? This week on So Here’s My Story, Eliot and Jodi talk about clients we don’t love.

Why is that important for business?

What do you do with clients that you feel like you can’t do your best work with? First, you have to know what IS a good client, so you can figure out when a non-ideal client shows up. Sometimes, we lack the courage to disappoint.

We can get better at it if we get better at acknowledging the economic realities and responsibilities of a business. Sometimes we take these clients on because of those pressures. But the opportunity exists when we take these clients on because we haven’t crystalized what a fit is enough that we can say it out loud.

Creating a “Go/No Go” chart can be helpful for this kind of clarity, and this episode talks about how to come to those decisions.

Like when your wheels are out of alignment in your car and the steering wheel pulls, you can also feel that pull to say “yes” every time you respond to a request from a client that isn’t a fit.

The better a business is at framing the concept of “if…we’re not your guys”, the better that business will do. If the culture isn’t so clear that nobody says “I don’t want to work there”, it probably isn’t clear enough. The same can be said about the clients you take on.

Part of this is getting clear on deal breakers. If someone is a 9/10 on a checklist of assets, they can still be a bad fit if the 1 is a deal breaker. A great litmus test: “If you do this, what would make you call me in 6 weeks begging to leave?”

 

What client have you regretted taking?

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