If you have been in business for any length of time, you know the pain of the “problem client”.  Once they are through the door, they cause nothing but aggravation.  They are complainers.  They complain about everything, from having too much information, too little information, the font size you use, and a myriad of other complaints.

Once you realize you have one of these you are faced with two choices: continue to have the abuse and aggravation … or fire the client.  I recommend that when you find you have one of these, cut ties, and move on. Hopefully this will be a small percent of your business. I know that I have very few problem clients any more.

There are several filters that help to reduce attracting “problem clients”.

• Boldly emphasize your core beliefs.

Many business advisors recommend keeping these generic. I think the only reason to keep your stated core beliefs generic is to be average, mediocre. State clearly what your core beliefs are and how they apply to your business practices.

• Charge premium prices.

Premium pricing, combined with high quality service or products, for your industry works great for driving away whiners and complainers.  If you don’t hide the fact that you are expensive you will attract better customers.  Premium pricing can take several forms. It may be that you don’t cut your rate, have a consistent result, or have a better guarantee.

• Clearly and consistently communicate your criteria for working with clients.

The first step is to make two lists: #1 “things I like about clients, #2 “things that drive you crazy about clients”.  Once you have written these two lists, the fun begins.

Putting these filters to Work for you.

Decide to start today.  Find natural ways of incorporating the criteria for your ideal customer list into your marketing and content. You will build a group of people, Seth Godin describes this as your Tribe, or a customer profile that you will work with. By incorporating these filters, you too will have fewer “problem clients”.

Question of the week: How do you deal with problem clients?
Quote of the week: “Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers. It’s not just about entertainment – it’s about education. Permission marketing is curriculum marketing.” – Seth Godin

How can you turn a good sales force into an exceptional sales force?

It doesn’t matter if you are a sales force of one or there are hundreds on your sales team, there is one driving factor that all top sales producers have. Lisa Earle McLeod, a former top sales professional for Proctor and Gamble, sales researcher and author of “Selling with Noble Purpose”, was commissioned by a large pharmaceutical company to determine what actions their top sales people were doing differently than their average sales people.

After 10,000 hours of research what she discovered was profound.  Her discovery has changed the sales process and can help you increase your sales or help you change what you are selling.  The discovery is that:

Sales people that have a noble sales purpose outperform sales people that work toward sales goals and money.

A noble sales purpose is the why behind the driving force of sales people.   The metrics of any business is important but only reflects what has happened.  Making a profit is important. Meeting sales targets is important. Sending more e-mails or making more calls is important to be a top performer.  The top business people do all those activities, but it is the why, that sales purpose that drives them to make the extra calls or send that extra e-mail.

If you focus only on how the customer can improve your bottom line that will come across in your dealings with those customers.  If in your sales meetings you only focus on metrics that will be translated to you customers.  Your customers will reflect that toward you in looking for the lowest cost and employees will leave for slight increases in pay or what they perceive as better working conditions.  Let’s discuss briefly sales purpose, goals and profits.

1. Identify your noble sales purpose.  The noble sales purpose is what drives a person to make a difference.  It could be: making something safer, more valuable, improved life style, making their work easier or helping someone make more money.  You have to identify your passion.
2. Goals are only a motivator to a point.  If you are a goal driven or a task orientate person then meeting metrics is important to you, but when you identify the why behind what keeps you motivated, you improve your ability to reach your goals.
3. Profit is only a motivator to a point.  Yes, profits are important to operating a business, grow a business and provide for our families and employees but the why is the driving motivator.

To focus on serving your customers, you can begin by asking the question:

How will your customer be different as a result of doing business with us?
If you are having trouble thinking of reasons why a business should work with you and by working with you they will be able to improve, ask the following questions?

1. How will they be safer?
2. By doing business with you what is the impact on their families?
3. Will you improve their lives?
4. How will you help them serve their customers?
5. Can you help your customers make more money?
6. Can you help your customers be more efficient?

I recommend reading “Selling with Noble Purpose” for more information about building a sustainable sales team.

Question: How can you implement these ideas to increase your business? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Quote of the Week: “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

In the modern connected economy being in touch with your customers is an absolute.  However, effective advertising has changed dramatically.  The days when a business would list in the yellow pages and hope to be found are history.   Running an ad in print media and hoping someone will read it is the proverbial needle in a haystack advertising.  Producing and filming ads for TV is expensive and often has a low return on investment (ROI).  Most TV shows are taped, and ads are skipped. They aren’t much different than spam in an e-mail inbox. The majority of consumers, including myself, consume most audio content through podcast and music through digital storage. Radio advertising is becoming a limited method to reach your customers.

Changing History of Advertising

A hundred years ago advertising was reaching a large market with the same needs.  The industrial revolution created a new economy built around large scale efficiencies like large factories, mass media, mass marketing and mass communication.

Seth Godin in his book Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers explains why traditional methods of advertising are no longer working.  Traditional advertising is based on interruption of your time. When watching TV programs every seven minutes, an advertisement interrupts the show, ads interrupt the music station you listen to, and billboards try to get your attention as you drive.

The concept of Permission Marketing is that you develop trust with a potential customer.  After you have their trust, then you can discuss what you offer. Traditional methods of advertising just aren’t an effective use of capital.

Social Change

The industrial revolution is ending and the economy that it produced no longer functions as it once did. This massive economic shift is also bringing great social change.  The good jobs that industry provided are becoming fewer and fewer. Income gaps between the people at the top of their industry and the average are likely to increase.

We now are in the growing phase of the new connected economy with all the opportunities that it will produce.  Yes, there will be displacement of workers and many of their jobs will change or cease to exist.  New jobs will be created to adapt to the changing market.  Yes, there are new challenges to marketing our products or services. But, by understanding the changes it opens up new opportunities.

As entrepreneurs, we all want to tell our story of why potential customers should do business with us. When building their website, many small businesses make the mistake of leading with company history. Company history and what we do are important if located in the right spot within the site.  However, they shouldn’t be the main theme on the home page.

If you what to engage your potential customers on your website, develop a compelling business story. In my post, 10 Website Mistakes to Avoid, I discussed how the movie industry uses guides to tell the story.  The most effective business websites make the customer the central character, with the business owner becoming the trusted guide.

Major advertising companies like Mills James incorporate the art of storytelling to help Fortune 500 companies connect to their customers. You can use basic storytelling technics in your branding as well.

Critical Components of Your Business Story: