All Business Isn’t Good Business

As professionals we have a responsibility to prospect, market, communicate and build relationships.  We are faced daily with having to be the brand and ambassadors of our companies.  When we are out to lunch with a prospect or client, the expectation is that we may see someone who we know and we must always be prepared.  When we are networking, there is an internal inclination that we will run into someone who we have met before.  Sometimes, after the initial business meeting, we find out that this prospect may not be a good fit for our organization.  In other words, they may not fit our ideal target client list.  Guess what, that is okay.  The good thing is that you recognize who is and who isn’t a good fit for you.  It’s like dating, after the first date, you have a pretty good ideal if this is someone who you want to continue “courting.”  Business relationships are compared to the dating game.

We have to become comfortable with our service offerings and ideal target client in order to say “no” to the prospects who may want us to service them.  In other words, it’s okay to tell your prospects, “thanks but no thanks.”  We don’t have to always be on the side of receiving rejection letters or emails.

I recently met with an organization who reached out to me for help with Customer Service Strategies.  After multiple meetings and addendum, I had to respectively decline the offer to help them.  It wasn’t because I didn’t want to help them but in my gut, I could tell that I would exhaust more time than they were ready to invest or commit to.  They didn’t see the value that I could bring and I wanted to make sure that our working relationship would be positive experience for everyone.

I encourage you to evaluate your best clients and tally what you like about each of them.  Those are the clients that will inspire you to wake up every morning to serve them.

I’m curious, what are those characteristics that you like in a client? Please share.

Happy Relationship Selling!

Yvette

Carried The Bag, LLC is a Business Sales Coaching Company designed to help individuals and organizations with sales strategies, sales effectiveness, customer service skills and sharpened presentation skills that build long-term business relationships