One of the keys to success for any business is attracting and retaining the right mix of clients or customers. Conversely, one of the keys for the consumer or business that wishes to transact business is to ensure that the right firm is engaged to provide the product or service desired. In simple terms, the “fit” must fit.
Nowhere is this more crucial than in the world of the small entrepreneur. For not only will having the right clients help secure a successful business, working with clients that are inappropriate can sink the entrepreneurial ship. Here are five tools, or principles, to help you discern which clients with whom you might best work:
1. Ethical conundrums. One red flag is the potential client or customer who wants to retain you to perform a service that sets your ethical compass spinning. No matter how tempting, the ethical slippery slope is simply that. Moreover, small ethical lapses at the beginning often lead to bigger and bigger leaps. Avoid the temptation in the first place, and you will save yourself headaches down the road.
2. Expectation mismatches. If someone is looking for a result that you believe is not reasonably obtainable within the standard practices of either your business, or even within your profession, no amount of mollification at the end is going to satisfy this person. Better not to hook up with them in the first place than to try to play damage control.
3. Expert selectors. A good question to inquire of any potential client is whether they have engaged someone else for this service, either in the past, or currently, and with whom they are now dissatisfied and are firing. It may be a red flag to be someone’s seventh accountant in 10 years. Many attorneys avoid being someone’s third lawyer. The rationale here is that someone could always have a bad relationship the first time around — either the lawyer or the client wasn’t a good fit — but if the client has gone through two attorneys already, the issue may not be with the lawyers. There is not a magic number here, and exceptions can always apply.
4. Economy class. Unless your business model consists of being the low-price leader, the price-shopper may be problematic. Ratcheting up the warning level is the person that begins to negotiate price before they even understand your services, or your credentials. If the potential customer’s only way to evaluate your services is by price, you have either done a poor job of education, or the client is not a good fit.
5. Extra-sensors. Finally, do not ignore your intuition, small still voice, gut feeling, or whatever you might term it. Similarly, do not forsake those inklings from any gatekeeper you employ. Your non-logical side frequently does an excellent job of discernment.