Written by Valen Vergara
We have all experienced them in business or career. That one customer who pursues a vendetta to work against the grain by any means necessary. It is not your fault and you are not alone on this one! Although it may appear that way until you interview the countless business owners who all share a common thread on this topic. If you want confirmation ask any entrepreneur who has been in business for a while. With that said, if you have been through this, the mainstay of why it occurred is because you NEVER should have taken them on in the first place.
If you choose to accept mission impossible, you will move from service provider to dodging friendly fire. You won’t like the way you look after it is all said and done; I guarantee it!
In this process, most business owners start reactive, instead of being pre-active. Be that as it may, here are a number of technique tweaks to make to ensure you are never caught behind customer lines. It begs the question, have you ever been pressured into negotiating on price points or payment plans? If you have and settled in any way, you should be experiencing an unsettling feeling right about in the pit of your stomach right about now and here’s why…
Lowering prices or allowing payment plans, pull in low quality clientele. Quality over quantity for the win. You will magnetize folks who are more concerned with excuses than actually doing the work they know they ought to be doing. Results are secondary to them and they pull reasons “why not,” out of a hat. Yeah – this will be a roller coaster ride for you and I can’t blame you. It happens to the best of us!
Lowering your price or permitting payment options will prevent value added customers from knocking at your door. Moreover, low costs will force out action oriented customers.
Lowering costs or extended payment plans, create situations where clients will take the easy road out and will NOT own up to any responsibility for their lack of results, and they will force blame on you instead at what they should be doing to get what they want with your workmanship. This is the confirmation bias at its worst, they only see what they want to see at this point.
Low prices or delayed plans will turn you into a sounding board for customers who insist on complaining, picking fights, no matter what! Clients who constantly complain, and pick you apart on how you deliver your service, no matter what you do. Conversely, clients who pay upfront are WAY too busy doing the orders assigned to them to bicker about anything.
Low fees and payment schedules will open the door for clients who will constantly push the limits with your value offerings creating massive conflict.
If you allow your clients to pay lowered costs and or payment plans, then expect some to have remittance issues. They will not pay and this in the majority of cases is due to lack of funds. They can’t afford it, but they can afford to lend out a bad attitude. They were broke to begin with and again prevention is the best medicine. Drink up! Clients that pay in full and upfront will be your best clients, while the lion’s share of your uncommitted clients will be “till death do you part.”
Low costs and payment plans creates non-committed customers. They are unable to buy into the table instead of putting all the chips on the table. Without a true, vested, paid interest they end up disinterested in what evidently, they care about most… themselves…
The next time you come across the nightmare customer, tread carefully, seller beware!
Valen Vergara
www.valenvergara.com
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