Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:27 — 26.8MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More
Chip and Gini discuss an uncomfortable topic for many agency owners: how and when to say no to prospects and fire clients.
It all comes down to the right fit. Successful agencies make sure that they can meet the expectations of their clients — and do so profitably.
Those agencies that really excel also make sure that they can tell a clear, consistent story with their client roster.
And that means saying no to new business and letting clients go.
Gini says agency owners need to ask themselves, “Can you deliver? Are their expectations wacky or not? Does your team have the capacity?”
She explains why it is important to turn down and walk away from business: “When you say no, it allows you to say yes to the right kinds of clients.”
Chip notes that “the irony is, by firing your client or saying no to a prospect, you have almost unintentionally increased your credibility, and in some ways, probably increased the perceived value of what you’re providing, because it is pretty uncommon for service providers to tell a client or prospect to go away.”
He explained that many agency owners just keep servicing the same clients and responding to whatever business comes in because it’s the easiest route to take. However, he warns that “momentum is the enemy of good business decision making.”
“It is definitely hard to turn business away. It’s definitely hard to fire clients, but it always works out in the end — always,” Gini says.
Related Posts
Leave a Reply