Choose your Customers
In small business we have a unique opportunity that larger organisations do not. We have the opportunity to select our customers just as our potential customers have the choice of engaging our services or choosing a competitor. This is beneficial not only to us, the business owner, but to the customer as well. The ideal business purchasing model is one of partnership with value being present on both sides of the transaction.
Every business transaction should have a two way trade of value, the customer benefits from receipt of valuable products or services that suit their individual need, the business receives payment and if targeted successfully, great satisfaction and secure ongoing business. Happy customers love paying their bills.
Large corporations feign at offering individually packaged solutions, but in reality they squeeze their square peg customers into round holes. Our advantage is if we spot a square peg and we only support round holes then we have the opportunity or choice to advise them that we don’t fit together. Handled correctly, you are not losing a customer, but securing a long term trust that may result in a sale at a later date for a product or service that has a good fit between you.
Too often in my corporate past we had no choice of the customers we would work with and their supplier choice was forced upon them by management as well. The results were unproductive for both sides. The customer was not satisfied with the products and service they received, and the business was going more that the extra mile to try too meet their needs. It also resulted in frustration and destruction of a large component in the value they were to receive from the transaction due to reworking.
It is often difficult to make the decision to walk away from a customer or business opportunity. However in the long term it will be a lot less painful, and potentially far more profitable.
Make the decision based on the following values and criteria:
- First, make sure you know your products and or services and their capabilities well,
- Understand the customers business needs long term as well as short term,
- Avoid patched together or band aid solutions,
- Size the solution to the requirement, overkill is just that,
- Talk honestly and openly with the customer,
- Offer advice if possible so that they remember you as a valuable resource for the future.