At some point in your sales career you will have to decide if bad business is worse than no business.
Firing a client, no matter how difficult, is painful and it’s just the opposite of what you’d signed up to do. While this subject is rarely touched upon in consultative selling training, we’re here to say that it’s the move you should make. Here’s why…
First, let’s define bad business. Bad business comes from clients who exhaust you with unreasonable requests and consume far more time than their business is worth; they are poor communicators, never calling back unless they want something from you and it’s always “right away;” they are demanding on price and full of threats that they will take their business elsewhere. They wear you out, discourage the team, and are never satisfied. To make matters worse, they almost always acted poorly during the sales process, not just after they were clients.
This kind of business is not worth the time, trouble and angst. If you run the numbers, it is almost always also unprofitable business.
To succeed (and be engaged), redirect your energies toward target clients you like and who appreciate your products and services.
You’ll be much happier and, as a result, much more productive.
