Tweet

Make More Sales: Reject Prospects And Fire Clients

Written by: Tessa Stowe

Article Overview: Learn how to increase the bottom line by firing difficult clients and rejecting prospects who are a bad fit.

Make More Sales: Reject Prospects And Fire Clients

One of my sales coaching clients, let's call him John, emailed me the other week and said his revenue for the month had increased by 29% over the same time the previous year. He said one of the reasons for this was because he rejected a lot of his prospects and fired 10% of his clients. Sounds both illogical and radical, don't you think?

Prior to John deciding to become a radical, he would try and sell to anyone who was interested. Consequently he wasted a lot of time, money and resources (TMR) trying to attract and sell to people who were never going to buy, or if they did buy, the headaches they caused did not make them worthwhile. He wasted a lot of time on people who were never going to become ideal clients.

Also the TMR John was spending on people who were never going to become ideal clients, was taking away from the TMR he could be spending on those who would.

So when he became a radical, John simply decided to focus his valuable and limited TMR on potential ideal clients - and he rejected a lot of prospects he was already talking to. He also went one step further and fired the bottom 10% of his clients so he could free up even more TMR for potential ideal clients.

Sounds fairly logical and sensible don't you think? So are you spending your valuable and limited TMR on selling only to ideal prospects i.e. those prospects who have the potential to become your ideal client? If not, it is probably because of one or more of the following reasons:

You aren't clear about who your ideal prospect is. Right now write down a description of your ideal prospect. Did you struggle? If you are part of a team, ask around and see who everyone thinks is the ideal prospect. Is their view the same as yours? If not, why not? Either way, valuable and limited TMR is being wasted.

You have convinced yourself that the "hit and miss" approach of trying to sell to everyone is going to give you more sales than if you use a targeted approach. Why waste valuable and limited TMR on people who aren't going to buy?

Believe it or not a lot of companies praise salespeople for having lots of prospects. The salesperson with the longest list is the biggest hero - irrespective of the quality of the prospects. This obviously rewards/encourages salespeople for the wrong behavior.

You don't have a formalized 2-filter process in place. Every prospect needs to go through this filtering process before you invest too much TMR.

So if you want to only spend your valuable and limited TMR on only ideal prospects put the 2-filter process in place. Here are the 2-filters.

Filter One - Is About Them They have the demographics (characteristics like size, industry, revenue, etc.) and psychographics (values, style, culture, feeling, and personal characteristics) of your ideal client. In essence they are the sort of company/individual you are targeting and enjoy working with.

Just a small amount of TMR will need to be spent to determine if a company/individual gets through this filter.

Filter Step Two - Is About The Opportunity This is where you look at the specific opportunity and qualify the opportunity to see if there is a high probability of it closing.

Putting prospects through this filter requires an investment of TMR but the TMR spent on qualifying will save you a significant amount of wasted TMR later on.

Make a commitment to put your 2-filter process in place as soon as possible and to only spend your limited and valuable TMR on those prospects who have gone through these 2 filters. Once this process is in place, let your team know about it and put structures in place to ensure everyone uses the 2-filter process.

Your next step is to fire those clients who did not go through the 2-filter process and who you wish were not your clients. That will free up more TMR for your ideal prospects and for your ideal clients. By rejecting non-ideal prospects and firing some of your non-ideal clients, you really can make more sales with less effort. Try it and see.

(c) 2007, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line below.

Related Articles
  LEADERS HAVE BLOOD GROUP OF FIRE POSITIVE.
  LEADERS LIVE WITH BLOOD GROUP OF ” FIRE POSITIVE.”
  Becoming An Online Entrepreneur: Keep Your Fire Burning
  Keep Your Fire Stoked
  Sales Mystery Revealed

Article Tags: headaches, previous year, prospects, time money, tmr



Related Forum Posts
Re: Email Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":24jznj58] The P.S. suggestion is good but it depends on the type of communication (e.g. Autoresponder series verses one off emails to Clients or Prospects)[/quote:24jznj58] Andy, You are right. I was mainly referring to Auto Responder emails. To end a normal email, I attach signatures. Takuya
Simple way to avoid Cold Calling - Gary, A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple! In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people: 1. Strangers 2. Prospects 3. Returning Customers You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question. My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative). My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him. So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc. The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation. You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him. At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation. Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool. Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Who Did You Learn Most From and Why? - Hi Martin, You missed out on the most essential community that helps you grow - Your Clients. Well, I believe that my Initial Clients have been the ones who have given me the moments of 'aha' in my business. They have stood by me even when I was a starter and that has helped me shape and build my stand. They have helped me grow as an entrepreneur, learn to have loads of patience and make the most of what comes across. They have also helped me to strengthen me as a person. btw, personally speaking, my Grandfather always kept me on track and lent me emotional support when I was down in any matter - be it business or otherwise.
Re: Forum Upgrade - and Fire Fox for mac too


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Why SEO is important for your online success

Quick Tips on Buying a Business

Anger Solutions at Work: Why Customers Get Angry

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.