great insight Kenny boy. you are accumulating very valuable experience working for a SMB, getting acquired by an enterprise size company, assimilating the SMB into the enterprise size company, and i am sure next step will provide the experience of you representing the enterprise company as you assimilate another SMB.
Hey wait a second...did i just describe StarTrek: Next Generations??
GregWalters
· 1 year ago
LOL!
Yes, you did, Number One...
Frick
· 1 year ago
"Not every customer is good for you though", you are so correct. I've seen companies take on customers not because it matches their core business mission but because they believe it will (insert reason here) "Give them more exposure, more profits, more bragging rights etc...". Somehow it just never turns out like they thought it would - If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. Good article................
GregWalters
· 1 year ago
Ken - There must be something in the air beside doom and gloom -
Great Insight, as revolutionary as it may sound to some, the concept of "firing a customer" has been around for a few years now...not only is it revolutionary, it is liberating.
But you swerve into another exceptional aspect.
You say, "...There comes a time, however, when a company reaches a point where it understands who it is and what it offers..."
Why don't we substitute "sales person" for "company"?
"There comes a time, however, when a sales person reaches a point where he understands who he is and what he offers..."
Once at this level of awareness, the sales person is on his way to becoming a Selling Professional - confident in who he is, what he does and who he can help, and willing or maybe even desperate to work with like minded people - customers AND EMPLOYERS(I despise that word).
That's right, include not only customers but employers and ALL THOSE IN YOUR LIFE WHO ARE A NEGATIVE....fire 'em.
Selling is Life, Life is Selling -
ChangeForge | Ken Stewart
· 1 year ago
Greg, I love the extension to everyone in your life... I practice this fairly religiously ;-)
kallan
· 1 year ago
Kia ora Ken!
"Fire a customer". That's funny - but I understand the theory you give here - the rationale behind the firing.
It reminds me of the recent debacle between Fiji, and New Zealand and Australia, over the sacking of the diplomats, and how, in these times of the economic pinch, there is nothing more likely to pinch the economies of all countries involved than sacking the diplomats - especially considering Fiji's strained position already.
But to the point. The pop artist who decides to do her own thing might be lucky. She may thumb her nose at a lot of 'customers', let's call them followers, who liked what she was doing because... but now that she's chosen to do what she's best at (or more particular, what she wants to do) she fosters a different grouping of followers. She too could say that her followers only think they know what they want.
It's a hard decision to make when it comes to financial survival though, and that's where it seems to be at with sales too. So it's a complex balancing act, and it's not a see-saw. It seems to be more like balancing a plate on a stick - a plate that's not spinning :-)
Catchya later from Middle-earth
Keith
· 12 months ago
When I first came on board with my current employer one of the earliest indications that I was going to enjoy working for this company was when I discovered a sign outside my managers office stating that the "customer is not always right". In my particular line of work (IT consulting) I'd even say that the customer is seldom right and rarely has even identified the problem.
The strength of my organization is our ability to discover the problem with the client and then propose the proper solution. If we followed lockstep to our clients desires then we'd be in a world of hurt.
I preach often that the key is to ask enough questions to determine what they are truly needing and then propose a solution that not only meets that need but one they can live with.
All Comments
Hey wait a second...did i just describe StarTrek: Next Generations??
Yes, you did, Number One...
I've seen companies take on customers not because it matches their core business mission but because they believe it will (insert reason here) "Give them more exposure, more profits, more bragging rights etc...". Somehow it just never turns out like they thought it would - If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.
Good article................
Great Insight, as revolutionary as it may sound to some, the concept of "firing a customer" has been around for a few years now...not only is it revolutionary, it is liberating.
But you swerve into another exceptional aspect.
You say, "...There comes a time, however, when a company reaches a point where it understands who it is and what it offers..."
Why don't we substitute "sales person" for "company"?
"There comes a time, however, when a sales person reaches a point where he understands who he is and what he offers..."
Once at this level of awareness, the sales person is on his way to becoming a Selling Professional - confident in who he is, what he does and who he can help, and willing or maybe even desperate to work with like minded people - customers AND EMPLOYERS(I despise that word).
That's right, include not only customers but employers and ALL THOSE IN YOUR LIFE WHO ARE A NEGATIVE....fire 'em.
Selling is Life, Life is Selling -
"Fire a customer". That's funny - but I understand the theory you give here - the rationale behind the firing.
It reminds me of the recent debacle between Fiji, and New Zealand and Australia, over the sacking of the diplomats, and how, in these times of the economic pinch, there is nothing more likely to pinch the economies of all countries involved than sacking the diplomats - especially considering Fiji's strained position already.
But to the point. The pop artist who decides to do her own thing might be lucky. She may thumb her nose at a lot of 'customers', let's call them followers, who liked what she was doing because... but now that she's chosen to do what she's best at (or more particular, what she wants to do) she fosters a different grouping of followers. She too could say that her followers only think they know what they want.
It's a hard decision to make when it comes to financial survival though, and that's where it seems to be at with sales too. So it's a complex balancing act, and it's not a see-saw. It seems to be more like balancing a plate on a stick - a plate that's not spinning :-)
Catchya later
from Middle-earth
The strength of my organization is our ability to discover the problem with the client and then propose the proper solution. If we followed lockstep to our clients desires then we'd be in a world of hurt.
I preach often that the key is to ask enough questions to determine what they are truly needing and then propose a solution that not only meets that need but one they can live with.
Good post.