Your Problem Clients: a Blessing in Disguise

December 27, 2007

How many “problem” clients do you have?

You know, the ones that call all the time. The ones that are never satisfied. The ones that always pay you late…

Well, my problem clients used to annoy me.

Until I discovered how to turn them into real opportunities to improve my business and my income.

I do it by using a muscle I don’t pay nearly enough attention to… at all.

In fact, it’s probably the least used muscle in most people’s bodies.
Actually, it’s not really a muscle. It’s a whole lot more powerful than that.

What I’m talking about is your IMAGINATION.

And not many people have one these days. Even fewer people use the one they’ve got.

After all, we weren’t taught to have an imagination. We were taught NOT to have one.

“Look at what everyone else around you is doing and act accordingly.”

“Don’t step out of line.”

“Make sure you fit in.”

Little did anyone know that those are the absolute worst skills for business. Sure, you’ll blend in… and go broke in the process.

And without an imagination, you’ll be stuck working for problem clients for a very long time.

So how do you use your imagination to uncover the opportunity hiding in your problem clients?

Simple.

Every time you figure out you’re working with a “problem client,” you simply ask yourself this question:

“What would my business have to look like to make sure this never happens again?”

Then just let your imagination go. If you work on it, you’ll find your answer.

It sounds very simple. Almost too simple. And it is. But it is also extremely powerful.

Here’s a quick example from my own business. NOTE: My example has to do with a prospect, not a client. I don’t want to give you any ideas about my problem clients, simply because I don’t want to influence YOUR imagination about how to deal with yours.

Your imagination will come up with the right solution for you.

So back to my example…

One of the things that really makes me mad, is when a prospect strings me along for weeks before making a decision about a proposal I’ve submitted.

Common sense will tell you that stuff like this is simply the cost of doing business. I choose to ignore common sense. Dealing with time wasting prospects simply isn’t how I’m going to run my business.

So it finally hit me one day that this was my fault. It was my fault for putting up with lazy behavior like this on the part of my prospect.

He contacted me. I gave him the information he wanted. It was time for a decision. But no decision happened… I called, I wrote. Nothing.

So I sat down and used my imagination to come up with a solution to keep this from happening.

Here’s what I do now:

My goal with a prospect is to get a decision. It is not to sell.

I have a time table I follow to get the decision. And I make it clear when I want the decision and what will happen if I don’t get one.

I make it clear I don’t really care what the decision is. Either way, I’m moving forward and working with someone.

That’s a small example, but hopefully you can use it to get your imagination going.

You can make your own “problem clients” a thing of the past.

Just fire up your imagination. Imagine your business without them. Then take the steps you see in your mind to create that business.

And if you think you’re putting your imagination to its fullest use in your business…

I’m confident you haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.

Because once you do, your true genius will make its way out into the world. And once that happens, you’ll be unstoppable.

Now imagine that.

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

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