The best clients are those who respect your work. By respect I mean:
- Clearly state what their expectations are
- Honors payments on the agreed date
- Gives feedback for continuous improvement
- Value the supplier
Are all clients like this? Of course not. There are many who are:
- Uneducated
- Unethical
- Confused
- Bad Payers
- They do not keep their word
Now you are the one who chooses who will be served. You are responsible for the clients you serve.
I know that necessity often makes one swallow unimaginable frogs. But these are untenable situations. Somewhere, one day, it will burst.
The supplier-customer relationship in B2B is multifaceted, with operational and financial comings and goings.
They are people dealing with people to fulfill tasks and expectations.
So, obviously, that the relationship starts well when expectations are 100% aligned.
So there goes the FIRST LAW: Only accept clients who have a real expectation of results from what you will deliver.
Into this realm come the forced sales, lies, and misleading promises that many suppliers make to grab the business.
Check in your commercial area and even in your communication, if you yourself are not causing this misalignment of expectations between what you offer and what you actually deliver.
Once, in a company I worked for, all sales were made through the channels of representatives and distributors. The promise that reached the consumer was often misrepresented, to say the least, which led to a high rate of complaints and chargebacks.
To change this picture, it was necessary to improve the quality of sales, which necessarily led us to improve the quality of channel remuneration, where sales done well were better commissioned, in addition to goals and awards for quality measured based on each sales person who represented our products.
I am talking here about an operation that had more than 3,000 external salespeople. But it worked. Gradually the bad sales were reduced to historic lows.
Therefore, sales quality does not depend only on its agents, but also on the remuneration model, going through goals and valuing what is more important: Quality or volume?
So before you label your customer as bad and complaining, look at how the sale was made. If the campaign promises are being minimally fulfilled.
Again, you are responsible for the customers you have.
Customers are not right. Customers have rights.
Now for the SECOND LAW: Only accept customers who have a real need for what you sell and recognize it.
Once a student in my prospecting course told me, "I need the prospect to give me enough time for me to create the need to then position my solutions."
NO. Wrong. This is not the role of any commercial executive. It is not our role to create needs, but to find and engage with those who already have that need, even if latent.
The opposite of this is to spend energy/time creating scenarios, which in the minds of those who don't need them, are mere speculative fantasies. The result is the non-sale. But unfortunately this process can take months, sucking your energy, to then find yourself in a vacuum as soon as you issue a proposal that will never be answered.
So here we are talking about implementing rigorous processes in evaluating opportunities and their fit with the solutions you provide.
THIRD LAW: Only accept customers who are able to implement, use, and pay for the solutions you acquire.
Many companies recognize the need, need the solution, but unfortunately are not in a position (financial and/or operational) to purchase and solve their problem.
Therefore, it is necessary in the most embryonic stages of the approach, to qualify the opportunity and "set" the acquisition conditions, postponing those that need maturation.
Apply the 3 laws and see your portfolio over time getting better and better, with less friction, fewer realignment meetings, more renewals and repurchases, more positive testimonials, and more predictable cash flow.
