- Choose, rather than Accept, your Clients – using these elements from David Ogilvy’s classic list of 10 criteria clients should meet.
1. An opportunity to add value to their business. Do that and you’ll benefit too, if only reputationally. Find the people who value your value most for a better win-win relationship.
2. A product or service you’re proud to represent and use yourself (I have 2 Scaramanga bags and bought a Volkswagen Golf from Barnetts Motor Group).
3. Clients who look to make win-win deals.
4. An opportunity to do great work. This should be mutually-beneficial.
5. Clients whose culture means you can enjoy a good relationship.
6. Clients who value what you do for them. - Segment email dispatch days and times by lifestyle of the recipient – Entrepreneur or Employee Read this. It makes complete sense.
- Virtual Assistants are an incredibly powerful leverage tool – beyond the power of delegation, think of all the people they know and information they gain on best people and tools to use. Thanks to Emma-Jane Kerr for her outstanding support (and ideas for) my comms work for St Andrews Business Club. Not many people are truly essential. EJ is!
- Stay up to date on the latest developments in social media – changes to LinkedIn allowed St Andrews Business Club to finally create a Company page. Within weeks, by harnessing the power of the networks of the Committee and Members, it’s become our biggest social channel.
- Look for the Opportunity in everything – one of the great insights in the ‘Surviving Brexit’ workshop taster Dr Billy Grierson and Dr Shona Dobbie gave to St Andrews Business Club was the ‘Confrontation Matrix’ Billy used to make attendees think about how we can turn a SWOT analysis of Brexit into strategies to seize the Opportunities and neutralise the threats. E.g. It will lead to lots of business events on how to deal with it, which is an event photography opportunity for me.
- Always go that extra mile for good relationships – it will differentiate you from the short-termist thinkers who ‘portion’ service and make themselves instantly replaceable by doing so. Even if a client stops using you for while, it gives them a powerful incentive to come back.
- Show every potential client or business partner one piece of Generosity. Judge the potential relationship by whether they feel the need to reciprocate. Don’t work (unless you have to) with those who don’t. Or just lower your expectations to a transactional relationship.
- Speak ‘Truth to Power’ always – Good leaders and clients appreciate it as it builds trust. Those who don’t are not deserving of your time or expertise and don’t appreciate either.
- If someone doesn’t respect and appreciate your time, don’t work with them unless you have to.
- Ensure Family really does come first. They’re (probably) why you’re working so hard in the first place – your biggest sense of purpose. Meet your work goals, but don’t forget to spend enough time and energy with those who love you whether your business is successful or not.
Hope you all exceed your 2018 goals!
This was was also published on LinkedIn Pulse.