When to Say “NO” to a Client and Managing Differences
On this episode, we talk about when is the right time or situation to say “NO” to a client or customer.
Then we interview relationship expert Charlie Simpson about how couples in business can better handle differences.
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When is it OK to say “NO” to a client?
We know…we know…that’s a hard thing to do.
If you are just starting out you might take any and all projects just to get your business going.
Also, you might personally hate to lose business or turn down potential work…but….saying yes and failing could mean losing the client anyway.
Below are FIVE Times When You Might Want to Say “NO”
1: Conflict of Interest
This is an easy one to justify to any potential client or customer. If you already work for their competition or in an opposing industry it just wouldn’t work.
2: Outside of Your Capabilities
It’s hard not to fall into the trap of saying “yes” and then figuring it out as you go.
But it’s easy to mess up your reputation AND get bashed for it online. Don’t make promises you can’t deliver.
3: You Are at Capacity
Another hard one. You hate to say “NO” but if you add them to your roster you might do a poor job on their projects as well as your existing client work if you are already overbooked.
4: Unrealistic Demands
Sometimes you can just tell a client is going to have unrealistic expectations and know you will regret taking them on. Trust your gut.
We’ve experienced this in our marketing firm. A client has next to NO budget and doesn’t have the patience to stay consistent and we end up spending most of the time reminding them that marketing is an investment. It ends up not being worth it.
5: They Are Difficult or Have a Bad Rep
You know those clients who have a bad reputation – slow to pay, difficult to work with, etc. It’s often best to stay clear of them.
INTERVIEW: Charlie Simpson, LPC, LMFT
For our interview, we welcome back relationship expert Charlie Simpson, LPC, LMFT, clinical director of the Arkansas Relationship
Here’s an excerpt from the interview.
Charlie, one of the first questions we wanted to ask you is, when is it good and when is it bad when a couple in business have different personality styles, work styles, management styles? Basically, how do they deal with their differences?
It's good when they complement each other. One person is a visionary, the other person is detailed. It validates each other's differences, and in these moments, it could definitely be beneficial for business. If one person is a stressor and the other person is more laid back, those co-regulate each other and can help business run a lot smoother. Now, when it becomes a hindrance is when the polarized differences really begin to impact the couple, for example, if one person is a detail oriented and they really push details and the other person is not as detail oriented, if they don't find a way to meet in the middle with those differences, they could butt heads with the business and they can find working as a team challenging.
When there's a couple that, let's say one partner is risk averse, the other really likes to take risks and live on the edge, so to speak. One's a big spender and one really doesn't like to spend money at all. How do you balance those?
It requires a lot of communication and also trust, and what I mean by that is if I'm going to take a risk and my partner is not much of a risk taker, I’ve got to trust the risk that my partner is getting ready to take. If I don't trust that risk, with me not as much of a risk taker—we’ll start clashing. We'll start trying to say no. We'll try to pull them out of the risk place that they're in.
So it does require a lot of conversations on trust and how we can build trust on the decisions that we make. It is possible if you communicate. A lot of effort, a lot of understanding, but more importantly, when it's time to communicate about those differences, how does that communication go? You know, is there a lot of defensiveness in the conversation? Is it just a lot of shutting down and not even saying anything at all? It requires how can we, first of all, understand our communication differences and then make sure that when it is time to talk about a big risk or the differences or whatever that a couple might have, that they can understand how to navigate through that conversation when it's time.
We’ve got lots more insight about all kinds of couplepreneur stuff on our blog, so check it out!
