Say NO! to clients - and you will grow faster

Firstly, if someone questions the $ value on your contract, say 'no'. It means they will be questioning the value of your work over and over again and in the end you will over service them, and it will take you away from new clients that you really need to be focused on.

Secondly, if your gut instinct says 'no' then it is 'no'. No question! Trusting your intuition is imperative to achieving control over your business and outcomes. Every single time I have not trusted my gut instinct, I have failed. The last time I didn't trust my gut instinct on a potential client was last year, when I said to the prospect at the meeting that I didn't feel that their company was a good fit with ours and given his background was sales coaching and teaching people how to sell, he basically talked his way into us working with their company. Alarm bells rang when his girlfriend and sidekick in the office questioned how long it takes to write a marketing strategy. Apparently, to them, 11 hours is too long. They expected a 'couple of hours'. Well, if they want some hack who does no research and does not put any thought into their marketing strategy, they still wouldn't have it done in a couple of hours. Seriously, what planet are some people on!!!! Yes, I do have a bee in my bonnet on this one - with good reason. Another marketing blog in the pipeline on this one!

I transgress. This client continued to be a nightmare, even though through a direct marketing campaign that we challenged them on every step of the way, they confirmed it was highly successful (we mostly got our way!). They were also nigglers who wanted to know if a phone call was counted or not in their timesheet (perhaps to no longer have monthly meetings and replace them with phone calls). We are not lawyers, so it is discretionary and depends on how much time is spent on this medium. But the odd call here and there, we don't monitor. We also gave them an intern to help them with their DM for a day and they made the poor guy work until 8pm - at no charge, then asked if they could have him back. Gosh - were these guys serious???? Some people want something for nothing - always. That is just the way they are. So steer clear of these people and if your gut says that the person sitting in front of you is one of them - run for the hills!

Thirdly, if someone is obviously telling you porky pies, then ethically, they should never be a good fit for your business. People who cannot sit straight, are not going to do your business any favours and it is definately not going to be a win-win situation. The last person I took on as a favour for a friend, ended up on A Current Affair for fraud. Not once, but three times and for also punching the journalist. Needless to say, I don't do favours for that friend anymore and if I don't trust the person sitting in front of me, I don't send a proposal.

Last but not least - people that think they are experts at what you do. Marketing is always something that many people seem to be experts in - but if they were, wouldn't they be more successful and why are they talking to us in the first place? I am sure that mechanics have people who come into their workshops and say that they were a mechanic in a past life and it should only take an hour to fix a motor. It happens to everyone, but it's definately something that you clearly have to say 'no' to when this type of person knocks on your door.

It's bloody hard being a small business owner. I sometimes just want to pull my hair out! But the rewards a high and the personal satisfaction cannot be replaced. Getting to a point in your business like I have earlier this year where I 'sacked' 10 clients in a couple of months directly effecting our business by almost $500k, is a hard one, but a smart one. Now, all our clients pay their bills. Yeh!!!! And we deliver outstanding marketing services to clients who appreciate the work we do. Our work has never been better and our team has never been more professional and talented. It's a great position to be in, but to get there, we had to make some cold hard decisions and saying 'no' was the first.