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For the next post in our new "Consultant's Corner" forum I wanted to share some important info
for Local Search Consultants to consider.
This post has great info about specialization and focusing on your core business strengths
and not getting bogged down with bad clients who are not a good fit for your business.
I have to say I learned this lesson a long time ago and probably let more clients walk away than anyone here. I'm very selective and turn down more clients than I accept. That's true today with my consulting business, but was also true when I was optimizing Dental sites for Local Search.
I just don't accept clients that are spammy, have violations, have massive scrambled upstream data, excessive dupe problems OR multiple locations. To me those are issues I just don't deal with, because it's not worth my time investment AND it ends up being all your time going into negative problem solving.
What I loved doing when I was helping Dentists, was to help them rank - not swat bugs all day!![Stick out tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
When it comes to Google+ Local in particular I think you need to be careful what clients you take on because you can end up going down the rabbit hole with never ending bugs and problems and end up - upside down dealing with all the support problems.
So what about you?
Have you fired any clients lately or let a new prospect walk???
P.S. Check out other posts in the new "Consultant's Corner Forum" we just launched today.
Or start a new thread to share a tip or ask business related questions.
for Local Search Consultants to consider.
This post has great info about specialization and focusing on your core business strengths
and not getting bogged down with bad clients who are not a good fit for your business.
Say No To Opportunities & Clients
Not all clients are equal. Not all opportunities are a good fit. A client who costs a lot to service, who doesn’t pay their bills on time, who makes life difficult for you is probably not a client worth having. Sure, they might help keep us going to the next paycheck, but this is not an optimal way to run a sustainable business long term. Such clients present an opportunity cost i.e. we could be working with better clients, be making better money, and honing our service around mutual benefit.
Saying no can be very powerful. Prospective clients seem to respect this more, not less. There is something very appealing about a service that is exclusive and beyond reach. It signals a level of confidence that can be attractive.
Exclusive positioning is not just done for the sake of it. It’s a way to filter clients in order to find a good fit, which is especially important for small companies, as they have less resources available to carry bad risks. If we can figure out a client need that we know we can service well (specialization), with sufficient margins for us to be enthusiastic, and the client gets the value they were looking for, then everyone wins.
I have to say I learned this lesson a long time ago and probably let more clients walk away than anyone here. I'm very selective and turn down more clients than I accept. That's true today with my consulting business, but was also true when I was optimizing Dental sites for Local Search.
I just don't accept clients that are spammy, have violations, have massive scrambled upstream data, excessive dupe problems OR multiple locations. To me those are issues I just don't deal with, because it's not worth my time investment AND it ends up being all your time going into negative problem solving.
What I loved doing when I was helping Dentists, was to help them rank - not swat bugs all day!
When it comes to Google+ Local in particular I think you need to be careful what clients you take on because you can end up going down the rabbit hole with never ending bugs and problems and end up - upside down dealing with all the support problems.
So what about you?
Have you fired any clients lately or let a new prospect walk???
P.S. Check out other posts in the new "Consultant's Corner Forum" we just launched today.
Or start a new thread to share a tip or ask business related questions.