Transcript
There are many people in the Facebook groups saying that they are talking to prospective clients and are kind of upset about the fact that they didn’t land a client – but then come to find out, it was really the wrong client. It was not the ideal client and there were many red flags along the way. Somehow we think that we need to be closing every client that comes our way when, in fact, we shouldn’t. There’s a huge power in saying “No” and filtering out the wrong type of client. In the end, you will save yourself so much time, frustration and headache from dealing with the wrong types of clients.
One of the ways in which I filter out less than ideal clients is in using my online booking tool called, Acuity. With Acuity, a prospective client books an appointment with me and we actually schedule a Zoom meeting. One of the things that I ask the people who are meeting with me (before they ever meet with me actually) is to fill out a short questionnaire. I get information about them: their company name, number of employees, revenues, what kind of company they have, and what are some of the ‘big issues’ that they have. First off, I’m able to qualify them in that if they don’t fill out the form, then we’re not going to have the meeting.
The next way in which I qualify prospects is whether, by answering the questions, they would fit the criteria of an ideal client for me. So for example, if their revenues are really low, chances are that my pricing structure is going to be higher than what they’re expecting to pay. So, already I have an idea as to whether or not they fit the ideal criteria for me. I will also know if they’re an ideal client for me if they don’t know how to use Zoom, which is an online meeting software that I use. It’s very easy to use, so for me, if they can’t use Zoom that tells me that they’re not very techie – and my company is very, very techie. I know that if a client can’t really work with basic technology, they’re probably not going to be able to work with the online tools and apps that we use.
Then, of course, the most important is, do they show up for the meeting that they booked for me. That’s huge, because that tells me that if they didn’t keep the appointment, they are likely not very responsible. In fact, in many cases, even though they’ll reach out to me and ask can if they re-book with me (and I’ll say, “Yes, go ahead”), because they need to find the link and go through the process again, 99% of the time, they don’t actually do it. Sometimes I will call that person just to say, “Hey, we had an appointment and I spent 15 minutes … you didn’t show up” – but only if I feel like they would be a qualified lead for other reasons. Most of the time they’ll say they forgot or they were distracted or they were out shopping or something, and I know that they’re not very serious about working for me, which tells me they’re not an ideal client.
So hopefully this helps you to sort the good prospects from the bad prospects and know when it’s time to actually not take on a client by some of those tell-tale signs. I’m Veronica Wasek. If you find this content helpful, make sure that you subscribe to my channel, like this video, leave a comment and visit my blog at 5MinuteBookkeeping.com.
