Colleen’s Blog

As you may know, I like to keep up on the state of the current buyer: what's going through their minds, how are they behaving, and how are they rewarding or not rewarding sellers like us?

As we approach the last few weeks of the year, salespeople often find themselves either coasting into the new year because they have accomplished their sales goals, or they find themselves pushing hard because they have struggled to reach their sales targets.

I was working with a group of sales managers at a workshop a few weeks ago and one of them introduced this strategy. It was a very simple strategy of implementing an account plan when you didn’t have a sophisticated account planning process.

Have you ever just wanted to fire a client? Perhaps they demanded too many things, were consistently rude, or did not fit well with you, your team or your services. While you are sometimes able to tweak your own services or set out guidelines that are mutually acceptable to all parties, there are times where you simply need to get rid of certain clients so you can focus on other customers who are more profitable on both a financial and a personal level. However, many salespeople are hesitant to fire a client because they don’t know how to approach the situation without the fear of burning bridges or causing a massive argument. These feelings are natural, but if a customer is taking time away dedicated to other areas of your business and causing massive headaches, it may be time to sever your business relationship. By following a few key steps, you can let go of customers easily without causing too much commotion.