Making Customers More Valuable [Part 1 of 5]: Choose Wisely
August 2nd, 2017 // 3:38 pm @ Scott Manning
There is an unspoken law of business that always holds true; especially in the context of professional practice, consulting or any type of service based engagement with your customers.
It is why choosing your customers, clients or patients wisely is so important and why this is the first order of increasing customer value.
The law states:
The people who pay you the least will complain the most.
The fact is: nice, smart, responsible people appreciate, respect, find value in other people’s expertise. They are thankful for the added contribution you make that they otherwise would not have. Which is why they happily engage with people like you because you know more than they do about the respective topic that they are investing in through your relationship.
These are the people you want. And you can call out to them through your marketing, messages, expectations and experiences.
The opposite of this type are those who resent every dollar they give up to someone else thinking for some dumb reason only they should be paid for their jobs and they devalue everyone else.
You know these people. Chip on their shoulders, irresponsible, often living a life of constant problems and frustrations they take out on others. They come in with unreasonable expectations and/or just don’t want to pay you for what you do.
Sometimes these people are subtle and sometimes it’s blatantly obvious that they will be like this. In all cases, these people will in turn take up more of your time, waste more of your resources, distract you from the better customers and ruin the culture of your business.
If you believe in your value do not ever compromise on it because you will regret it.
Often in my Dental Practices, I get thriving successful doctors with a beautiful vision wonder why they plateau or wonder why they can’t keep team members or wonder why they are so busy but they aren’t very profitable. It almost always comes down to the type of patient mindset that has been allowed to fester inside of their practices. They find themselves suddenly no longer seen as doctors with authority and expertise, but rather an order taker or a ‘convenience’ based business that the services provided are commodities they could get anywhere else.
These doctors, without knowing it of course, did it to themselves because of the type of patient they allowed to dictate and control their business make up.
If you want your customers to be more valuable to you – pick more valuable customers.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to give you the four key things that you have to do if you want to ultimately control your own outcomes and maximize your profitability in your business.
At the end of the day, the value of your customers, clients, patients is what will determine everything else in your business – and everything else in your business determines this. It is a closed loop, one you either let happen by accident or you become extremely strategic and deliberate about it.
One of the best ways to attract better quality customers for yourself is to be a better quality customer for others. Energy is key. Attitude is everything. Like attracts like.
If you are a bad customer for others – that is your personality (by choice) – and you have a negative perspective, arrogant ego or some dysfunction in your life that makes you resent others – you will get the same treatment in return.
Surely there is no one like that reading this. You’d think I would have scared you off a long time ago. None the less, check yourself because this matters.
I will leave you with the best way to help your customers find more value in you… is for you to find more value in yourself. Be proud of what you do and confident about it (especially about the money). If you don’t come across as deserving, no one else will think you are either.
Rest assured, there is always good news and bad news about this. Bad News: if you don’t like your customers, you picked them. Good News: you get to choose (and are in total control of), both who they are and how they perceive you.
Choose wisely.
Category : Blog