My wife Debbie and I have an 18 month-old grandson, Colton. Knowing that we’ll soon be watching animated movies with him, we’ve been catching up on them every chance we get. Not having watched them much in the last 20 years or so, I’m amazed at how many there are — and how good some of them are.
In Finding Nemo, as the action progresses toward Sydney Harbor, we witness a large group of Seagulls fighting for food. The Seagulls know only one word which they repeat incessantly — “mine.” Their dialog is a constant stream of “Mine, mine, mine, mine,” as they try to grab and fight for whatever food there might be. And they’re not the least bit inhibited in how they go about getting it.
Do they remind you of anyone?
If you said some salespeople, you’d be right, of course.
But those aren’t the ones I’m thinking of.
Instead I’m thinking of a group — hopefully a small group — that virtually every seller in the world knows all too well: some of their own prospects, customers, and clients.
We all have them in our pipeline and in our client database. They bleed us dry with their constant cry of “mine, mine, mine,” with unreasonable demands and never-ending attempts to get lower and still lower prices.
This small set of prospects and clients take up far more time and energy than they are worth. Yet most of us dutifully take care of them, even when we know it is to the determent of our other prospects and clients.
What should we be doing with this flock of self-centered Seagulls?
Get rid of them. Turn them loose, and let them suck the blood out of your competition.
There is no rule that says you can’t get rid of prospects and clients. It’s your sales business; you can keep or get rid of anyone you like, and you must do some culling in order to maintain a healthy sales business.
If you have Seagulls as clients, get rid of them. When you prospect, if you come across a Seagull, eliminate it from your prospecting list
We all want and need sales, but prospects and clients who only know the word “mine” aren’t going to do anything for you except ultimately cost you business and money. Shoo them away before they devour you.
The post Get Rid of Your ‘Seagull’ Clients Before They Devour You appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post Get Rid of Your ‘Seagull’ Clients Before They Devour You appeared first on AllBusiness.com.
