Do You Really Want More Leads? Get Quality Leads, Not Just More Leads

Do You Really Want More Leads? Get Quality Leads, Not Just More Leads:by Patrick McDaniel
Here’s a true story of how chasing more leads and customers/clients (without discernment) led to a nightmare experience.  Learn from my foolishness.
“There are just 3 things I need for my plumbing business right now…” said a plumber in Chicago who contacted me wanting help to grow his business using his website.
What were the three things he wanted?
“Leads… more leads… still more leads”
I understand where he is coming from.  But, as I learned the hard way, focusing only on “more” (instead of a quality lead or client) can lead to disaster.
When getting more leads can lead to regrets
Getting more of the wrong leads and customers can actually cause you to lose money (and your mind), and impact your ability to serve your other clients.  Sometimes more is not better.

Here is a great image of how crazy it gets when you are working with the wrong client.
This first image is a house in China that is seemingly in the middle of the road.  It must be an optical illusion, right.
Nope.  It is actually in the road.  The second image shows that the government built the road around the house.
It turns out, the homeowner refused to sell their property, so the Chinese government just worked around them.
Bizarre, huh?
Unfortunately, not any more bizarre that working with the wrong client.
Let me explain… and give you a personal confession of my own foolishness.
How working with a terrible client cost me (and it’s all my fault)
The pictures above are a metaphor for working with a bad client.  I should know.  I made a terrible mistake that you should avoid.
I was hired to generate online website leads for a lawn and landscape company in Annapolis.  Now, I can’t state their name because the owner, who was difficult to work with throughout but became a real jerk at the end, has threatened to sue me if I tell anyone what he did.
What did he do?  He never paid me for work done on his behalf and benefit but kept stringing me along with the promise to pay after I did this or that.  Yes, I was a fool to believe him.
So, I won’t tell you the name of the company (although the owner  and company name have the same last name as the NASCAR driver Tony Stew-rt).  There, I didn’t say it.
Wanting more leads and clients—there’s more to it
My hunger for new clients (“I want more, more, more!”) caused me to be blinded to repeated red flags.  In this case, indiscriminately wanting more clients led to awful consequences.
After working with this guy for about a month, it started becoming obvious that for me to be successful with this guy I had to work “around” him.
He was terribly unresponsive to my questions.   I mean a week would go by… and I would follow-up with another call or email.  Nothing. When he did respond, he didn’t actually provide me the information I asked for.
I foolishly assumed I could help him succeed without his involvement.  To use the metaphor of the images above, I kept paving around the house.
What needs to happen if you want to succeed with a client
Here is the reality in my business:  I am an extension of my clients.  I am like their outsourced marketing department.  To succeed, I must work together with the leadership of the organization to present them in a way that is consistent with their desired branding.
Kind of hard to do that when the client doesn’t communicate with you.  Unless you are a mind reader (I am not), you are doomed to fail.
You will get blamed for things taking longer than they should (because you don’t have all the info you need), AND blamed for things you do with incomplete information because it’s not what they want (which you didn’t know because you couldn’t read their minds).
How to prevent working with a nightmare client
Here is what did I learn from working with a “Richard” client (nickname Dick… as in “a real Dick”)

1. Set your expectations ahead of time.  Each party has responsibilities if the project it to be a success.  If one doesn’t do their part, if is virtually impossible to succeed.

About 6-8 weeks into our working together, in response to my increasing frustration with his unresponsiveness, I sent “Dick” a document about how we needed to work together (and what I needed/expected of him, as well as what he could expect from me).  But, it was too late.  I needed to come to an understanding before I started.  Not surprisingly, he didn’t even respond to this communication.

2. Cut your losses quickly if the client is not holding up their end of the deal.  Another mistake on my part.  I kept thinking it would get better.  It usually doesn’t.

The impact of working with a bad client (and what I’m doing differently)
In the end, I lost money doing thing for him that never seemed to changed the situation (I was hoping for some goodwill).
Equally as bad, I lost a lot of time I invested in him that could have been spent on my other clients (or getting new clients).
I now have a list of criteria that I use to evaluate a client before I start, as well as during the project, to assess whether a client will work.  It helps me see red flags sooner so they can be remedied… or I part ways.
Note:  If you would like a copy of my list of criteria, just leave a comment below requesting that information.
I would highly recommend you create your own list that is constantly being updated as you learn more about what you need to succeed.  The goal is to identify and work with only the best clients… and avoid the headaches.

Remember:  Getting more leads without insuring they are quality prospects or clients can lead to nightmare experiences, lost time and money.

Tell us YOUR experience
What kind of awful “Dick” clients have you worked with?  What have you learned?  What red flags would you warn others to watch out for?
Leave your comments below so others can learn (and commiserate!).
Pic #1= uk.news.yahoo.com, Pic #2= http://ajetun.blogspot.com/); Pic #3 David Smith