Saying no to clients is blasphemy! How can you event think about it?
I think a company often ends up in the grave when it obliges to whatever a customer wants. We have come across several scenarios where we have had to wonder weather it makes sense saying no - often I've been tempted to say yes to everything, but lately good sense (because now I feel saying no was the right thing) has prevailed.
The following is when one should say no to clients
1. Let's do a barter!
NO NO NO. Never say yes to a client in this scenario. Simply because
a. The value of your product/service is never appreciated. Quite often your customer is only looking to add you in 'the list of innovations I came up with'.
b. You cannot forecast the kind of publicity you will get
c. You yourself cannot really test and validate the pricing strategy of your product/service.
d. There is no metric which truly identifies the publicity given to a product or service.
2. We don't like the color, can you change the 'look and feel'
Now this is a controversial topic, and I would conclude that the real way to take a call is
a. The amount of business and potential business the client can give you. If it doesn't look promising, then don't bother. Make the client understand that the change comes at a cost, so if it can promise more business, you will look into it, and absorb the cost in the implementation of future business.
b. If many clients are suggesting the same change, then you probably should. Many a times, clients will come up with unique issues, so keep a frequency counter in your mind, that tells you that this feedback is becoming regular.
3. Can you also provide us with digital marketing, website hosting, content management, publicity relationship?
Here is where you need to take a call on whether you plan on providing this service/product as a standard option, or if it's only a one off case. If it's only a one off case, then chances are that you would be outsourcing the development/service to someone else. In that case, you are better off just forwarding the contact to your client. Remember what your running shoe (or single purpose of existence) is.
I think a company often ends up in the grave when it obliges to whatever a customer wants. We have come across several scenarios where we have had to wonder weather it makes sense saying no - often I've been tempted to say yes to everything, but lately good sense (because now I feel saying no was the right thing) has prevailed.
The following is when one should say no to clients
1. Let's do a barter!
NO NO NO. Never say yes to a client in this scenario. Simply because
a. The value of your product/service is never appreciated. Quite often your customer is only looking to add you in 'the list of innovations I came up with'.
b. You cannot forecast the kind of publicity you will get
c. You yourself cannot really test and validate the pricing strategy of your product/service.
d. There is no metric which truly identifies the publicity given to a product or service.
2. We don't like the color, can you change the 'look and feel'
Now this is a controversial topic, and I would conclude that the real way to take a call is
a. The amount of business and potential business the client can give you. If it doesn't look promising, then don't bother. Make the client understand that the change comes at a cost, so if it can promise more business, you will look into it, and absorb the cost in the implementation of future business.
b. If many clients are suggesting the same change, then you probably should. Many a times, clients will come up with unique issues, so keep a frequency counter in your mind, that tells you that this feedback is becoming regular.
3. Can you also provide us with digital marketing, website hosting, content management, publicity relationship?
Here is where you need to take a call on whether you plan on providing this service/product as a standard option, or if it's only a one off case. If it's only a one off case, then chances are that you would be outsourcing the development/service to someone else. In that case, you are better off just forwarding the contact to your client. Remember what your running shoe (or single purpose of existence) is.
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