How to remove weeds and make your garden of clients bloom.
Just like a garden of evergreens, perennials, and annuals, your business garden of clients needs attention to remove weeds and keep it blooming in the colors you want to see. [link to first part of the blog]
You’ve finally recognized that the client is a weed. You’ve explained your expectations and you continue to be defeated in your efforts to please them. It’s time for action. I call this the “shape up or ship out” conversation.
- Shape Up: The client can rise to meet your expectations and become a desirable “A” client.
- Ship Out: The client does not meet your expectations and accepts your referral to another Realtor.
The best part of this process is that the client makes the decision. If they don’t feel that they can or want to meet your expectations, they choose to fire themselves!
Seven Steps to Getting the Weeds Out of Your Garden
Think of the difference it would make in your business if you raised your standards, weeded your garden, and worked with only Ideal clients. Here's how:
- Look at your current undesirable listings, buyers, and seller leads.
- Write down how they create stress for you and the expectations they are not meeting.
- List what they’d have to do to meet your expectations. If it is impossible for them to meet your expectations for legal or ethical reasons, make a note to let them go.
- Call them and book a meeting in person or by phone.
- In your meeting tell them how they are not meeting your expectations.
- Give them the two options to choose from: “Shape up or ship out.”
- Let them decide!
A little weed control goes a long way. At first it may seem overwhelming: how can you possibly get this mess under control? But once you’ve dealt with a weed or two, a few things happen: you get better at spotting the weeds, you get better at handling them before they spread, and, best of all, your other plants thrive once the weeds have been cleared out of the way.
The choice is yours. Either you choose to let the weeds take over the garden, or you exercise some weed control and reap the rewards of a well-tended garden.
One final note: weed control is not a one-time task. But if you deal with the weeds when they emerge, they’ll be easier to manage, and if you review your client list and cull the weeds at least once a year, your customer base will bloom and bear fruit for years to come!
Coach Patti
Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
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Tell me about weeds. In my yard and my sellers yards. Here in Florida during the summer and especially this summer with lots of rain, it is an ongoing challenge to get rid of your weed. They seam to win every time
Wow Patti, I think I'm going to get some gardening tips and low and behold you give me some really good career information. Some of my clients are roses, beautiful with thorns and some are crab grass...
Hey, Patti. I appreciate you sharing this post. It definitely gets me thinking; what awesome advise. Take Care, Jim
Although in this market it is sometimes hard to stick to your guns of working with ideal clients, as some agents are in scarsity mode. Now more then ever we have to watch not to bring in the toxic client as they are like crab grass. Let it take root and it ruins your entire lawn. Have a shape up or ship out talk as soon as they start acting up. Better yet, it's better to qualify better up front so they don't have a chance to ruin your energy to begin with.
Hi Patti,
I loved the photos on this blog...and I can appreciate the analogy. Gotta go grab my garden gloves and hoe...tootles!