I specialise in helping small service-based businesses achieve sustainable growth. As I work with so many business owners I have noticed a significant trend with this particular set of business owners…they like to serve.
No huge surprise there then! Their service-based ethos usually means they are lovely people. They will go out of their way to ensure their clients have a great experience of their business, they will make sure they deliver excellent results and they are simply lovely.
An integral part of their loveliness is that they rarely say “No” and that’s normally because they feel they would be letting someone down if they said “No”.
Have I just described you? I have described me!
It’s fab to deliver an excellent service and client experience but sometimes it can go too far and actually start to be damaging to you.
Imagine a scenario where a client phones up and needs something done in a real hurry. You say “Yes” even though you are already fully booked for the day because you know that you can squeeze it in if you work late. There’s also a good chance you don’t charge any extra for the rapid turnaround.
Does that resonate with you?
As a one-off that isn’t particularly problematic but when it is a normal occurrence it can begin to get quite painful.
Your service-based wiring convinces you that you need to respond to your client’s requests and so the behaviour, both theirs and yours, starts to become quite ingrained and before you know it, your clients requests tend to be mostly last minute and your working hours get longer and longer.
How about this situation…you are approached by a prospect that has a sizable requirement which you could deliver, although it’s not a perfect match for you. The prospect is very keen so even though it doesn’t feel totally right, you write a proposal and they accept it. You’ve gained a client but you aren’t massively happy. The overall result will be a client that you begin to dislike working with.
I love this next example because I think we all do it. You are with a client talking through a new piece of work they want to commission. You get to the point in the discussion where a deadline for delivery needs to be agreed. You’ve already been thinking about it. You are pretty maxed out but you want to please the client so you suggest a deadline which the client happily agrees to. Great? Nope! You suggested a deadline which causes you pain to deliver without actually asking the client when they need it by! Quite often you will put more urgency on to it than the client does so you cripple yourself without checking the client needs it that quickly. Doh!
I could give you more examples of how your service-based wiring can cause you issues, but I’m sure you are starting to see the pattern.
So how do you break free of your innate ability to agree to everything? You stay focused on what you want to achieve. In most of these examples it’ll be around what hours you are willing to work for what level of income, and who you want to be working with. Once that is cemented in your mind then it’s easier to manage those lovely clients of yours.
Just remember it is absolutely OK to say “no”, or, as a minimum, to negotiate on deadlines and pricing.
How are you going to modify your service-based behaviour going forward?
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