Sometimes saying No to business is the right option
I had an email from a client the other day wanting help with the transfer of a domain name, and this was the response I had to send:
Transferring a domain name is fairly simple. You can go to the Go Daddy website, make an account and request a transfer through them if you would like to.
I appreciate you offering to pay us to handle this, but we are specialists, we have had to set a hard line to not get involved in the basic processes outside of our area as it takes up time that we do not have and means we would become inefficient at our job.
If you have someone building your website, this is a fairly simple thing to do theoretically, and they should be able to handle it for you. You can also do these things yourself.
What am I trying to illustrate here? We all want work, and if you are part of a small business, you want to say yes to everything that comes through your door – especially to things that pay and for people that already invest in some of your other products or services. However, you have to draw the line somewhere. I always say yes to work when I can, but sometimes you have to push it away. In this case taking on a task that we are not suited to do would end in the client being dissatisfied, and us looking like we’re bad at our jobs!
It’s not about saying no, it is about being clear about what you can and cannot do. It is actually about a brutal level of honesty not just with your clients, but more importantly with yourself. Let me give you an example.
I had a company come to me that wanted some work done and actually some systems built / bought. They are a large format printing company that are based in Manchester – and they have a very good reputation. They have been printing for a long time and have a number of clients all over the UK. They have a large turn over, have the budget to pay for the work that is done, and the main point of contact was not only clear about his objectives, but was professional and pleasant to speak to. They specialise in selling roller banners, but they also do good trade on a number of items including things like windows graphics and other exhibition items. They were a good client to have, and they were ready to let us prove ourselves, but they wanted the work done first with an invoice afterwards. Now I am part of a small company. We charge rock bottom rates, and we can do so because we don’t have the overheads that the bigger boys have. However, we also do not have the ability (because of the smaller profit margin we take) to do large amounts of work without prepayment. I had a choice, I could have just nodded my head, said I was going to begin work and then do nothing for a month. After a month I could have then billed them, they would have paid, I then could have done the work and it would have just appeared to have taken a month longer to do. They still get the work done, it is just I add a month to the timescale of results.
This is not a good way to do business however, and at the risk of them going elsewhere I explained that we had to take payment first. Things went quite for a month or so, and then they did come through! We’ve been working for them for some time now, and they are pleased with the work that we have done!
This worked out – so what is Brattling lesson?
Honesty. The difficult thing wasn’t being honest with them – to be honest we are always honest with our clients – honest! It was about be honest with ourselves as business people. Like any company, we have limitations that come with the style that we choose to work. In this case it was that we had to take payment at the beginning rather than at the end. What we can offer as a counter to that is cheaper rates and a better service, but it was a good reminder for us as to exactly how have to work to ensure client satisfaction.