David: Even if we accept the idea that we're going to interact with people who are not ideal clients, I think one of the other things that causes salespeople trouble is when they're afraid to disqualify a prospect. To say, okay, I'm no longer going to follow up with this person.
I've always viewed it a little like the game musical chairs that you played as a kid? You got a certain number of people going around, a certain number of chairs, and when the music stops, everybody scrambles to get a chair. And if you don't have a chair, you're out, right?
And I view prospecting that way in some respects. Where you have to, at some point, start to prune the list. You have to start to get rid of the people who are not likely to become clients. And if you're afraid to do that, then you will continue to leave the same number of chairs and the same number of people.
Jay: Yes.
David: And if none of them are buying, it's not going to work well.
David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. In today's episode, co host Jay McFarland and I will be discussing letting ideal clients know you're alive. Welcome back, Jay.
Jay: Hey, so good to be here, David. And I think this is, again, such an interesting topic. I find that I'm so caught up in the daily, just taking the calls and squeaky wheel gets the grease, and some of those ideal clients kind of go by the wayside sometimes.
David: Yeah, and a lot of times we don't even know who they are until we first try to identify them. So, in a sense, the topic itself goes kind of deep because you can't know they're an ideal client until you even know that they're alive. And then you have to let them know that you're alive, and then you have to determine if they're an ideal client.
Jay: Yeah.
David: So there are actually a few steps in this.
Jay: Yeah, and I think that's such an important thing to know, kind of have a system, like you always have, of identifying those ideal clients. It's hard for me to really figure out if they're ideal up front. But I'll tell you one thing I can tell is when they're not ideal.
I was on the phone call with somebody yesterday, he's going to become a client, but I'm regretting the relationship I know I'm going to have with him because he's already so demanding. And I'm like, this guy's not ideal, but he's a customer. And so, how can I not sell him the product?
David: Yeah, that's a great question.
And it's harder for some than others, I think. You get to a certain point in your business or a certain point in your career or whatever and you weigh it. Well, I guess we all do that. We have to weigh it. How much of a pain is this person going to be? And what's my tolerance for pain essentially, right?
Jay: Yeah. Yeah.
David: But you're exactly right. You don't really know that necessarily upfront. So a lot of times when we're working with our clients, what we'll do is start with the people they think are likely to be their ideal clients. And whether that means in a certain geographic area or in a particular industry or in a certain sized company, if they're selling B2B, You can make some initial judgments based on who has been a good client for you in the past, and then say, okay, how can I get more people like that?
And then when you're introducing yourself to those people who meet those similar criteria, as you're having those conversations, you can then start to make those determinations about whether or not they are an ideal client, or if they just sort of fall in that general ecosphere of people who could potentially be ideal clients, but maybe aren't.
Jay: Yeah, exactly. And not just finding new ideal clients, turning your existing ideal clients into more business. Because if they were ideal the first time, if you can keep that to be a generating ongoing revenue source and relationship... Man, I'd rather do that every day than deal with the other type of customer.
David: Yeah, no question.
