Entrepreneurs who love too much . . .
Not sure how or when, but my business life is starting to resemble a Sex in the City episode. I feel like I have become the Carrie Bradshaw of the small business world. "Can clients really change?" Tonight’s business meeting felt like a bad dinner with an ex.
The relationship between you and your client is just that - a relationship. Some of them work and some don’t. It’s not about whose right or wrong, it just may be a bad fit. While we may spend a lot of time trying to meet the client’s expectations and pride ourselves with being attentive to their needs, occasionally we just end up on different pages.
Tonight’s meeting was with a former client, who has always had a different approach to business. My gut said “Don’t do it,” but the ex-client was insistent. While the meeting started off on decently enough, we quickly fell back into old patterns. Was this outcome inevitable?
When we make bad business decisions, hopefully we at least learn from them. So, if you and a client don’t see eye to eye consider your options. If you can work past it and resume a healthy working relationship, by all means that is the optimal path. But if you see a recurring pattern that can’t be fixed – move on. Trust me that this relationship neither benefits you nor the client.
Opportunities for us to learn and grow arise often throughout our careers. While some of these opportunities are painful, they provide a chance for us to reflect and apply the lessons to grow our businesses.
The relationship between you and your client is just that - a relationship. Some of them work and some don’t. It’s not about whose right or wrong, it just may be a bad fit. While we may spend a lot of time trying to meet the client’s expectations and pride ourselves with being attentive to their needs, occasionally we just end up on different pages.
Tonight’s meeting was with a former client, who has always had a different approach to business. My gut said “Don’t do it,” but the ex-client was insistent. While the meeting started off on decently enough, we quickly fell back into old patterns. Was this outcome inevitable?
When we make bad business decisions, hopefully we at least learn from them. So, if you and a client don’t see eye to eye consider your options. If you can work past it and resume a healthy working relationship, by all means that is the optimal path. But if you see a recurring pattern that can’t be fixed – move on. Trust me that this relationship neither benefits you nor the client.
Opportunities for us to learn and grow arise often throughout our careers. While some of these opportunities are painful, they provide a chance for us to reflect and apply the lessons to grow our businesses.
posted by Mike Doherty at
9:54 PM
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