Weed out bad customers - AYASOFT Ghana

For most businesses, revenue is the primary metric, while important, this number reflects only what happened in the past, not what will happen in the future.

Revenue is a trailing metric, a result that cannot help you change course mid-process and does little to establish a sustainable foundation for your start-up business.

Looking at profit is not enough, companies need to look at people.

Rushed Sales vs. Bad Customers

Which would you prefer: a consistent growth pattern month after month but with high turnover and bad customers, or a strong base of loyal customers with repeated business?

If revenue is the only goal - quality of customers is reduced by the very nature of selling by price, it does little to drive sustainable sales and continued business in future.

Going fast in sales (by offering discounts) is attractive, but to the wrong types of customers.

These customers, are the ones who are addicted to the thrill of CHEAP, and share a lack of thoughtfulness.

They make quick decisions to buy and just as quickly will leave bored and move on to the next shiny item.

They did not plan for a long-term relationship, they are impulsive and afraid of commitment. They look for a quick fix for their immediate needs.

It is common business knowledge that gaining new customers is exponentially more expensive and time consuming than working to retain existing customers.

Bad customers come in fast and step out just as fast or screw you in ways you never imagined.

So how can you stay clear of these bad 'nuts?

Stop rushing sales!

It could be you find yourself rushing through sales calls because the list only getting longer. You want to complete your task in a hurry. Yet when you rush yourself, you inherently rush the prospect, and all of this is again, a formula to attract bad customers.

Too much SPEED in SALES is dangerous and produces undesirable results

Of course you can not stop doing sales altogether, but analyse your methods and stop doing the unproductive things.

Rushed sales and fast methods are not effective, or when they are effective, they might just create an easy gateway to the wrong type of customers.

When you become more effective, in the right way, your business becomes more profitable in the long run.

You gain the opportunity to add more staff to outsource some of the stressful tasks. This expansion, in turn, promotes the desired efficiency while still preserving the level of thoughtfulness and effectiveness that earns you the position you find today.

Let's face it: Bad customers are unavoidable.

Even if you slow down your processes intentionally, you may still end up with some bad customers, but fewer of them.

For every bad customer you drop, you open up space to pursue and satisfy several good customers who intend to return to your business once they feel their needs are being met.

Knowledge, Skills, Experience and Discipline

If we eliminate fast processes, then the role of sales executives (product experts), gains a critical importance, they must be highly experienced and knowledgable.

In-depth Product Knowledge

Do you really KNOW what you are selling? I mean, inside and out, backwards and forwards, on the script and off the script?

Detailed product knowledge (using the product yourself), enables you to be an expert, or consultant that lends credibility not only to the product being sold but also building a relationship where the customer knows just who to call to receive great service and durable solutions.

Customer Knowledge

"A good salesperson can sell a freezer to an Eskimo", wowing the prospect with enough noise or discounts to win over the sale - this is how (more often than not), bad customers come on board.

A great salesperson can see beyond the sale, getting to know a potential customer enough to gauge a good fit.

Business Knowledge

By taking the time to know your business, you can transform and work from your strengths instead of compensating for weaknesses.

When you know every detail of your business, you can relate honestly with prospects, and honesty is attractive when targeting a long term relationship.

People like being with people who are knowledgeable and confident - this will enable you sell differently.

Skills

Skills provide stability. Many salespeople rely on speed and discounts to hit sales goals, but these are moving targets that deliver uncertain long term results.

Savvy sales professionals employ skills to engage with customers and close deals.

Unskilled salespeople jump around with frenetic energy. They get sidetracked and unthinkingly take the path of least resistance.

They don’t know what it takes to commit to the long, slow, winning process.

Discipline

Just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

Discipline in the sales process requires self-control, and doing things 'the slow way', making a point of not cutting corners or adding artificial pressure to a long process.

Give prospective customers space because moving a customer faster than he or she wants to move might mean losing them.

It can be the shift that turns your 'good customer' into a bad one simply because you started off on the wrong foot.

Take thoughtful steps instead of rushing toward visible results. It may not be as exciting, but it is a whole lot more sustainable.

In the wise words of Carl Honore from his book In Praise of Slowness:

“Evolution works on the principle of survival of the fittest, not the fastest. Remember who won the race between the tortoise and the hare.”

The goal of sales must be turning potential customers into long-term customers.

Work to maintain the relationship so that when the time or need is right, that customer will come to you.

Sometimes, this means waiting until the customer has a budget.

What was a fast sales person's “end” might just have been the time to slow down and wait.

Fast is quickly forgotten.

Nowadays you can find distraction everywhere. There is always something new to watch, a flashy thing to see, or very urgent that requires immediate response.

Amidst this density of sight and sound, what can your marketing and sales team do to stand out?

Go sustainable. Grow slow.

When everything is moving faster and getting louder, the thing that grabs and holds attention is the fish that stands still as the river rushes by.

A slow sale is a different buying experience. It attracts buyers because it conveys patience, persistence, and long-term presence. It is not flashy or trendy; it does not lose interest quickly.

In Web design we favour CLEAN over cluttered, SIMPLE over complex and FUNCTIONAL over fancy.

Adopting a slow sale strategy avoids unpredictable reactions to constant change. Slow sales enable you to adapt patiently to meet the evolving needs of customers and actually save time.

When we engage customers in a sale, we want to stop, pause, and grab their attention. We want them to focus on the brand and be 'moved' in a way that drives them to the desired action.

People attend workshops and conferences, read books or watch influencer videos because they recognize a problem and want a long term solution.

They seek the help of experts - it’s a much slower process, but a long term one.

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People...it's not a brand new metric.