Putting this question into perspective, a client is a person who has ordered from you. A prospect is a person who can turn into a client. As a client care agent you don’t get to decide if a client is worth having or not, but your management certainly can and the guidelines are as follows:
First are we in business for profit only? Or for profit and sustainability? Do our company values play a role?
In our thinking a client is not worth having if they are unreasonable negotiators, if they again and again offer to purchase at a price that goes below the acceptable profit margin you have set for your organisation.
But this is not true if the value that the client can bring can be quantified in other ways.
For example you may well not get Job A at the profit margins you require, but you may well get a second much larger job because of the work you did at Job A. So that then becomes and exclusion to the rule above. Be careful though, the carrot of a larger job often does not pan out. This approach is often called “loss leading†in the retail industry.
A client is also not worth having if they do not pay you timeously. It’s simple. Rather walk away from the client if they repeatedly do not stick to their payment commitments, or at the very least have strictly enforced late payment interest clauses and escalated prices for them. Especially if the client is also resistant to paying deposits. The reason? The time spent in the collection of monies and having to scramble for cash flow is simply better invested in creating paying clients, and this is especially true for small business owners.
A client is also not worth having if they have unreasonable SLA expectations. For example if they put undue time pressure on you right from the start, you may as well build a buffer into that price. The bottom line is that a client who has unreasonable time expectations will most probably translate to an unreasonable client, full stop. This is likely to turn into one of those nightmare jobs where your return work, credits passed and withheld payments eat into your profit margins.
An exception to the rule above would certainly be if you are wanting to enter into a long term agreement with the client and their “unreasonable†demands are not really unreasonable, just requiring great understanding and commitment from your side. In that case, put a special team on the job for that client, and charge them for the privilege if at all possible.
Finally a client that has no ethics. Walk away. Client bribes, short cuts and financial mismanagement reeks of a company in trouble or at the least will be in trouble. Rather cut your ties and find an ethical client to work with. After all, your company values surely also play a role.
© Debbie Engelbrecht
Debbie Engelbrecht is the CEO of Staff Training, established in 2001. She is a soft skills facilitator and management coach and strives to enthuse, assist and empower her fellow South Africans wherever she has the skill to do so.