Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Moving to wordpress

This blog has found a new home here: http://www.dubaiplanet.net/

I am starting to feel uneasy about Google and the way they have neglected taking any action on the UAE Community Blog since April 24, 2008 until now.

So, see you on the other side!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Cutting your losses with prospects

There is a certain point when you have to decide if the cost of doing business with a certain institute is conductive for the growth of your company. The truth of the matter is, many business relationships are better off severed.

We have been harassed by a company in Abu Dhabi to provide them with our services. We have done the face-to-face meeting, demonstrations, etc. We have even continued negotiations on the phone. They insist that our competition's prices are more competitive. We reaffirmed that we don't compete on prices and if they are cost-sensitive, they can very well go with any provider they please. It will not hurt our feelings! They kept on.

Then they continued to insist on another face-to-face meeting. This was followed by another short period of a trial of the services. This was followed by a string of nonsensical complaints.

Then, I've had a moment! For the love of everything that is good in this life, cut them loose! Why are we enduring this torture? The size of business is small (relative to other accounts). The prospect has no brand equity to leverage. Why are we wasting our time on this?

There are several reasons why you would find it necessary to put up with a prospect who is going to cost you a lot of time to maintain and pamper:

* Brand equity -- the prospect is a major brand whose business will look good on your portfolio, bringing you other business to offset theirs.
* High pay -- the prospect is willing to pay for your troubles. Quote high enough to cover having someone's time spent on them.
* More business, not profit -- if your goal is to get a larger market share, regardless of the profit (say, you have the funds to keep you going even if you operate at a loss from a few clients here and there)..
* Help you improve -- there are occasions when a prospect is demanding in a way that would force you to reconsider some of your own processes in order to optimize it. This type of prospect/client is a keeper.

Aside from the above, cut them loose sooner than later.