We have all heard the sales mantra, “we don’t want all of the customers, just the best ones.” Whether you agree with that sentiment or not, we would all have to agree that some clients are more valuable than others.
So, the question is: what makes a good customer? Overall revenue? Profitability? A recognizable name? The relationship between your company and theirs? Just good overall synergy? All of these items are important, and perhaps something else comes to mind that I failed to mention. But I propose another factor that is foundationally more important. It applies whether your product is a raw material, a manufactured product, or a service.
We are a service company, and our product is commercial cleaning services such as restroom sanitation, office cleaning, restorative floor cleaning services, carpet and window cleaning, maintenance services, etc. When we look for prospective clients (and we are selective in the type of prospects we seek out) we look for evidence of one thing first: that they place a realistic value on excellent cleaning and sanitation. We can talk about points of differentiation like direct supervision and management of all workers, quality control systems, certifications, and other things. But if the prospect is only interested in low price, it all falls on deaf ears. If our service is viewed as a commodity none of these things matter to them, price is the only differentiator. We need to ask questions that relate to why the company is interested in talking to us at all in order to “qualify” the company and management team as a prospective good customer. Do they really value top notch cleaning ” and do they value it enough to pay just a little bit more for it. If not, we prefer to move on as the prospect is probably not a good fit of us, nor are we for them.
