Page 205 - Social Media Marketing

192 Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

with your fellow salespeople. During those meetings, you can
discuss problem clients and the possibility of swapping clients.
(I have three listing managers who regularly exchange clients
to better serve each client and nurture more productive and
profitable relationships. It's amazing, but true, that one per-
son's dream client can become a nightmare for another sales-
person and vice versa. If you can set aside your ego and make
rational decisions, you can often change assignments without
having to kick the client completely out the door.)
• Refer the problem client to a competitor. When I tell sales-
people this strategy, they always start to chuckle, because they
assume I'm trying to push my problem onto my competitor.
Well, that may be a side benefit, but actually, my competi-
tors are sometimes a better match for my problem clients.
Your problem client may actually be better suited to working
with your competitor than with you. Respectfully tell problem
clients that you want to make sure that their needs are met,
and the best way to accomplish that is to match them with
the excellent salesperson down the road. You may have the
option to collect a referral fee, making it a win-win-and-win
situation.

• Pull back. If you are a person who is obsessed with pleasing
others, your natural impulse when dealing with lousy clients
is to ramp up your efforts. Unfortunately, the harder you try
with some clients, the worse your relationship becomes. Take
the counterintuitive approach instead: Back off. One of two
things can happen as a result: Either the client feels ignored
and leaves, which is certainly fine, or the client realizes that he
or she has been a pain in your posterior and recognizes how
valuable you are and shapes up. Either way, you win!

Tip: Take the blame. Never blame the client for the failed rela-
tionship, even if the client is 100 percent at fault.