Embracing Your Inner Marvin

Posted by Laura Bergells

March 17, 2006

We’ve all had to fire customers from time to time. You know the ones: they have unrealistic expectations, or they are rude to you or your employees.

In other words, they drain you intellectually and emotionally, so much so that they aren’t worth the time or energy you put into helping them achieve their goals. So you let them go…

…and it’s amazing what happens when you do. Nature hates a vacuum, so something else fills up the time and space that they were taking up. And usually, it’s something very good, indeed.

Now, I’m usually pretty good at not attracting what I call “bad customers” at all….in fact, I cherish every single client on my books right now, and I won’t fire a single one. I’m downright giddy when I help them exceed their goals, and they appreciate my insight, advice, and work.

But every once in a while, someone slips through my radar, and they end up being a headache. I learn my lessons, take my lumps, and move on….and usually in a hurry.

The secret to attacting only the best clients: I have one phenomenal client who has developed a fool-proof system for making sure that not one single headache client slips through his radar — and he hasn’t had a bad customer in years. Here’s his secret:

Marvin.

Marvin is a little dog that works out of his office. Marvin’s a nice little fellow. He comes up to me, sniffs my shoes, wags his tail, asks me to scratch behind his ears for a minute. Marvin seems satisfied, wanders off to greet and inspect the other humans in the office, or takes a nap on his cushion.

My clients have learned to do business only with people that Marvin seems to like. They say that when Marvin cringes, growls, barks, or scurries away when a new client enters the door — they won’t take the guy (or gal) on as a client…or a vendor.

It seems that in the past, everyone that Marvin didn’t like ended up being a problem. So now, my clients just trust Marvin’s animal instincts….and they haven’t had a problem client since.

Marvin’s great at his job. The only problem is that Marvin’s great in person, but he’s lousy at vetting the phone and internet customers!

But not to worry:

I’ll bet you and your employees have Marvin’s instincts, too. It’s just that sometimes, we humans get so dang impressed with our intelligence, we forget to rely on our instincts. So watch your body language….

If you find yourself wincing, cringing, or fighting the urge to run away when that “certain customer” calls or emails….or grabbing aspirin bottles, self-medicating, or simply massaging your head a lot… or spend more time griping about what a problem the client is instead of focusing on how to help the client meet their goals…..then your “inner Marvin” is trying to tell you to let that customer go. You’re not a good fit.

So fly, little bird, fly!

Go ahead and do it. You’ll feel great.

And your inner Marvin will love you for it.