Are Clients Wasting Your Time?
Sometimes I see something and just have to share it. Here is part of a little story told by Merlin Mann over at 43 Folders. The story is about identifying when a potential client is wasting your time.
I think it’s very interesting, not just from the standpoint of working for a professional services firm, but also from the vantage point of someone who buys services.
Another thing that is very interesting is that Merlin takes this concept and makes it very concrete by taking you into environment that many of us have been in before (the local deli).
Here is a portion of the story. But to get the full impact, I think you need to go over to 43 folders to read the full thing.
THE OSTENSIBLE CUSTOMER enters a deli and saunters up to the counter. The deli is tended by its rakishly handsome owner, THE SANDWICH GUY.
“Hi,” says The Sandwich Guy. “What looks good to you today?”
“Slow down,” says The Ostensible Customer, as THE LUNCH RUSH starts trickling in. “Lots of delis want my business, so, first I need to really understand what you can do for me.” “Well,” says The Sandwich Guy, “I guess I can try to do what I do for everybody here and make you a customized version of any of the 15 awesome sandwiches you see on my menu. What’re you hungry for?”
“Easy, easy, Ricky Roma! Before I make any decisions here I’m going to need to know a lot more about my options. Why are you so obsessed with ‘what I want?’”
“Okay, sorry,” says The Sandwich Guy, uneasily eyeing the growing queue of The Lunch Rush now piling up behind The Ostensible Customer. “What else can I do to help here?”
“That’s better,” says The Ostensible Customer. “Let’s start by sitting down for a couple hours and going over all the ingredients you have back there.”
The Sandwich Guy laughs congenially and hands The Ostensible Customer a menu. “Friend, I can make you whatever you want, but, if it helps, the 15 sandwiches listed here show all the ingredients–right there between the name and the price…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! The price?!? Already you’re reaching for my wallet? Jeez, I barely just arrived.”
The Lunch Rush is getting restless and grumbling audibly.
“Well. You know. I do sell sandwiches for a living,” says The Sandwich Guy. “Did you have a certain budget for your lunch in mind?”
“Oh, God, no. I’m nowhere near that point yet. I still need to learn a lot more about how you work, and so, obviously, I have no idea what I want to pay. Obviously.”
“Okay,” says The Sandwich Guy, “but…I can’t do much for you here without knowing either what you want to eat or how much money you want to spend. You get that, right?”
The Ostensible Customer is miffed.
“Listen, here. What I ‘get,’ so-called Sandwich Guy, is that you’re not going to rush me into some tricky lifetime sandwich commitment until I understand precisely who I’m working with. And, so far, I do not like what I see. Still. I intend to find out more. So, meet me in Canada tomorrow to talk about this for an hour.”
{sharethis}
