Choosing your clients – The Red Velvet Rope Policy

Last week I attended a Conference in Miami hosted by The Entrepreneur Magazine.  There I met an absolutely crazy (crazy good) chap by the name of Michael Port who did a session on “How to book yourself solid”.  Today I want to deal with one area of his talk; his “red velvet rope policy” courtesy the folks at trusted advisor dot com.

At a time when business is in recession, who in their right mind would think of giving up clients?  Well, Mr Port argues that if some clients are draining your energy and sapping your inspiration, maybe it’s time to look for some that do the opposite.  Here’s a good summary on his talk from “trusted adviser”.

(following with credit to:  http://trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters/effective-prospecting-the-red-velvet-rope-policy)

He argues that in today’s competitive business landscape, many sellers offer “general admission” tickets to their theater. Scarce few define credentials for entry. Admittedly it’s counter-intuitive. After all, why would you want to limit your audience?

“The red velvet rope policy”, as described in Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port, suggests narrowing your focus. It requires you to shed the “all things to all people” shotgun approach.

Although written primarily for entrepreneurs and independents, its principles scale to any size organization. It’s rooted in a deeper-than-surface-level introspection of YOU. What do love doing, what inspires you and what are you most passionate about? Then, it asks you to look outside and consider what types of customers you should gain entry past your red velvet rope.

Admittedly, this advice will cut across the grain for many sellers. You might say, how can you ask me to turn away potential customers in a fiercely competitive market? Let go of a prospect…are you kidding?

The red velvet rope policy dares to view prospecting differently. Like a movie premiere, it restricts admittance to those with the proper credentials. Consider two categories by which to define credentials:

Internal:

• Expertise – What’s your track record/experience?
• Interest – What areas pique your curiosity?
• Passion – What do I genuinely get excited about?
• Talents – What are our/my natural talents?

External:

• Financial – What are their revenues, profits, ability to pay, etc.?
• Size – How many employees, lawyers, patients, students, etc.?
• Culture – Do their core values, beliefs and value proposition fit with ours?
• Market – What’s their geographic, vertical, team, product/services, etc.?

Instead of casting your net widely at all fish, first look introspectively and ask, “What kind of fish do I want to catch”?

Ask yourself – which of your customers do you enjoy spending time with and why? Do you have customers that drain you, deplete your energy, and drag down the troops?

Look at your prospect list – are the fish too small or too large for you to do an outstanding job for?

Do you love working in a particular market, such as healthcare, legal, religion, government, education, seniors, children, minorities, etc.?

What do people say you’re really good at?

Here’s the formula in a nutshell:

• Determine what inspires you >
• You’ll love what you do >
• You’ll do a better job at it >
• You’ll create more customer value and satisfaction >
• You’ll build a foundation of more loyal and profitable customers

The movie premiere is yours, the red velvet rope credentials can be set by you. Are you ready to decide who’s on the invite list?

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