Protect Your Portfolio!

Over a quarter of a century ago, I found myself in a perplexing situation. After having worked for years to build up a large clientele of printing industry staffing clients, my employer was sold to another business. The new owners made it extremely difficult for me to operate in my particular specialty. Their message was something to the effect of, “We still want you to make printing placements, but we don’t want to advertise it because printing isn’t ‘sexy enough’ for the stockholders.”

With that in mind, I left that employer and went to work for a competitor. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that my previous noncompete agreement was enforceable. I left the second staffing company after only a few months and went to work for a third staffing company — albeit, not in a recruiting role. This is when I became a seminar presenter and coach.

Ironically, even though I was not in a recruiting capacity, within two years all of my previous customers from the first staffing company were doing business with my employer at the time. What the original staffing company failed to understand was that the customers were not loyal to the organization but to the individuals providing the service. Within two years, both of my previous staffing employers notified their clients (now, my clients) that they would no longer be placing people in the printing industry.

There are several lessons worth learning from this story. First, clients go where they feel appreciated and important. Would you like to be told you’re not “sexy enough?” Second, even after all the customers came to my new employer, I still didn’t do any placements for them. Some of them came out of loyalty but most of them came because they understood the level of service they could expect from a company in which I was a partial owner. Third, and most important, remember to protect your portfolio of clients. How do they feel about you? Do they know they are important and valued by you? Are you providing a service that would make them withstand your competitors’ attempts to steal them away?

One of the lessons I teach in the Sales Academy is that who you are employed by and who you work for are not the same thing. You should always be working for your customers. Your employer will benefit as much as your clients when you do.

“Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.” – Nancy Pearcy

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled, The Psychology of Selling IV: How to Capture 100% of Your Market. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person The Psychology of Selling IV: How to Capture 100% of Your Market seminar on Thursday, July 13, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.