It’s the opposite what feels socially acceptable.
Most of my coaching clients want to convince their difficult clients that it’s “working” or “it will work”. Or they are struggling clients who want a refund and they enforce a “no refund policy”.
I refund them. I tell them it won’t work for them. I tell them there’s probably a different business experience better suited for their needs.
I don’t convince them to think I’m worthy.
I show them I’m worthy.
But showing them the easy way to exit this relationship.
You see, when you do this, I protect my brand equity. I protect my google reviews from their access. I protect my staff from feeling inferior.
I protect my time and instead of wondering if they are convinced and worrying they will create angst for us…
I thank them for giving it a try and allow them to find a solution fit for their requirements. They eventually leave and also make a lot of collateral damage of the way out.
Or, in many cases, they see that my actions speak louder than my words.
And they immediately value our brand.
They take responsibility of their mis actions and ask to continue.
Sometimes it leaves us temporarily in debt. But it never leaves us in regret.
I have a couple of “labels” that allow my staff to know how they can assign priority (or deprioritize or ghost) people. One is called “Dead to me”, “Simmer”.
One is giving my staff permission to ghost contacts
and the other label allows them to let it sit for as long as they want.