Clients First: The Two Word Miracle

Who’s Firing Whom?

Whether following Pareto’s 80/20 rule, Hubbard’s suppressive personality profile, or any number of other propositions that weed out the troublemakers, the nonperformers, and the unprofitable, professionals often seek to judge a prospective client’s potential. The agent wants to eliminate the ones who may be hostile or difficult to satisfy.

When carried a step further, why stop at the unruly? Why not eliminate the potentially low-profit or unprofitable clients? Taken a few steps further, an agent may eliminate all sorts of groups.

In an effort to succeed in this venture of avoiding troublesome clients, professionals find all sorts of ways to qualify the client. They use questionnaires. They figuratively set up hoops for clients to jump through. “Oops, you didn’t jump through hoop number three and come in for a pre-home-showing interview, so we won’t work with you.”

Although professionals serve clients and clients hire professionals, it is not unheard for doctors to say they fired this patient or lawyers to say they fired that client. In fact, many trainers, coaches, and teachers in the real estate business suggest that the road to success and life balance lies in firing bad clients. How did we get to this? A client is not ours to fire. A client is ours to serve; if we cannot or will not do so, it is for the client to fire us.

How does all of this fit with Client’s First? Do we call it 80 percent of Clients First? How about if we say, “Just the profitable Clients ...