Happy Friday, everyone!
Here is this week's poll question:
What is the most difficult client you've ever had? What made the relationship difficult? How did you handle it?
Looking forward to reading your answers!
My most difficult client was the owner of a nursery and landscaping business. We had just come out with a great 4th quarter package, and I knew this was one of his big times to sell fall planting for spring color, landscaping, and patio design. Though the package was a great one, he COMPLAINED about the prices, and kept trying to manipulate the numbers. He claimed he'd been "grandfathered" into lower rates by the previous management (rates that would have been low for the 1970's).
I finally offered him an even better deal: go with both stations and pay up front and he'd get a 20% discount on the already low rates. We passed faxes back and forth. He agreed to the deal, I wrote copy, and brought it to his office for approval, then asked for a check. He denied that the up front payment was ever part of the deal, even when I showed him the faxes! Then he said if that was the deal, we weren't doing business.
How did I handle it? I never raised my voice. I asked him if he was sure he didn't want the deal. When he said no again, I said thanks and walked from his office. My sales staff has strict instructions never to darken his door.
Do I treat everyone like this? No. From our meetings and conversations, and from his past history I knew that we would always have trouble doing business and collecting from this guy. I'd given him a great chance to advertise his goods and services at a fantastic price, and he'd turned it down because he didn't want to keep our deal. I did the math. I knew that in the end it would never be profitable to deal with this guy.
Besides, he has competition. (insert evil laugh here.)
That is easy. Back in the mid 80's I had a potential client who owned a drugstore. He was a gruff man and he said no for 51 consecutive weeks. When I went there on week 52, he glared at me and asked, "What do I have to do to get rid of you"? I told him that he could buy advertising from me. He said, "Is that all? My daughter handles that". I went and talked to the daughter and they ended up being a long term client. She also told me that he was waiting to see if we(the new radio station) would be around after the first year.
By the way, he eventually sold out and the station is still there.
A local auto dealership was sold and purchased by a man who was from the St. Louis area his entire life.This man was around 55 then, and I must of been around 23 or so. I had him on the air some, not much, and I sawhim every Wednesday morning for commercial copy changes. I went in one day and made a sales presentations with the commercials at the time running around $6.00 each. Thats right $6.00 each. That's when the fun started. He poppedoff to my why my station WAKO 103.1 FM & AM 910 was any better than anyone else's operation. I gave him some reasons why using LOCAL radio was a good solid business decision. Well this really set him off as he informed me he could call right now a really popular St. Louis station and buy commercials in prime morning drive time for $2.50 each. Thats right Two Dollars and Fifty Cents each. I said great, give me the number, I*ll call from YOUR office and buy you $1,000.00 {400 commercials} and I will write out a check right now and mail it. I*ll buy the spots for you. Well, all the salesmen were listening to this conversation because he started this out in the middle of his large nice show room. Employee's and customers heard this entire conversation. Needless to say, I did not get the number for that popular St. Louis radio station. When I walked out the salesmen applauded me and the owner about had a heart attack. When I came back to the station I pulled his flight, wrote him a letter wishing him luck without W A K O advertising. He called me about 8 months later wanting rates for a Live Remote GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE ! I just laughed and told him it was $2.50 !
See ya, bye !
Kent Lankford
WAKO 103.1 FM & AM 910
Lawrenceville, Illinois - Vincennes, Indiana
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This case was very recent. Mix Martial Arts school. Signed a 13 week contract, heavily discounted for providing his credit card for upfront payment, and he decided to cancel after two weeks and ask for his money back. Long story short, he cried fraud with his bank, complained to the BBB, and was constantly threatening legal action.
But the worst part was the threats he was making directed at the female AE who was handling his account. He even came into the station demanding his money back, and we had to call the police on him.
Overall, a very violent individual giving martial arts instructors a bad name.
With over 25 years in the biz, I've had a few clients who were difficult to deal with. My solution? Try to uncover the root cause and then work to build a mutual trust in moving forward.
As a professional advertising representative, I have always felt that a client relationship is a two-way street. If we can work together to build their business, great! If not, I will relinquish the account. I would rather replace the revenue through continued new business development than to continue working on a miserable business relationship.
Life is waaaaaaaay too short!
As a young and wet-behind-the-ears GM, I pressed a long-standing sponsor of the 8AM news for a renewal and rate increase. I pushed harder as the deadline loomed. The client (hardware store) bristled at the new rate and pushed back. (In hindsight, all the client wanted was my "ear", a little empathy and maybe some minor concessions.) My ego got the best of me, and after a week of no sponsorship, I told my seller to ink a deal with a competitor.
The result was a totally pissed off long-standing client who swore he would never do business with me again. And he kept his word for 25-years. I figure that represented lost income of a half-million bucks.
Then, an enterprising sales rep broke the logjam and sold the crusty hardware merchant a schedule. I asked, "How the hell did you do it?". He said, "Simple. I bouight a small folding camping shovel and a hatchet from the hardware store. Gift warpped them and attached a card which said 'Harold, it's been 25-years. Let's bury the hatchet." With a smile, the hardware merchant agreed.
Lessons: Do you know the lifetime value of a client? And, you can't go wrong with a strong customer focus.
Cheers,
Gord
I had a client (potential client, actually) that was interested in a schedule. Every time he was close to signing he would back off. I then decided it was time to move the prospect forward or get him off my account list. I wrote him a "Dear John" letter. I apologized for my inability to help him see the benefits of radio in general and our station group in particular. I told him it had become painfully obvious to me that we would not be doing business any time soon and that I needed to devote energy to my current customers who needed and wanted my time and attention. I told him that I remained confident that we would do business one day and I looked forward to serving him then.
The day he received the letter I got an immediate phone call and a signed contract the following day.
