As business began to really boom at its next level for VSC (Vanessa Summers Companies) in the last couple of years, so began an entirely new level of client interactions with volume behind it. And with this new plethora of client relationships came an unexpected awakening.
I recently found myself asking myself a very revealing and valuable question: “Do you show up as a client the way you would want your clients to show up for you?”
This question really challenged me to check myself and do an honest inventory of various transactions with vendors over the years whom I now consider valued service and product providers.
In truth, there were times in my early entrepreneurial career where I failed on this front. I humbly report that I was not the client for others that I so deeply treasure to be today and seek to work with as a vendor myself.
As business owners, I believe we organically attract, oftentimes, a mirror image of who we are, how we show up as a client for others’ businesses, and who needs the level of value of what we have to offer with our services and/or products. It’s a valuable exercise for you to ask yourself the question, “Are you the client you seek?”
Today, when I work with valued vendors, I pride myself on a set of principles that I believe allows me the opportunity to be an example of the ideal client I seek to work with as well as enhances the working relationship with my vendors.
The theme for me personally and professionally thus far for 2010 is how incredibly valuable it is having the right vendors or, in effect, the right relationships on your team when it comes to scaling for big business success. It would make sense that until I really learned how to be the ideal client I seek, I wouldn’t attract the ideal team of vendors to support my new level of business and life success.
So, with that said, please find below a mini-checklist I have come up with to hold myself accountable to be the best client I can be, with the understanding that the pendulum swings both ways as an entrepreneur: If I seek to have an incredible team of experts and access to exceptional products to support my success, wouldn’t I need to exemplify being a exceptional client in the world, too?
Checkpoint No. 1: Appreciation. I am constantly expressing appreciation to the vendors that make my business and life not just run but hum with simplicity and new successes! From my accountant to my lawyers to merchant processors, bankers, consultants, catering managers, property managers, alliance partners and even my nannies and gardeners. I am constantly thanking them for their time, value, help and support.
I do this not just because you win more bees with honey–I do this because I know that we are all human beings connecting, and I understand one of the quickest ways to elevate the quality of my life in business and personally is to elevate the quality of ALL my relationships.
I want my vendors to know that I care, I have their back, and I am sincerely grateful for their help and all that they do!
This level of appreciation has opened countless doors of unexpected opportunities and support for my business success and my life–which I humbly embrace. When was the last time you sent a thank-you note or popped a quick e-mail out to a vendor thanking him or her? Check yourself and make a plan. You’ll love putting all this good in the world–and the universe will reward you with incredible clients, too! I promise! :)
Checkpoint No. 2: Pay Promptly. Given that I have written finance books and that I come from a background of understanding not just my own early financial struggles as a twenty-something who was financially reckless way back when, but also having struggled in my early entrepreneurial days to be viable financially, I understand the “broke” mindset others sometimes come from.
For this reason, among others, I understand the vital importance of paying your vendors based on the terms agreed upon easily and promptly.
I agree upon a set price, scaled price or a payment plan with my vendor, and I make it easy for him to get paid. No chasing me down for payment, no multiple declined credit cards–and no drama. Not valuing the opportunity to pay promptly means you don’t value your vendor and, ultimately, you don’t value yourself.
In this scenario time is wasted, and no one profits on any level.
Checkpoint No. 3: Look For The Value vs. Minimize It. What I love about where I live from today is that I am truly going to make something good or even great no matter what happens! And when I work with vendors, I am looking for the good. I am looking for the value. I am looking to celebrate the progress–no matter what. And I know that my vendors feel that organically, and it allows them to shine at entirely new levels.
But this wasn’t always the case. In my early entrepreneurial days, I expected my vendors to work for discounted rates, I expected them to work overtime, I expected them to do so much for really so little. I didn’t value their time or even their products. In fact, sadly, I didn’t value them at all because I didn’t value myself.
In this consciousness, no matter what great gift the universe was trying to deliver to me, I always found ways to minimize it. The worst part was that I wasn’t even aware that I was doing it. Because of that I lost great opportunities to work with vendors that could really support me to new successes in valuable ways!
Checkpoint No. 4: Don’t Be The Problem Client, Be the Favorite Client. I hope my vendors are excited to hear from me. I want my vendors to look forward to doing business with me. I want my vendors to feel like I help them shine, and I make their day a little brighter! I seek to be the exception to the rule that the client is always right. I want my vendors to trust me and know that I am fair in my business dealings, that I seek to find the good, and that they don’t have to fear me being a problem client. I seek to put them at ease.
I believe if my vendors are at ease they will deliver with greater excellence and have more energy to dazzle me with their value over and over again.
Checkpoint No.5: Have Gate Check-in Points With Good Communication. When I have larger projects or needs with vendors, I suggest we have gate check-in points to revisit the project, the potential additional cost, the quality of work, new questions that have arisen, and other important information that would be good to communicate about.
I make it a habit to set time lines, goals, reviews and any other important gate check-in points that I think would be valuable. Do you do this?
Checkpoint No. 6: Express Your Disappointment and Accept that No One Is Perfect. If it all goes belly up with a vendor after you have practiced the first five checkpoints, don’t spend your valuable entrepreneurial time and energy obsessing over a vendor that will not work for you.
People are running their own patterns all the time, some of them fairly toxic. Your job is to minimize the drama with low-quality vendors who aren’t valuable to you. If you have made good faith efforts to be the best client you can be , then make a plan to let the vendor go. But I suggest that you do it with ease and grace.
It is our job to police our vendors by letting them know how extremely unhappy we are. If anything, feedback on how they could be doing it better could serve them at a higher and much more productive level.
The sooner I let a vendor go that doesn’t work for me, the sooner I find one that does, and that ultimately translates into increased revenue and ups my quality of life. Often, to get to the good vendors, I need to quickly sift through the ones that don’t sing to me.
Usually my exposure is minimal, since I seek to slowly build into these relationships in business–so it makes it easier to make changes early on if things are not clicking.
Having the right relationships is the name of the Extraordinary Quality of Life Game. If you desire big business success, I guarantee being the client you seek will leapfrog you forward in incredible ways you have yet to imagine!
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