By: Bibi Goldstein
One of my favorite movies from the 80’s is “Can’t Buy Me Love;” believe it or not there are some great lessons in business in this movie. I mean here was this ingenious kid who figured out a very enterprising way to make himself popular. He had a plan to market himself.
A simple case of supply and demand, right? She needed his money and he needed her popularity. Except Business Lesson #1: He never got it in writing; so the terms of the agreement kept changing as their interactions changed. Do you use contracts with your clients? Do you update them with addendums when the scope of the work changes? Protecting yourself and your business by having things in writing is necessary in all your monetary interactions.
The evolution of this relationship began in the beginning when he treated her very well and was very attentive, until other popular kids started to notice him. Then he started to spend more time with the popular kids. Business Lesson #2: He wanted more and neglected the person that got him there. How often after the first few meetings or contacts with a client do you then move on to the next one, and how often do you come back to see how they are doing even after you complete the work for them? Customer attention, follow-up and service is so crucial to the success of any business, but more importantly it affects your reputation.
We then watched Ronnie Miller become so distraught over losing Cindy and his persistence was admirable in his attempts to win her back. He spent a lot more time, energy, money and pride on getting her back than he would have spent just holding on to what he had.
Do you know how much it costs you to lose or replace a client? Knowing this number will have you thinking twice.
Who says you can’t buy the love of a good client? 🙂
