Generally clients can be categorised into two: there are dream clients (best buyers) and clients who will suck the life out of your business. This is not uncommon in the AV industry also. Checkout this classification of clients:
- Low profit and high maintenance clients.
They drive a hard bargain on the costing of the project but once you’re done with it, you realise the project was a loss. You wouldn’t have to wait for completion to find out they are taking you for a ride. In such cases, neither is the scope of work defined nor do they have the technical expertise. Hence the result: ambiguity and waste of time and resources. It’s best to possibly avoid these clients. I have had clients who even after project delivery, didn’t pay us for more than a year as they were not able to get payment from the final client.
- Low profit and low maintenance clients.
These clients usually don’t do much projects in your field so when they finally decide to go with your services, it’s only a small piece of the pie, for which they genuinely need help. They follow a professional approach by finishing their part with due diligence and then give you clarity on your part. You, indeed will be able to get your work done efficiently but on the flip side it’s of little monetary worth.
- High profit and high maintenance clients.
These clients are usually tied up with high value and volume projects and so you may be dealing with prestigious projects, which could also be showcase projects for your company. However, due to the workload involved you may need to add more resources and time to get the project finished. Usually, in such cases there is quite close a balance with the profit and the work involved.
- High profit and low maintenance clients.
These clients are your best buyers and the ones you need to focus on the most. They form a great rapport with you and empathize with you to make sure that your work is minimal but with high value. They make sure that the needs of their end user is well taken care of and that the end user is totally dependant on them. They charge the end user adequately so that everyone is satisfied. These projects don’t have much constraints in terms of budget, time or resources as during the design and planning phase there would be a road map planned taking everything into consideration.
What type of clients do you usually deal with?
