Never listen to your clients

One of the most staggering realisations I ever had is that when a client recommends something, 9 times out of 10 it is a bad idea to agree with them.

You might read that and think “well that’s a bit rude”

But that is the exact reason I used to listen to my clients.

I thought if I did what they wanted, there would be no issues.

Long story short, that bit me in the ass more than a few times.

Here’s why.

When you sign a client, they are paying you because you are smart, you work hard, and you make good decisions.

If they tell you to do something, it’s because it is their belief that it’s the right way to do it.

The problem with that is, their belief of right and wrong is usually so incredibly off the mark that it leads to bad results.

And even if it was their idea that led to the bad results, it’s your job to make good decisions.

So even when they mess up, it’s still your fault because you are meant to know better (you are the expert).

If you think about it, the client is running a business, managing a team, trying to scale etc.

Why would they know anything about cold email, email marketing, ads or anything like that?

If you are even close to an expert at your service, you will know 100x more about it than any of your clients (unless you have a client who has a background in that thing).

For that reason, when your client has a ‘suggestion’ to go in one direction, you need to convince them to go in the correct direction (which is usually not theirs lol).

This requires:

• Some balls to tell your client ‘no’

• Good frame so you can stand on business

• A strong argument as to why you should do it your way

The easiest way to do this is to mention the implication of doing it their way, then provide evidence, then mention the benefit of doing it your way + evidence.

EG something like:

“Yeah we had a similar idea to you and actually tried that with X big clients which lead to Y result. The reason it ended up not working was because of XYZ and ABC factors outside our control. The way we fixed it was by doing X new thing which lead to Y benefit.

Based on that I would say Z is the best direction.”

Then, if worse comes to worse and they push back, you can offer to AB test their idea vs yours, and just hope yours wins.

If their idea wins, that is actually fine because you want to run a company where the best idea wins anyway.

Even as I say this, you have to remember that the best idea should always win, even if it’s not yours.

The point is, don’t just take the client’s idea as the best one just because they’re your client.

Namaste.

PS - this video shows you how to make $1m profit in the next 12 months.

Check it out (link)