I Love Them, I Love Them Not

We’ve all had them.  The ones who’ve made things feel so exciting and effortless.  The ones you think about and can’t wait to see again and again.  No, I’m not talking about the Valentines of years gone by, I’m referring to the favorite customers of your present.  There are the customers you LOVE to love and the customers you love ‘not so much’.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just love them all?  Or at least figure out how to make the ones who you don’t love, more lovable? Or just wrap things up and move on?

As my Valentine gift to you, I’ve created the ‘Customer Love Assessment’ to help you do just that! (The 9-box will look familiar to those of you with experience in Talent Management.)

I love them I love them not.png

Step 1:  Take the name of each of your recurring clients and put it in a small, medium or large heart. The size of the heart indicates how much you enjoy the work for that customer.

Step 2: Place the heart in the appropriate space on the 9-block grid.

  • The x- axis, identifies how much effort it takes to deal with that customer for invoicing and scheduling. I refer to this as “wrapper hassle”. Do you have to regularly follow-up to have your invoice paid? Does your client constantly cancel or reschedule appointments?
  • The y-axis, identifies how lucrative the work for that customer is.

Now What?

For my business, and I assume for yours too, the goal is to have mostly big hearts in the high Revenue and low Wrapper Hassle box of the grid. Sometimes a visual like this helps bring important things to your attention.

For example, some clients, like Client C, are taking a lot of energy for not very much money and not very much satisfaction.

Think about the following:

  • What have you tried to minimize the wrapper hassle?
  • Is there anything that could be done to make the work more fun?
  • If not, what about wrapping up the work for that client and replacing them with a client who is a better fit?

On the other hand, some clients, like Client B make you LOVE your work and bring out best in you.

  • What makes the work with Client B so fun?
  • What can you do to get more of that kind of work?

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Now go grow your own customer LOVE!

Catalyst Performance ConsultingCustomer Appreciation, Customer Assessment