How to Stop Getting Bullied in Business

Nothing burns out a business owner faster than being bullied by existing clients, potential customers, vendors and employees.

When I say, "Bullied" I mean pushed around;  threatened with losing business to a competitor, possible loss of initial sale or losing that ONE key vendor or ONE key employee.

I can say that after almost two decades in the service industry and now as an Internet information entrepreneur, consultant and coach, there is nothing that gets me more fired up and ready to eat nails than when I see or hear of a small business owner getting caught in one of these situations…

Which is why I am writing this today.

Some business owners – and I was one of them for awhile, so I know the feelings and mentality behind this thought process – think that "Because of this economy", they have to take any and every deal they can; they have to "give in" to every client demand, match every deal Joe Blow off the street offers, cave in to their ONE vendor's demands and NOT fire that one key employee because you "just can't afford" to train another one right now.

No – no – no…and hell no.

This is what EVERYBODY thinks is what they are supposed to do in this economy – and how is it working so far?  Not too well, is it?

Nothing will burn you out faster as a business person – and you DON'T have to do it.

Let's look at some businessmen I was working with this morning as an example.

They are in a retail service business that has some unique qualities and one of those qualities is that there is a very specific, step-by-step process that must be followed by the numbers to make sure that a prospective client gets the best experience they can, sees if the services are the right fit and they can have a profitable, long-term relationship BEFORE price is every mentioned in the presentation.

More than one person in the group asked me, "What do I do with the prospective clients that contact us and all they care about is price – I can't even get them into the beginning of the sales process because they are beating me up, asking only price-price-price?"

I said, "Get rid of them as fast as you can."

When I told them this, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop – on the carpet.

Turn away business – are you crazy?

Yes.  Not everyone is going to be a client.  Not all people who contact you are a good prospect.  You don't have to be desparate to get anyone, no matter what.

When it comes to the sale process, most outstanding businesses have a specific, step-by-step process that they know guarantees the highest level of satisfaction for a prospective client and the greatest level of success for their sales and marketing force. 

They usually know the percentage of success they have by following these processes.  This means they have a process all figured out – all they have to do is "plug in" the prospective client and the client's success and happiness is virtually guaranteed.

If the prospective client won't start the process in the first place – or the sales and marketing force can't follow the steps, then the results are never as good as they could be, because the process wasn't followed .

It's like a recipe for biscuits.  If you decide to change one of the ingredients instead of following the recipe – and you end up with pancakes instead of biscuits – you shouldn't be surprised.

I explained that as a business, if you have a set procedure that you know give both you and the client the greatest chance at satisfaction and success – and the prospective client can't or won't follow it – then they aren't a qualified prospect in the first place.

Reminds me of the old rule I had when I was single; if she was a pain in the you-know-what when we first started dating, she was going to be worse in the future.  The one or two times I violated that rule, I regretted it tremendously – and it has never been wrong in business for me.

I told them that when you encounter a prospect like this and they are "beating you up" over price, the best thing to do was explain that as a business, their happiness and level of success with your product or service was of utmost importance and, because of that, you had a very specific system for getting them started with what you have – and you don't deviate from it.

You further explain that if price is their only consideration that you will be happy to refer them somewhere else.

It's amazing that when you take this approach – when you "Take Back Your Power" – how often you will REPEL people or prospects you don't want and attract the ones you do want.

This subject alone usually takes an entire DAY to cover in a seminar so I know I am not doing it justice here; just remember that as a small business person, YOU are the one in charge of attracting what you do want, and repeling what you don't want – from prospects, clients, vendors and employees.

If you don't define exactly what those targets are – and just accept or tolerate whatever comes your way – you will NOT get the results you are after and you will probably drive yourself to drink.

Take back your power – in business…

Sensei Harrison Huff

P.S. – These topics and many more are covered in my course, "Bully Proof Business Skills" which will be made available soon.  In the meantime, check out the course, "Bully Proof Kids" at http://www.bullyproofkids.com/index1.html.