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Imagine for a moment that your bad accounts are like weeds. Don’t feel bad. We all have weeds.

First Let’s Define “Bad Accounts”
What do I mean by “bad accounts?”

• Low sales
• High maintenance
• Low margins
• Low to no commission
• Chronically past due on payments
• Unlimited appetite for your time
• No growth potential

You know what I’m talking about here. We’ve discussed this concept before in this sales blog.

“We become a prisoner of these junk customers.”

Sales Tips for Bad Accounts
The problem with lousy accounts is that they impede our ability to properly tend to our good accounts and find new high quality accounts.

• Weeds can become so dominant in a garden that they hide desirable plants. Bad accounts do the same thing to us. These inferior accounts become so prominent that we can’t see great opportunities sitting right in front of us.
• Weeds suck the nourishment out of the soil in a garden, leaving less for the plants we want to cultivate. We all have a limited amount of energy and time. It’s not smart to squander it on poor quality customers.
• In a crowded garden both the foliage of weeds and choice plants tend to look the same. If we let the weeds in a garden get out of control, it can become impossible to get rid of them without damaging or killing the plants we want to nurture. We lose our ability to differentiate accurately between good and bad. When we are mired down with a bunch of bottom-rung customers we can find ourselves dependent on the meager commission and revenues they bring us while simultaneously not leaving us the time and resources to replace them. We become a prisoner of these junk customers.

Sales Blog Wrap-Up
I know it’s hard to weed your garden. Revenue is revenue regardless of the source, you say. However, not all revenue is equal. We have to balance our time against the ROI (Return on Investment) for all of our accounts.

See “Further reading” below to find out how to eliminate those accounts that are genuine weeds and are squeezing you out of future sales opportunities.

Further reading:

• One of My Most Startling Sales Tips
• Fire a Customer for Fun and Profit

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Tags: customers, fire

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