Resist the Bad Fit

The Lead - Resist the Bad Fit

I recently passed the 6 month mark as founder of BrightReach. It doesn’t feel like a long time, but as I reflected the other day on some of my biggest takeaways, I can honestly say I’ve learned a tremendous amount. These things are already dictating the direction I’m taking this company, and I expect it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

One major learning for me, is more a reminder. In sales, we face a difficult rock-hard place scenario. We want to close deals. Depending on how our pipeline looks, sometimes it feels like “at all costs”. I’ve been guilty of it historically, and more recently.

With some products and services, bringing on a bad fit client is not that big of a deal. Property management is not one of those, nor is the work that I do now with property management companies. While it can be enticing to overlook certain red flags, it rarely turns out well. We can expect the best, and certainly hope for it but more often than not those red flags only turn into headaches down the road.

Here are some of the big red flags I’ve noticed.

Unrealistic Expectations

To me, this is the most obvious. It’s also probably the most common. As sales people, we want to deliver solutions to people’s problems when we’re at our best. It’s noble. Our prospect has a desire for an outcome, which is why we’re talking.

Sometimes though, those outcomes exceed what we know to be reasonable. It can feel uncomfortable to try and address this, because we don’t want to come across as incapable. In some ways, we feel like we’re undermining ourselves by speaking up. I’ve been guilty of brushing this off and choosing to overlook it. Or maybe provide a gentle reset without really standing firm on what I know to be true.

This doesn’t end well though. This type of person quickly has buyer’s remorse. They are ready to question your every move. Even if you tried to temper expectations, you sold them a false bill of goods. You immediately start in a hole that you can’t climb out of, no matter how unrealistic their expectations are.

Best example of this in PM world is leasing. Owner wants a tenant placed quick. You do this all day, you know how long it takes. You know the realities of your market today. They say they need it leased in a week, but you know it’ll probably take three. This is your opportunity to be the expert. Don’t cross your fingers and hope you can deliver.

Devaluing Your Service

This can look a couple of different ways. One obvious way is wanting discounts, or only being interested in buying on price. You sort of have to read between the lines here. It’s perfectly reasonable for people to be price conscious. You and I are probably that way in our own buying decisions.

But sometimes it becomes very obvious that price is the one factor. This buyer views you as a commodity, not someone who provides a valuable service. You don’t turn and run from this prospect, you dig in to understand what they do value. You show your expertise, and maybe even talk through why you charge what you charge.

What I recommend avoiding though, is trying to meet their demands just to get the deal done. If you don’t do a good job of delivering the value proposition, the whole relationship will be effected.

Quick example from my past. One time I had someone adamant that they wouldn’t sign up without me waiving a certain fee. I was new, didn’t really understand what the fee was and wanted to get off to a quick start. What happened? That person signed up, but they ghosted onboarding for weeks. Probably safe to say they didn’t see much value in our service since they were willing to delay getting the solution.

Uninformed Assumptions

This one more goes towards your process and approach. This type of prospect thinks they know better than you do. They want you to do things their way. Maybe they have good reasons for this. It’s reasonable to hear them out and understand why they hold this belief.

The challenge here is that when this prospect becomes a client, it will quickly become clear that your process/policy/approach exist for a reason. You’re no longer the trusted expert, but rather an order taker. They don’t believe in your ability to do the job the right way.

Is it ok for your prospect/client to question why you do something a certain way? Of course! And you should be capable of articulating why you do something the way you do it. But be on alert. Is this person really going to trust you to do your job?

Another example from PM world - owner wants to use their own vendors for maintenance. You know that this can create major problems. As a policy you don’t allow it. They’re insisting. You can hope that their vendors are “different” but I think you already know how this one plays out.

I’d imagine none of these points are earth-shattering to you. But what I do know to be true, is that as sales people it’s easy to talk ourselves into seeing past these things. We hope for the best case scenario, and think it’ll all work out fine, probably.

When I feel this temptation most, is when my pipeline is looking thin. There isn’t a lot going on, if I don’t close this deal there aren’t many others waiting in the wings. So we overlook the red flags, ignore our gut feeling.

In my experience, I still almost always regret it later on. Especially now, as the person who has to deliver what was sold. As you gain more experience, you’ll know what to look for. You’ll listen to the voice in your head that’s warning you of what will ultimately come.

While it can be painful to walk away, sometimes it’s the best thing. And future you will be glad you did.