Ethical Topics "Run Your Business, but Don’t Let Your Business Run on You"

If you’ve lived long enough in this world, you’ll know that people aren’t always right. In fact, some customers are ‘wrong-doers’ or ‘exploiters’, you may call them that. Be in the F&B industry long enough and you’ll face this problem everyday. My recent four years of working in the restaurant cooking and managing professionally tells me this – Your food and service will never please everyone. Just take a look at Jesus Christ – Not everyone likes him the way he is although a huge majority of the world population do.

So how do you come clean with these people and slap them on the face without hurting them? Of course, clients are your source of income if you’re doing business. Without them, you wouldn’t sustain your first month. But if you look closer sometimes, you may ask yourself, “Are all my efforts putting up with them and giving them all the extras worth my time? Am I being scrutinized then taken advantage of and pushed around?”

Yeah, some of them are really pain in the ass. They wouldn’t pay, complain too much, give you huge amounts of pressure, asks for the impossible, pay peanuts and request for mountains and valleys, etc. I personally have encountered such people. A few examples of difficult clients to work with are:

1. The arrogant
2. The all-knowing
3. The virtually impossible
4. The crazy freak
5. The quick-leech
6. The fox + snake
7. The Danish pastry
8. The Sadist (Phew..! Not goth.)
9. The Dr. Mahathir; and whatnot.

The most important thing to remember that you should run your business, not let your business run you. It’s crucial at some point, when new entrepreneurs step into the industry to learn this the easy way first before taking the pain through their buttock-holes. I learned it the hard way – Got cheated out of not signing contracts, circumvented, owed money, pressed down, pushed to shame, etc. I’m sure Ian, Balmer, Ken, Ben, Suresh and all the other folks with me here right and now have experienced the same.

Young entrepreneurs are one but the new generation community and future leaders. They take pride in their work, perform hard to survive, (sometimes take shortcuts), expects free lunch when they know there is no such thing as a free lunch, work hard to achieve their dreams, go through hell to get to the top, etc. And their leaders, on one hand, is one of the most important ever people. A young entrepreneur who is misguided by someone could lead them to a disastrous near future, possibly even flunking.

These are a few methods that I usually employ, but please keep in mind that your condition and mine may not be the same. Don’t take me word for word.

1. When you think the client is not worth your time, refuse them. People are like this – If you can perform well, lay your marketing smoothly and get more compliments than complains, refusing a client will only make them want you more. Now, this works based on certain factors, including how you present yourself, your line of work and of course, your approach too. I don’t want to be general.
2. If they’re asking for mountains and paying peanuts, make it clear to them. The worst part of clientships are actually money. It can make you look bad or good, increase your coffers or not, and so forth. If they’re asking too much, make it clear to them in a presentable way. Back off a little and show some ‘dignity’.
3. Place emphasis on focus, focus, focus, focus, focus. Once you deviate your client’s attention a lot, they tend to shift focus. When they shift focus, they become easily confused. Explain to them your service/product in a focused, presentable and win-win situation method. They’re also business people, so trying to think that they’re a baby is plain stupid.
4. Stroke your client’s ego. What’s better than having a satisfied customer brag about their superiority thanks to your effort? You can earn your good name later – Give your clients the ego they need. Brag about them, bring them potentials and give them the taste of popularity. Eventually, karma will know how to find its way to you.
5. Be their friend, not just business. Busy people will still have some time to socialize. Whether it’s through Facebook or regular meet-ups, building relationships help you take away the effort of you having such a hard time with them and getting favours. When I mean build relationships, I mean RELATIONSHIPS. No, don’t kiss them – Just let them know you’re there as a friend, family, partner and soldier.

I think those are probably enough for you to digest for this moment. Telling you too many would probably make you forget the first few points. As again, don’t just keep the client happy just because you need to do this for your job. Make them your friend. You’ll never know when you need them.

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Tags: ethics, subject, work, business, person