When You Need A ‘Hell No’ List

Have you ever had a blinding moment of clarity where you just knew that the client you were wrestling with was a bad fit for you?

One client had a series of those that motivated her to reposition her business.

But while we planted the tent poles of the new positioning easily, she got a little stuck when it came to updating her website messaging.

So I had her try an experiment: picture the past clients you’d be thrilled to never hear from again—a ‘hell no’ list.

As she listed maybe a dozen, she could quickly see their commonalities. They…

Set impossibly short deadlines and were reluctant to make reasonable adjustments.

Chewed up resources way out of proportion to the revenue they generated.

Needed to be reminded to treat her with respect and tended to be demanding, but not appreciative.

Returned emails and calls slowly, which exacerbated already challenging timelines.

Complained about her billing, so that every month felt like a battle.

The “aha” came as we circled phrases from her former website messaging and attached them to the clients (and offenses) on her ‘hell no’ list.

End result? She kept her “hell no” list handy and pulled it out whenever she was tempted to stray.

If you find yourself unhappy with who or what is coming in your door, it’s a good experiment to try…