Firing Your Clients

Recently, I had a client whom I had a number of times would like to say to him: "Sorry S...., I would like to stop doing business with you!" This is a client who constantly raise his voice at you and calls you every 30 mins. Calls you on the weekend and always says the big Fxxx & Bullshit words. In fact, he is happy with our service but because he is such an inconsiderate and a rude man; it makes it so difficult to do business with him. This is one client whom I think deserves to be on a 'firing' list. Here are 11 more that you and I if we come across should definitely fire:

1. THE DISILLUSIONED consistently expresses disappointment with your work even though it is of good quality and conforms to spec. A client who is constitutionally incapable of appreciating your work is not a client you should be involved with.
2. THE SUSPICIOUS consistently expresses a lack of trust, disdain for your work, or questions your integrity. A client who is constitutionally incapable of trusting in your expertise is not a client you should be involved with.
3. THE CHISELER consistently complains about your bill, even though it conforms to the estimate they agreed to. A client who is constitutionally incapable of honoring a deal is not a client you should be involved with.
4. THE BULLY consistently is verbally abusive or threatening to you.
5. THE SOMETHING-FOR-NOTHING consistently increases the scope of the project but refuses to pay for the additional work. A client who is constitutionally incapable of offering additional value in exchange for additional value is not a client you should be involved with.
6. THE SLOW PAY consistently pays invoices late. In any business, cash flow is king. A client who is constitutionally incapable of paying a bill on time for work that was delivered on time is not a client you should be involved with.
7. THE FLAKE consistently is late meeting responsibilities, but still holds you to the original schedule. A client who is constitutionally incapable of understanding that in order for a project to be delivered on-time, everyone must meet their obligations is not a client you should be involved with.
8. THE LIAR consistently lies to you. A client who is constitutionally incapable of being honest with you is not a client you should be involved with
9. THE CLINGER consistently makes unreasonable demands regarding your availability. A client who is constitutionally incapable of applying a "reasonable man" standard to requests for your time is not a client you should be involved with.
10. THE BLACKMAILER consistently refuses to pay an invoice until you perform additional work at no charge. A client who is constitutionally incapable of engaging in good-faith dealings is not a client you should be involved with.
11. THE MONEY PIT consistently is unprofitable. A client who is constitutionally incapable of offering you a fair rate for your services is not a client you should be involved with.

Google Trends

Here's a tool that all marketers and more importantly search engine marketers like myself should definitely have a look - Google Trends, a new analysis tool recently released by Google. (Don't get too obsess with it!)

So what is this new baby by Google? Here is Google's explanation:

With Google Trends, you can compare the world's interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they've been searched for on Google over time. Google Trends also displays how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and which geographic regions have searched for them most often.

Here are some things that we marketers can learn from Google Trend.

1. Many have said that advertising is dead and public relations is the way for more effective marketing. However, we can still see that advertising is still the most popular marketing medium as compared to Public Relations. [See Trend]
2. So which is more important? Brand, sales or loyalty? Answer: sales is still the most important. Of course, where is the brand & loyalty with sales? [See Trend]
3. Something of interest here for search engine marketers. While Google has a bigger market share than Yahoo. The trend shows here that Yahoo is still the more popular search term as compared to Google. [See Trend]
4. Which is more popular? Email marketing, direct marketing or search engine marketing? Direct marketing is still the more popular one. [See Trend]
5. Which market research firm is more popular? ACNielsen, Forrester or Roy Morgan? Looks like Forrester is the more popular in most countries. [See Trend]
6. Asians are more interested in marketing science than the others. [See Trend]
7. There is an increment on the appointments of chief marketing officer and there are more chief marketing officers in India than in US. [See Trend]
8. Finally, God is still bigger than us marketers :> [See Trend]