Snog, Marry, Avoid
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-05-31 21:20:35 - Graham EllisSnog, Marry, Avoid
The 80 - 20 rule. 80% of potential training contracts give 20% of the heartache, and the remaining 20% have the potential to give the other 80% of the heartache. And one of the secrets to success is to learn which are the 20% of jobs to walk away from before an order is ever placed, to save the 80% of heartache impacting on the majority of our customers, and of my personal life... all for a customer to whom we may not be well fitted, and will only have limited satisfaction.
There are - thank goodness - indicators that help identify the 20% to avoid. On the hotel side (yes, the algorithm applies there too), it's the walkin bookings after 8pm, the people who want you to do a room at half price because "it would be left empty otherwise", and the people who tell you they've already tried Bowden House and the Longhope, but they're fully booked. On the training side, beware the company that has you leave dates on hold for a long period then looks to book at 3 day's notice with material to be tailored, the company that wants a huge discount off a single course in a peak week, and the company that's had problems finding someone to do their training. Beware also the company that's made a poor decision with their choice of staff, scheduling or system plans, and may be looking for a scapegoat.
Fortunately, for every five potential customers only one falls into this "avoid" category. In the words of the name of the TV series, the other 4 we can "snog". Wouldn't want to marry any of them - rather happy with Lisa, thank you, and business wise we value our independence.