June 26, 2015 – Vertū Marketing

One of the hardest lessons learned by the small business owner is the art of letting go. It is easy to focus on making a sale and to lose sight of the fact that sometimes a business relationship is not meant to work out. While it my seem counterintuitive to small business owners and entrepreneurs, it is important to learn how to discern situations in which is best to move on.

There is a delicate balance between working hard to meet the expectations of the client and wasting valuable time and sanity. In the business world, as in every other area of life, some clients and customers are simply impossible to please. However, before moving on, consider some of the following suggestions when dealing with a difficult client:

Choose your words carefully. A thoughtful approach may be the key to sidestepping an awkward conflict and maintaining a profitable relationship.
Acknowledge concerns. You can address the concerns of a client without actually agreeing with his or her statements or complaints. This can make a client feel valued and lead to a long-term relationship.
Keep it professional. Some people are jerks. It is just reality. When dealing with a difficult personality, stick with professional, business-related topics. If you do not mesh with an individual on a personal level, it does not mean that you cannot have a professional relationship.

Even after attempting all of the above, it may be evident that a particular business relationship will not work. You, as a business owner, have the right to protect yourself, your employees and your overall well being by whatever means necessary, even if it means that you will lose a client. At the end of the day, a profit may not be worth dealing an abrasive, insulting or impossible-to-please client—and frankly, that is just fine.

“Rome was not built in a day” just might be one of the oldest — and perhaps most annoying — clichés of all time, but it has stuck around for a good reason; it is true. A lot of the time, doing something in the right manner does not mean doing it quickly. Sure, the execution of a business’s plan might appear fast-paced from a consumer’s perspective, but most consumers are generally not privy to the months and even years of research, dedication and planning that go into a single moment for a business.

In a society that prizes fast returns on virtually everything, it is important to remember that a little patience can go a long way. When done in a sustainable manner, slow growth and accumulation of wealth is actually a good thing.

Think of the future. Go on, shut your eyes and picture it. The immediate gratification of accumulating a vast amount of wealth in a short period of time is more likely to derail goals than push a person to keep moving forward. The thing to remember is that you don’t just want to accumulate wealth for now, you want to be able to sustain and grow your wealth into the foreseeable future.

When accumulating wealth through a business, there are actually several options that can lead to a brighter future.

Invest profits back into the company. (Think product development, marketing, etc.)
Create worker-friendly policies. Happier employees are more likely to be productive assets at work, making the business more profitable overall.
Make an investment plan. This will not turn a huge profit overnight, but in 10 or 20 years, an adequately implemented investment plan should reap dividends.

Amid the many get-rich-quick schemes that plague the online world, there are real opportunities for growing wealth with a business. With a solid understanding of investment, business principles and the nature of patience, building wealth might just be the easiest part of running a company.

Learning to Let Go

Grow Wealth the Right Way