One Bad Apple Can Ruin Your Agency

She reached over and ripped the headphones off the woman to her right.

^^ This was when I knew all hell was about to break loose on a recent flight. ^^

Let me back up a bit...

Last week I went to Phoenix to visit my little brother for a short getaway. He's a student at ASU and since I'm 12 years older -- I feel like I can help him in ways that I didn't have when I was a student.

I'm both an older brother and something of a mentor to someone I genuinely care about. Sometimes I feel like I get more out of it than he does.

Anyway, on my way to Phoenix, I sat in the window seat and was shortly joined in the middle position by a woman wearing a large hat.

She had multiple scarfs on, was lugging a way-too-big carry-on bag and smelled of cheap perfume and alcohol.

For the most part, she kept to herself initially.

She then became more talkative, and I soon realized... She was very drunk.

I tried to mind my own business, turning my back toward the window, hoping she would get the hint. She kept to herself for a while until I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Are we there yet? Did we just land?!?"

"No, ma'am, we haven't left yet."

My answer seemed to set her off.

She went on a tirade about sitting on the plane for two hours, being at the airport for four hours and how Southwest was "taking too long." Keep in mind, we had been on the plane for 10 minutes max.

I tried to assure her that it was a short flight and that we would be there in no time. Just as I said that we began our ascent into the sky. No turning back now.

The woman to her right in the aisle seat made a harmless comment like, "Yeah, we've only been on here for 10 minutes."

She sat puzzled for a second, almost as though she was trying to calculate her next move but couldn't seem to do so. 

She sat up in her chair, pointed at the woman next to her and the woman across the aisle (not sure why) and accused them of calling her a liar. She went on to use several profanities that I won't list here.

The woman to the right quickly realized this was not a healthy situation and placed her headphones on (Not earbuds but big ones like Beats By Dre).

The impaired woman's rage grew, and she soon reached over to pull the headphones off the woman to her right.

The situation went from weird to ugly quickly, and I had to lean over to stop the impaired woman from hitting the woman to her right.

Fortunately, the woman on the aisle seat got up and went to the flight attendants. They kept her in the back until the impaired woman fell asleep.

During this time, they grabbed her stuff and moved her to another seat in the plane. As we were landing later, the impaired woman woke up and seemed to forget anything that had happened.

What an experience.

While I can laugh about it now, this experience was not a pleasant one for anyone involved.

Reminds me of when businesses take on bad clients. For any number of reasons, we've all done this before.

What seemingly feels like something that is okay, to begin with, can quickly go south. 

You speak with the prospective client on a discovery call, they seem a little off, but you think to yourself:

"I could really use a new client right now and the money -- plus I'm sure it won't be that bad."

So you move forward and right out of the gates you realize:

This was a mistake.

The problem is, one bad client can ruin the experience not only for you but your entire team.

Once you've decided enough is enough, you still have that lingering bad taste in your mouth.

So remember this:

All it takes is one bad apple to ruin the experience for everyone.

Bad clients aren't worth it.

If you're struggling with generating the absolute best clients to work with that pay you top dollar -- please reach out. 

I'm happy to share a few ways to improve your positioning and acquire the best clients.

Zach Burkes is the VP of Client Success at Predictable Profits, a leading small business growth consultancy, and an agency growth expert whose advice has been featured on Fox Business, Inc., Forbes, etc.