What If Your Small Client Hits the Big Time?

In my last two articles, I wrote about horizontal and vertical buyers, and how they’re two completely different animals.

But as you help your clients’ businesses grow, some of them will move from being horizontal buyers to vertical buyers. In this piece, I’ll talk about how you and your business must cope with, and service, this essentially new “diagonal” buyer.

Business owners who suddenly become wealthy have the same insecurities, weaknesses, and anxieties as they had before. Interestingly, this is a great opportunity for your business.

There are a few things you need to remember if you’re going to keep these clients and further help them grow, while they help you grow your own business.

Firstly, the answer is always “yes”. Anything and everything is possible for people who’ve pulled themselves up by the bootstraps. They never want to hear you can’t do something for their business. If you’re unsure about their request, tell them you’ll get back to them in a half-hour. Then use that 30 minutes to find a way to meet their needs. If you don’t, they’ll figure they have to upgrade to another service provider. And upgrade, they will.

Secondly, when these entrepreneurs see qualities in common with you and how you run your business, they’re far likelier to give you their business. Grit, hard work, and a certain amount of chutzpah go a long way with these clients. Talk to these clients as if you’re on the same side of the table as they’re on, because you are!

Finally, what differentiates these “diagonal” clients from our vertical clients is that these clients still want value. There’s a little voice in their ear that reminds them they used to be poor, or not good enough, or not successful enough. So always try to offer huge value for the price you charge. They’re happy for you to make a big profit, as long as they get big value.

You’ll feel a great psychic high from helping your clients hit it big. Enjoy their success, and yours. Then realize you’ll need to adjust your perception of them and the service level you offer them.

If you’d like to see how we help our clients adjust their service levels for horizontal, vertical, and diagonal clients, visit theprofitroadmap.com right now.