My Top 4 Red Flags: Not Worth the Money

Most of what I talk about on this show is how to close more deals. This episode is the opposite. I'm walking through the four client red flags that would make me walk away before I ever sign the contract, no matter how good the budget looks. Spoiler alert: it's not just about creepy vibes on a sales call, though we're covering that too. It's about expectations that were never mine to carry, resentment that shows up before the work even starts, and a pattern I now watch for before I say yes to anyone. These are the clients I signed and regretted, and I'd rather you learn from my mistakes than make your own. 

Work with me 1:1 at suzieconsoli.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

If you've been listening for a while now, you know how much I love closing a deal. It's hard for me to walk away from revenue. It's hard for me to say no to a client, but that's exactly what we're talking about today. We're talking about red flags and when you should say, hey, thanks, but no, thanks. This isn't worth my time or the money. And there are four I want to cover, but there are probably a lot more than that. I picked these specifically because I was going through my memories of the clients that still sometimes keep me up at night and the ones where things just didn't end well, and I can trace it all the way back to that first sales call. And so my goal today is to outline what are some red flags that would make even me who loves to close run for the hills and say it's not worth any amount of money to take on this client. I'll say this before we get into it. I think that there are a lot of people who mistake objections for red flags. So I've heard a lot of people say things like, this client came to me and, you know, said my price was too high or said that I should be offering more or things like that. My timeline wasn't fast enough. Those are things you can overcome. Those are not red flags. Having somebody who has questions, having somebody that pushes back on a sales call, even somebody who negotiates, that is not a red flag to me. That is just part of the sales process. What we're talking about today and what you should be looking for are indicators that this relationship is going to be toxic or that you are going to end up in a bad situation down the line if you continue to work with this client. Okay, jumping right in. I want to start with the most obvious one. Red flag number one, the intentions are off. I want to be really specific here because I think a lot of women listening will know exactly what I'm talking about. But I have been on sales calls where the guy has said something like, and this is an actual quote, well, if I get to look at you every day, it might be doing the website no matter how much it costs. Done. Get out of there. I've had guys told me that we need to have our kickoff call at a hotel bar, that they don't want to meet in Zoom. They do their meetings at hotels and things like that. You, gross, run for the hills. I have had all kinds of creepy things said to me, DM'd to me, and emailed to me. I also do want to say that I don't think this is like a gender thing. Um, I think that this happens in all kinds of different scenarios. If there are any creepy vibes, for whatever reason, that is a red flag. Period. Get out of there. And sometimes too, nobody says anything that you can actually point to. I've had situations like I was trying to think about how to even tell a story about somebody that gave me really bad vibes, but there was nothing even after all this time that I could point to and say that's when it was creepy. There was just something about it that was off. And when that's the case, it's your responsibility to walk away from the deal. Should they be better people? Should they not be creepy? 1000%. But it's your business and your life, and you get to say, I don't work with creepy people. I don't want your business. I'll see you later. No amount of boundaries or calling anything out is going to fix that situation. You would be so much better off going and finding more leads with people who are not creepy. And that is red flag number one. Bad intentions, creepy vibes. Red flag number two, the expectations are just way too high. This one comes up constantly in agency work. People want to hire a marketing agency to fix their failing business. They think if we just have better marketing, then all of our problems will be solved and we will make so much more money. But sometimes that isn't the case. Sometimes you can't fix their business. Sometimes there is no demand for the product that they are offering. Where you can catch this one in your sales call is when they start saying things like, oh my gosh, Susie, I'm so excited to work with you because my failing business will finally be saved. Or you're going to be the reason that my business finally works. Or I really need this to work. I can't afford for it not to. We're spending our last two pennies on this. That is a huge red flag to me. Not because I don't think that you should be driving towards an ROI. I believe every agency has a responsibility to drive towards ROI. That's not my issue. My issue is that when the expectation is that I have a magic wand to wave to save your business, 99% of the time that client is going to be disappointed because there are other things wrong with their business. Normally, marketing is brought in to save the day, but there are so many other issues that are in this business keeping them from being profitable. I am building out my own funnel right now. I'm actually going to do a whole episode on this. I've got a lot of different lead gen things that I'm testing on my own, and I'm going to talk you through each one of them and kind of tell you, hey, here's where I place my bets. But it's a lot of bets. I can do a whole episode on it because I am not placing one giant bet. I'm trying out a lot of different lead gen strategies to see what'll work. And when I meet with these partners, plural, I'm also not going to them and saying, hey, this better work. My daughter's preschool tuition is coming up. Absolutely not. My personal life is not bleeding into my business life here. And I would never put any kind of pressure on my business partners to make sure that my personal life is taken care of. The way that you can sniff this out is to really tug on the thread of ROI. So if you ask them, hey, what would a win look like for you if we were to work together for the next three months? Hey, if we do your website for you, what would a win look like at the end of this project? If they throw out anything that feels unreasonable to you, or you're like, I have no idea if we can do that. I don't know what your sales process is like. I don't know what you've sold in the past. How well does this convert? If there's anything that makes you like, this just feels crazy, we're throwing out giant numbers, or you're saying things like, Well, Susie, my hope is that you make me a millionaire. Those things have all been said to me, and they're typically red flags for clients who are going to be massively disappointed when this doesn't work. They are looking for a scapegoat and you do not want to be that goat. Red flag number three, they're resentful. This one comes up in negotiating, and I'm all about negotiating. Honestly, I was so surprised that more people didn't push back on my website pricing. If I came in and said, hey, the website's gonna cost us $10,000, and somebody else comes in and says, could you do it for eight? That's negotiating. That's fine. You are asking for a deal, and I respect it. When I start to see the red flag is when someone takes their bitterness about having to pay at all as a part of the negotiation. This sounds like, well, I could do it on my own. It's just ridiculous that it's this expensive. And I mean, sure you could, but you start to realize they're angry and you haven't even started yet. And what I see with most agency owners is that they are getting angry in response to this. They're like, well, you don't see my value. Really, what's happening here is that they are bringing their emotion to the table. They are using it to manipulate you. And this is a red flag and should be something that you consider before you agree to work with them. With these people, try to push back a little bit and get to the bottom of what they're really mad about. I don't need you to, if they're like, you know, I can't believe the cost is that high. Go back to price objections, dig a little deeper into the conversation and see is this an objection or do they have some issues that they need to go work out? The biggest mistake I would make with people like this is I would think, well, once they see the homepage, they're going to feel so much better about spending this money. My work is going to convince them that they have nothing to be angry about. If they are angry, it typically has nothing to do with you and you can't resolve that. So figure out if this is a price objection and something you can help them work through, or if this is something that they are going to come back to over and over again and they're just mad that they've got to pay for this at all. Those are not clients you want to work with. Okay, our last red flag, number four. Even as I say that, I'm like, there's so many more. Please send me your red flags that you think I should add to this list, and we'll do a follow-up episode with uh some write-ins from people who are listening. My last red flag is if they have burned through a bunch of other businesses or agencies before, this should be concerning to you. Now, there are a lot of crappy agencies out there. If they come to you and they're like, I worked with this person and it didn't go well and I'm feeling a little nervous, that's actually a really great opportunity for you on a sales call to be like, hey, tell me about that. Like, I talk about that in the price objections, kind of being like, sounds like trust has been broken. Like, what didn't go well? If they're coming to you and they're like, we've worked with six other agencies and none of them have been able to make us happy. Yikes. We've gotten that before. It's really tough because you're like, um, maybe it's you. It's the common denominator between all six of these agencies. I really like to, in these scenarios, to try to talk to one of the agency owners if you can about what happened. Not all the time, but there have been a few times where I know the agency, and I'll just be like, hey, I'm not trying to be weird or step on any toes. I know that, you know, clients cycle out and stuff like that, but what was your experience like working with them and what were their expectations like? If you can't, then I would get really clear on what happened with the other agencies. What expectations did you go in with? What happened? Can you show me some of the work? I just want to make sure that we are going to be able to deliver a great experience for you. Use their past agency experiences as a preview for what might be coming down the road your way. Okay, to wrap up, red flags are exactly that. They are an indicator that something could be squirrely and it might be worth walking away from the deal. But in all of these cases, I recommend digging in a little deeper, seeing if you can get to the bottom of what's actually going on for the client. And if it smells bad and you're like, this is not worth it, I just have bad vibes all the way around. I would tell you, it's not worth your time, it's not worth your money. Don't believe in the scarcity mindset that is telling you this might be your last client ever. Trust your gut, work the plan, and say no to something that isn't going to serve you well in the long run. If you're listening to this, going, oh my gosh, I took on a client like this. Maybe they creeped you out, maybe they are angry, whatever that might be, and you are not sure how to handle them, get them back on track, or maybe even let them go. A coach can be really helpful in that situation. I would love to hear about this client, help you out of the situation, and create a path forward where you'll start sleeping again at night. You can book a call at susyconsoli.com and find a time for us to chat. Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, sell well.