Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Have your clients outgrown you?
| Often businesses think about if they have outgrown a client - but do you ever think about if your client has outgrown you? I had a call from one of my favourite suppliers the other day. We have become very close friends over the years and I happily refer stacks of people his way as I know his work ethic and quality of his work is impeccable. The subject of the call ... how I had outgrown his skill, knowledge and ability on the cutting edge stuff that I do, and how I needed to start searching for a higher skilled supplier. This was a really hard call to take! But as a client I knew he was right. Over the years I have learnt a lot along the way and can mix it with the best of them in terms of geek stuff. My supplier is a brilliant generalist, but is not a specialist in the areas I now work within. I admire my supplier's honesty and ability to speak his truth even though it will cost his business money in the short term. I will still happily continue to refer people to him and still catch up for coffees as a friend. Ethics in business - it is alive and well! Have any of your clients outgrown you? Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: business ethics |
Friday, 9 May 2008
Business Ethical Dilemmas
| Business ethics is one of my passions. Ethics is a very gray area, with answers sometimes not as simple as they first appear. Ethics is something that you explore through discussing cases in your workplace and working through all of the pros and cons of a decision before making your final decision. So here is a real life ethical dilemma to work through. One of your top regular clients calls you with a huge rush job. Income from this job is about double your regular weekly income - but they can easily afford the bill. You can fit it in with a few late nights and still keep your other work under control. As you start to research the job you realise that the job is wrong for the client and that it will not get them the results they are looking for. Do you a) keep going b) ring the client and talk through your research recommending they cancel the project (and lose the income in the process). In answering this think through the reasons for your decision. I look forward to hearing your thoughts Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: business ethics |