Where Client's Ego Can Lead To...
The other day I was watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The world-renowned Chef Ramsay tries to sort out a disaster-ridden restaurant, the La Parra de Burriana, on the Costa del Sol in Spain, run by a British guy called Laurence.
There are some major problems with the restaurant, but all the problems can be traced back to the owner's inflated ago. The basic scenario is that Laurence knows everything better than everyone else. The restaurant is on the verge of bankruptcy but Laurence still refuses to change his way of running it.
He has a 72-item overcomplicated menu prepared in a totally braindead way, and what makes the situation even worse that guests don't really like what Laurence and his "servants" cook in the kitchen in a rather haphazard, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants manner.
Before opening, Chef Ramsay prepares an emergency menu in case Laurence's menu fails. Well, it's failing but Laurence refuses to switch over the Gordon's menu.
Instead of efficiently cooking fish and veggies in proper pans, Laurence uses a big dirty hot plate. And everything he cooks on it comes out less than appetising.
The guests are coming and the disaster is about to unfold. meals go out raw and messed-up.
Finally, when the shit seriously hits the fan, Chef Ramsay gets the go-ahead from Laurence on cooking and serving his emergency menu. He demonstrates to Laurence that cooking in pans is easier, quicker and more hygienic than cooking on the hot plate.
Yet, Laurence needs some heavy-duty convincing to buy into some of Gordon's "Best Practices", including but not limited to reducing the menu to a manageable level.
Eventually the egomaniac Laurence realises that Chef Ramsay is in his corner, trying to turn a losing restaurant into a winning one.
Do you have clients who're vehemently defending the status quo, although the status quo is taking them down down down?
They are like the charismatic, courageous military curmudgeon, Major General Ambrose Everett Burnside. He rather had his Union army slaughtered than admit his mistake and change tactics.
A short while ago I had a prospect who kept repeating her firm was the best in her area of expertise. After a few repetitions my red flags went up.
"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher once said.
Similarly, when a prospect keeps repeating how amazingly successful her firm is, you can small the rat. After 14 years in business, she absolutely refused to do any other "marketing" than cold calling. So, after we decided not to work together on her firm's marketing, she hired a call centre in Pakistan, and now they are harassing the whole north America with their pitch...
"Hello. You don't know us, but we're leading HR experts. Do you want to hire us?"
How lame is this? And she's likely to spend the rest of her life cold calling to drum up some business.
So, be careful with egotistical prospects regardless of the amount of money they would pay you. It's just not worth. As clients they deteriorate rather quickly, so you'd better stay away from them.
There are some major problems with the restaurant, but all the problems can be traced back to the owner's inflated ago. The basic scenario is that Laurence knows everything better than everyone else. The restaurant is on the verge of bankruptcy but Laurence still refuses to change his way of running it.
He has a 72-item overcomplicated menu prepared in a totally braindead way, and what makes the situation even worse that guests don't really like what Laurence and his "servants" cook in the kitchen in a rather haphazard, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants manner.
Before opening, Chef Ramsay prepares an emergency menu in case Laurence's menu fails. Well, it's failing but Laurence refuses to switch over the Gordon's menu.
Instead of efficiently cooking fish and veggies in proper pans, Laurence uses a big dirty hot plate. And everything he cooks on it comes out less than appetising.
The guests are coming and the disaster is about to unfold. meals go out raw and messed-up.
Finally, when the shit seriously hits the fan, Chef Ramsay gets the go-ahead from Laurence on cooking and serving his emergency menu. He demonstrates to Laurence that cooking in pans is easier, quicker and more hygienic than cooking on the hot plate.
Yet, Laurence needs some heavy-duty convincing to buy into some of Gordon's "Best Practices", including but not limited to reducing the menu to a manageable level.
Eventually the egomaniac Laurence realises that Chef Ramsay is in his corner, trying to turn a losing restaurant into a winning one.
Do you have clients who're vehemently defending the status quo, although the status quo is taking them down down down?
They are like the charismatic, courageous military curmudgeon, Major General Ambrose Everett Burnside. He rather had his Union army slaughtered than admit his mistake and change tactics.
A short while ago I had a prospect who kept repeating her firm was the best in her area of expertise. After a few repetitions my red flags went up.
"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher once said.
Similarly, when a prospect keeps repeating how amazingly successful her firm is, you can small the rat. After 14 years in business, she absolutely refused to do any other "marketing" than cold calling. So, after we decided not to work together on her firm's marketing, she hired a call centre in Pakistan, and now they are harassing the whole north America with their pitch...
"Hello. You don't know us, but we're leading HR experts. Do you want to hire us?"
How lame is this? And she's likely to spend the rest of her life cold calling to drum up some business.
So, be careful with egotistical prospects regardless of the amount of money they would pay you. It's just not worth. As clients they deteriorate rather quickly, so you'd better stay away from them.
posted by Bald Dog @ Sunday, April 01, 2007
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