One of the strangest aspects about my work as a business coach and mentor is how my customers never cease to complain about their own clients. They are always too ‘something-or-another’

Many of my clients are based in the Jerusalem region. I have often wondered if this moaning is part of the Jerusalem syndrome, an unfathomed hypnotic effect, or merely some kind of ‘sun stroke fall out’. However, the truth is that we often bitch and whimper about the wrong people.

Instead of taking out our stress on others, we should actually be asking what we ourselves could have done better. And I offer two explanations as to what I mean.

First, too many of us allow our clients to manage us, rather than the other way around. The result is that we end up fielding demands that we had never anticipated and additional expectations that we cannot fulfill. Whatever the client – their value, the scope of work, their background – they remain the client and should abide by your rules.

You can be friendly towards each other, but they are not your friends. There are boundaries to be maintained. In other words, it is time to understand the meaning and thus the limits of the phrase “the customer is always right”.

Second, and potentially far more importantly, we have to ask ourselves: Why do we focus so many resources on the customers we have, rather then the ones we want? For example, I have met up with three clients over the past two weeks, who have invested considerable efforts responding to their customers, only to realise the projects are simple not profitable.

I am particularly impressed by this thought from J.P. Eggers in the Harvard Business Review:

To be successful, companies need to innovate for the consumers they want, not the ones they have.

And that is the point. We must never cease from searching for new revenue sources, especially those types of clients who fit in with our vision and match out ideal business model.