085 Raman Sehgal | How A B2B Company Quadrupled In Growth By Turning Down 80 Percent Of New Business

Do ever feel like you’re putting in double the effort for less than half the results in your business? Or maybe you’re scared of turning down potential clients because you’re afraid your sales pipeline might dry up, so you wind up working with clients that drain your energy and resources? My guest today is going to explain why saying ‘yes’ to every client that walks through your door is the wrong approach to building and sustaining a successful business – one that feels invigorating rather than draining. He’s going to share with you his secrets to quadrupling his business in just 18 months while turning down 80 percent of the leads that inquire about his services. On today’s episode, I talk to Raman Sehgal, the founder and CEO of ramarketing, a digital marketing and PR agency, about how he was able to grow his business fourfold by weeding out less-than-ideal prospects. Raman shares his biggest mistakes, the lessons learned from his early days in business, and how you can avoid making the same mistakes. Today we’re going to talk specifically about Raman’s “red flag” system of client selection, and how his company stopped spending time on bad leads. They now focus on taking care of existing clients – which, in turn, has led to more business. Raman believes that if companies learned how to identify and pinpoint the types of clients they don’t want to work with – as opposed to the ones they do – they would see better results in their bottom line. “Restraint gets respect,” Raman says. “When you say no to someone, it makes them want you more. It’s like some kind of cruel dating game.” I know you’re going to love this discussion, and you’re going to learn a ton from Raman Sehgal on this edition of Grow My Revenue! Listen to this episode and discover: · How a small B2B marketing and PR agency quadrupled its revenue in less than two years. · The biggest mistakes companies make when choosing to work with clients and how to avoid them. · Weeding out bad customers: why it’s important and how to do it. · The criteria Raman uses in his “red flag” system to identify worthy prospects. · And so much more… Episode Overview As a longtime professional in the pharmaceutical industry, Raman Sehgal started his business with an eye toward helping pharmaceutical companies with their marketing and PR. What started off as a very clear focus, though, became blurry over time. Like most new business owners, Raman started chasing every new potential client. Afraid he was passing up money and opportunity, he said ‘yes’ to every prospect – even the ones he knew were not a good fit. And that was a costly mistake, he says. “It can have a bad effect on morale and motivation, and it can distract you from other clients and suck all your energy,” Raman says. After losing a client that accounted for roughly 30 percent of his business, Raman started to get serious about prospecting. Rather than do what he’d been doing, he decided to get more discerning. He created a system to weed out less-than-ideal clients using specific demographic (and behavioral) criteria. In this episode, he talks about: · The kinds of clients he refuses to work with today. · How getting clear about who you work with can streamline your marketing efforts. · The kinds of client behaviors that are instant warning signs for Raman and his team. · And the one thing he wishes he would have done more of in his 30s. “You can always make more money, and there’s always other opportunities, but a bad client can absolutely drain your business,” he says. “Honestly, it’s really not worth it.” Tune in for all of these nuggets of wisdom, and more, on today’s Grow My Revenue with Raman Sehgal. For full show notes and other resources, please visit: http://www.ianaltman.com/podcast/raman-sehgal/