E109: How to Overcome the Loss of a Whale Client with Jonathan Martin
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Jonathan is the founder of coolblueweb, a WooCommerce Expert Agency; as well as Little Rhino, an SMB-focused WordPress shop; and most importantly VerifyWP.com, a pre-employment WordPress developer assessment platform. He believes the hiring process for agencies is broken and is working with one agency at a time to fix it.
Episode highlights:
- How Jonathan took his agency from a do-it-all-for-everyone model to a more focused business.
- What happened when a million-dollar-a-year customer parted ways with Jonathan’s agency.
- Get advice on how to get through losing a whale customer.
- Why Jonathan is now picky about who he works with.
- Find out how Jonathan tests applicants for skills before culture.
- Run time: 40:40
- Best advice ever received: It doesn’t matter where you are in life, you shouldn’t let that stop you from building better relationships or growing your family.
- Habit that contributes to success: Exercise
- Recommended book: Crucial Accountability by
- Recommended tools: Slack and Teamwork
Links:
Quotes:
- “That’s a painful experience. That’s an ego hit, that’s a culture hit.”
- “We were aware that it was a risk for the business, and I think it’s a risk worth taking.”
- “We took our eyes off the rest of our clients….we weren’t giving them great attention.”
- “It was like you get punched in the gut, and then punched in the nose right after.”
- “Whales always go away.”
- “We still only work with right-fit clients.”
- “They didn’t represent themselves well.”
- “We’re leaving great candidates on the table.”
Takeaways:
- Consider major cuts if facing the loss of a major client.
- When taking on clients, remember that bad customers could cost you money and you may not make each other happy.
- When hiring, consider testing for skill first and then interviewing for culture second.