Why the Dogs Come to My End of the Table

Bynormbowley

I like to think it’s because of my magnetic personality, but that wouldn’t be the truth. Our dogs sit by my feet at the table for a very pragmatic reason: I’m an easy mark. While the other end of the table has a strict no-scraps policy, my end has nothing of the sort.

Now, there’s a life lesson in this: if you find that certain kinds of individuals are over-represented in your life, or in your business, it may not be coincidence. There may be a stimulus-response thing going on.

Many years ago in my law practice I found that certain real estate clients were dreadful. They whined about everything, especially postage and photocopies, they thought my time was free and inexhaustible, and they were completely devoid of gratitude. In true Pareto fashion, 20% of the clients ate up 80% of my time. Interestingly, when I raised my rates and demanded a retainer up front, all the bad guys went away, leaving me with far more time and energy for enjoyable clients. And my practice grew and prospered.

It’s true enough that you have less latitude in some professions than in others. In medicine, social work and seniors care you can’t easily “fire” bad clients, but you can have and enforce boundaries, with consequences for breaching them. Whether public or private sector, the trick is to stop doing whatever attracts undesirable clients or undesirable client behaviour, and do more of whatever attracts the desirable. Often, like demanding a retainer, it’s more symbolic, but that can do the trick.

Are you feeding the dogs under your table?

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