Watch your funky deal flow

For many of you, life is a matter of deal execution.

You make a deal and then keep it. A deal's a deal, right?
Wrong.

Some deals are great (you are paid a fair or better than fair price for your efforts) and others are funky (highly discounted or underpriced). If you have too many funky deals, you have a broken business model. Your margins shrink. These deals become a monkey on your back and make work seem unrewarding.

Why do we still do non-standard deals? Inside, where you might be serving internal customers, you make exceptions to the rules to do a "solid" for a colleague. Outside, you might discount your work because it could lead to more business later or you are slow at the time. The fact is, funky deals are a slippery slope -- you'll eventually fall into a rut.

Recommendation: Don't focus on NOT doing funky deals. As Voltaire once said, "perfect is the enemy of good." The fact is that you'll still be convinced in the future to do non-standard deals. You may wring your hands about it and say, "never again", but you'll still do favors, discounts and take flyers. I suggest that you treat it like any other part of business, make a budget for it. Tell yourself, I'll only be involved in 2 funky deals per quarter. That's it. When you are fully committed to funky deals, draw the line. Tell the deal-pitcher that you are funky deal full for the quarter. Eventually, you'll get used to this system and pull back to one per quarter. Maybe only 2 per year. The point is that if you watch your funky deals, just like you watch how much sugar you take in, you'll reduce them in your life.

Comments

[Tim]

Why do we compromise just to get a Deal done? Are we afraid of saying no? I'm in agreement and looking at ways to focus on the "real" deals. Thanks!

[T Demop, Blogging for Business]

Tim - certainly agreed, but . . .

I've got two funky deals in the next two weeks! At least they are FUN funky deals, and I'll be speaking in front of crowds of existing and potential clients.

Ohh yeah, I always justify funky deals too.

[Chris Bonney]

Tim-
Props for all your great work. I read your blog religiously and feel I should make one quick correction. Laurie David did not say "perfect is the enemy of good" it was Voltaire.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire

All good, just a friendly quote check. Rock on.

[Jeff Sutherland]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is bringing some much needed clarity.