Now this may come as a surprise to many of you, but not everyone who enters your shop, calls you on the phone, or emails you as a prospect is actually someone you even want to consider doing business with. You are in charge of selecting your clients! And too often this responsibility is abdicated in favor of saying yes to everyone. That yes is to those that fit, and those that don’t. That yes is to those that are pleasant and fun to work with and those that will rob you of your peace of mind at every transaction. You have a choice. Are you exercising your rights as a business owner? Now the real question is: how do I know if a prospect is a good client fit? The answer is because you have done your homework. You have thought it through and created a profile of your most ideal client. Now you can create these in multiples if you are serving multiple markets. As a speaker, I have an ideal audience profile. As a designer, I have an ideal design client profile. I measure every lead and call against these profiles. Those that fit or come close I will evaluate and pursue or not. Those that don’t, I pass on them.
No matter how hungry you get in business, the cost of taking on an ill suited client is typically far greater than the cost of waiting or targeting your best fit (who waits in business?). We’ve all experienced that gut reaction that is screaming at us not to go ahead, but we justify it with excuses about business being light, the economy being in recession (sound familiar), and needing the business. No one can afford my peace of mind, how about yours?
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