As a business owner it can be tough to turn away opportunities, even if they’re not a good fit for what you do. I’ve been guilty of taking on clients over the years that we probably shouldn’t have, and it’s something I’ve worked on improving over the years.
We still do a great job for those ill-fitting clients, but it’s the internal impact that can hurt us. The book “The 12 Week Year” explained it perfectly:
Many clients we work with, driven by the natural desire to earn revenue whenever the opportunity arises, will discard their pre-planned schedule without a second thought to accommodate the requests of prospects and clients. They do this repeatedly, seemingly without regard to the longterm impact on their business. In effect, the time that could be spent building their own future is instead spent on building someone else’s.
Knowing about this pitfall is half the battle, but actually doing it is much more difficult. I see a few things that can help.
First, having a solid sales pipeline makes a big difference. If there are more opportunities lined up, it’s easier to stick with the ones that are a great fit. When times are slow, it becomes easier to ignore the plan and take any random job.
Second, sometimes the “no” can lead to a “yes”. There have been a few cases where I’ve told potential clients “We’re not a good fit for you because of x,y,x” and then adjust their needs to fit our process and it works out great for both parties.
That book is a great read for any business leader, as it has some solid plans to help guide how you run your company. It’s very similar to EOS (which we use), but understanding the 12 Week plan has been helpful to tweak how we do things.
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