Why would you turn clients away?
We’re often taught that bigger, faster, more = BETTER. Do you have clients that bog you down? Kill your time? Have unreasonable demands? Piss you off?

But, I need the business!
I’m here to tell you, you can have your cake and eat it too. Don’t let anyone tell you the economic times are a reason to act desperate. You are talented, competent and in demand and don’t you forget it! Your time and energy are precious. Think of choosing your clients like dating. Spend your resources only on those that are worth the investment.

Turning away potential clients doesn’t mean you scrape by: quite the contrary. Once you define your target customer and start qualifying them, you’ll find that you have happier clients, more productivity, and an energy center that’s unstoppable.

Lesson 1: Define your Business
Often we get so caught up in the inertia of running a business that we forget the purpose, intention and result of our actions. Do you know who you serve, what your value is, and why potential clients should choose you? These sound like such mundane, redundant questions. We’ve all heard them before. The question is, have you taken the time to think through and truly answer them?

Who do you serve?
Mom and pop, small businesses, medium-sized organizations, enterprise? ECommerce, information sites, service businesses, start-ups, non-profit? Why? What’s your purpose in serving them?

What’s your value?
What do you currently charge? Do you believe you’re worth that much? What do your colleagues think about your rate? What are your financial goals? Are you meeting them? Can you create valuable packages or work on retainers to increase your earnings?

What customers will you benefit from most?
Rather than asking who will benefit the most from your services, try asking a better question. Who do you want to work with? Why? We work with all different clients for a variety of reasons.

For example, I work with small business clients because one of my values is contribution. I feel extra pumped up when I’m able to help grow a burgeoning site into a sustainable, thriving business. I can make a lot more money for less effort working on contract for larger companies, but I don’t feel passionate about it.

Lesson 2: Qualify Your Clients Before You Commit to the Relationship
Hey, I know you’re not in sales. You’re a marketer! Marketers might have a 3 drink minimum, but we make things happen. We make floundering businesses pop, give organizations oxygen, and in general… we rock. Ok, enough is enough. The point is, we get it stuck in our heads that we’re the movers and the shakers, not the lead qualifiers.

You wouldn’t go on a date with someone simply because they showed interest in you, would you? No, you have an invisible checklist, courting a potential before you so much as commit to a first date. Why should it be any different with clients? You might not make out with clients, but you sure do spend a lot of time with them.

Here’s how.

Create your list of qualifying questions:

• Take all of your nightmare clients and think of the question you could have asked that would have prevented you from working with them.
• Look at a mental snapshot of the clients you’ve adored. What was so great about them? Did they value your work? Were they easy to communicate with? What was it?  Create an illustration in your mind and on paper that reflects your ideal client.  

Don’t forget to do your homework:

• Ask around. Who referred the client? They’ve often worked with the client in some capacity and can offer a wealth of information on
• Google them. You Google friends, family, exes, and potential love interests. Don’t forget to Google your potential clients.
• Facebook can also offer information since their pages are open and indexable these days.

If you think the potential client is going to be exceedingly satisfied with your offering, choose them. If not, move on. Simply tell clients you don’t want to work with that you “don’t think it’s a good fit.”

Lesson 3: Set Expectations from Beginning to End
Expectations play a monstrous role in all types of relationships. Be well dressed for all of your dates and always play one step ahead. Make sure you’re leading, not being led. To do this, you have a clear, organized system that guides your customer through your offering and tells them exactly what to expect, when, at what price. It sounds so simple, but there are many touch points where this needs to happen.

The golden rule: under promise, over deliver.
You’ll always have happy customers if you do that. Leave padding in your price and in the delivery time frame. That’s one way to always be a hero.

Communicate, communicate, communicate!
Do you charge 50% up front and 50% upon delivery? Communicate this in your estimate, by email, when people inquire by phone, etc. Heck, even tell people how you want to be paid: PayPal, check, cash? Send invoices immediately and use something like Harvest to do the legwork for you.

Offer Reassurance – Sell it Again
Selling doesn’t stop once you get a contract signed; it begins. The client (no matter how cool they are) wants to know they made the right decision. When they start to express doubt, don’t take it personally. Instead, offer them a reassuring phrase like, “the results will speak for themselves” or talk about other clients that you’ve successfully helped in their niche.

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Uses this framework, hopefully you can circumvent some of the mistakes I’ve made. Choose clients with your eyes wide open. That way, you’ll know enough about each other to create a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship that you’re both excited about.  That way, you can keep dating.

How do you choose your clients?