Right now, a lot of businesses are seeing an influx of new client opportunities.
It’s a continuation of a trend that started last year and, after a few years of pipelines not necessarily being as strong as they had been, it’s pretty nice to see.
However, whilst the adage of making hay while the sun shines is hard to argue against, I’m going to have a crack at anyone because sometimes it’s the case that maximising the opportunity in front of you can actually be a poor business decision.
At the top level, it makes sense that when prospects are coming in motivated, engaged and willing to invest in advice, you’d take the opportunity while it’s there.
In the absence of any other goals than growing revenue, I’d be a fool to stand in your way.
However, I’m always mindful as a coach that when people work with me, they’re usually aiming for a bigger outcome. Something more than they currently have like:
- growing a more profitable business,
- not working such long hours,
- removing some of the pressure to deliver from their shoulders, or
- build a business that can run without them having to drive growth and overseas operations.
If the goal is to build a business that is better than it is today over the next three to five years, BUT you choose to prioritise on growing revenue because there is so much opportunity in front of you, you’re making a choice without often realising it.
You’ve chosen to prioritise immediate opportunity over future opportunity without assessing which is more lucrative.
As human beings, we are motivated by instant gratification.
I’ve recently just finished my business planning process with all of my Leveraged Advice Firm clients. One key conversation we had is about the fact that having a plan is often not enough to actually make you follow through on what needs to happen.
It comes down to the fact that when you’re planning, you’re essentially creating a benefit for a future version of yourself.
However typically, when we come back into our business, the mindset shifts to the moment.
At the moment, we often prefer to choose simple tasks which provide more immediate benefit than attacking others which may be more challenging, unfamiliar or difficult to overcome.
This makes me mindful to be actively aware of how my clients react to shorter-term opportunities, such as the one right now with the influx of clients.
I’m not suggesting you should suddenly say no to every prospect meeting
However, could it be possible that in choosing to onboard every single client who reaches out with an intention to get advice, some of the working-on-your-business things that might enable you to work differently or your business, or grow and operate in a different way is being pushed to the side?
Is it possible that in doing so you’re essentially delaying a transition you want to make, and maybe even making it harder to do what’s needed?
Actually, be disadvantaged in your ability to make it
It’s a bit of a paradox, isn’t it, to be a coach suggesting that taking on new clients might be a bad thing to do.
It’s not true of every situation, but sometimes saying no to what may seem like a great opportunity today is the right choice if the future opportunity is both greater and in your better interests to focus on.
