Welcome Professionals…
…it is hard for me to say “no”. Especially to clients. We all work hard to build our reputation, to generate trust and credentials. Receiving client inquiries is what we are all fighting for. When a potential client approaches me to place an assignment, I am automatically in acceptance mode. This can turn into a problem if it is out of my core.
Last week I was contacted by a branch manager of a bank. He wanted to place an executive search project. Like always, I was tempted to dive right into an assignment even though I hardly know anything about financial services. Luckily I was too busy with other work. Then I thought about passing the project on to a team member with a lower billability. But it was also not in her core area of expertise and would have kept her from building her reputation in areas she wanted to focus on.
I finally went to the potential client, told him that my team and I were very sorry, but could not provide the required service by ourselves. Instead, I recommended another external consultant for the job. The client thanked me for the connection, but in the next second turned down the external consultant. I felt miserable. I had missed on an opportunity and I had failed to solve a problem for a potential client.
Today I think, it was just another episode of the FoMO-syndrome. The typical fear of missing out (FoMO) on opportunities. I decided to establish two checkpoints for future opportunities:
- Is this opportunity within the core of my target business (defined by industry, location, topic, profitability, etc.)?
-
Do I want to invest extra time, money, and hard work to make this opportunity part of my core business?
If the answer is “no” to both questions, I will turn it down. As simple as that. Makes it easier for me to say “no” and miss out without any fear!
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