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Sometimes, I share links to resources and apps that I recommend. They are all based on my experience - if I don't love them, I don't recommend them. In some cases, I earn a small commission for my recommendation, at no cost to you.
I want to talk about a pattern I see quite regularly and it's one that's really worth being honest about. A potential client gets in touch and before you have had a proper conversation, before you actually know very much about them at all, you have already formed an opinion. Maybe something about they messaged felt a bit hesitant and you've decided they probably can't afford you. Maybe they have mentioned a situation that sounds complicated and you have already half decided
Sumantha McMahon (:
that they're not quite right. Maybe they seem really keen instead of feeling good about that, maybe something that you can't quite pinpoint pulls you back. And so the interaction that follows is already shaped by a conclusion you reached before the interaction has really begun. Now, I want to be really clear about something here because I think it's important. There are absolutely situations where saying no to a client is the right thing to do.
Sumantha McMahon (:
If someone is genuinely not the right fit for what you offer, it is not just acceptable to say so, it's the ethical thing to do. And equally, we get to do business on our terms. If for whatever reason someone doesn't feel right to work with, even if they tick every box on paper, you're allowed to trust that instinct. So that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the situations where we prejudge before we have the information to do so.
Sumantha McMahon (:
where we make a decision on behalf of someone who has not yet had the chance to show us who they actually are or what they actually need. The most common way this manifests is when you to say to me, but no one will pay that. And I always say, don't make the decision on their behalf. That's not where our focus needs to lie. So the cost of that isn't just a missed client. It's a habit of filtering people out based on assumptions rather than reality.
Sumantha McMahon (:
So what do you do instead? You get the information before you form the opinion. If someone is booking, let's say a discovery call through an app like Calendly, which I use, your booking form is doing more work than you might realise. A few well-chosen questions, what are they currently doing, for instance? What are they hoping to change? What already have they tried that hasn't worked? These kinds of qualifying questions can tell you a huge amount before you have even spoken.
Sumantha McMahon (:
And it means that you arrive at the conversation with actual information rather than a kind of narrative that you have formed in your mind. If someone lets say messages you directly, they haven't booked a call, it's completely fine to respond with a couple of those qualifying questions as well before moving towards a call or moving towards a booking. And it's not quite in a gatekeeping way. It's in a curious way, a genuinely curious way, because this will help.
Sumantha McMahon (:
you understand their situation better. It's that kind of interaction. Because here's what tends to happen when you do that. The person you had almost written off turns out to be exactly the kind of client you love working with. Or the conversation confirms that actually they're not the right fit. And you can say so kindly and clearly, having made that decision based on real information rather than a first impression. Either way, you are making a considered decision, not a reactive one.
Sumantha McMahon (:
And that's much more grounded and it's a much fairer way to run your business for them and for you.
