Saying,Good,Opportunities,Trac business, insurance Saying No To Good Opportunities

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Tracey started her video production company 2 ½ years ago,and after struggling through the start-up phase, she was finallyreaping the fruits of her labor. When we talked, it was clearthat she was ready to move onward and upward but didn’tknow how to go about doing it.“I am so busy these days, but I’m still not getting the level ofwork I want,” Tracey told me. “I really want to get in withsome bigger companies, but I’m always scrambling to getmy current projects done.”“When I first started my business, I just wanted to get someclients, any clients. Now, I have people calling me up to dojobs for them, but those aren’t the jobs I want anymore. Imean, I need them, but I also want to start doing biggerprojects for bigger clients.”“All the people calling me are small business owners I’vemet at the networking meetings I attend. I know we talkedbefore about the fact that I’m not going to meet the repsfrom the big companies there, so I need to develop adifferent marketing strategy to reach them, but I just don’thave the time. I keep thinking I’ll reach a point where I’vegot things under control, so I can start pursuing the biggerguys, but I never get there.”It was clear that Tracey was exhausted from going throughthe same cycle over and over again, so I thought I wouldgive her brain a reprieve by taking her back in time. “Doyou remember when you told me about that guy that youmet at a networking meeting last year? He was houndingyou about making him a video, but you really didn’t seethe opportunity there. He didn’t seem to have any moneybudgeted for it and didn’t have a clear concept of why heneeded it and what he would use it for. You just didn’t feellike he was a good prospect, so you told him that you weretoo busy to take on his project.”“Yeah, what about him?”“Well, there was a time when you would have seen him asa viable prospect. You would have set up a meeting, spenta few hours going to/from the meeting, spent a few morewriting up a proposal, placed numerous follow-up callsonly to learn that there was ultimately no chance ofgetting a dime from this guy. Over time, you learned toqualify prospects, so you didn’t waste your time. By the timeyou met that guy, you already knew how to spot a badopportunity and had developed the ability to say “no” tothem.“He was easy to turn down. He just didn’t have a clue. Therewas no way he would have ever turned into a paying client,so it wasn’t hard at all to tell him that I couldn’t help him out.But, I’m not talking about people like that. The peoplecalling me are good prospects, but the projects they needme to do are just small. I just want to start getting somebigger projects too.”“Well, you say you’ve been trying to get around to marketingto bigger companies for the past eight months, right? But yet,you continue to go round-and-round hoping that you’llsuddenly find the perfect moment to work on your marketingstrategy to reach the bigger companies. It hasn’t happenedyet so, just for a moment, let’s assume that this cycle willcontinue indefinitely. What do you think it will take to breakit?” I asked her.“I don’t know. I keep waiting for the right time when thingsslow down, so I guess the cycle will end when things slow downenough for me to think about it. I was hoping the summerwould give me a break, but it didn’t. Maybe the holidays?”Tracey was doing what a lot of us have done at some timeor another. She was letting her business run her instead of herrunning it. So, the summer didn’t break the cycle and theholidays won’t break the cycle. SHE needed to break thecycle.What I asked her to do is to start to distinguish between goodopportunities and great ones. She’d learned awhile back howto say “no” to bad opportunities. What she needed to learnto do now is how to say “no” to good opportunities, so shecould say “yes” to the great ones.Most of her incoming phone calls were good opportunities,but the great ones were ones that she would need to puteffort into pursuing. There was an opportunity lost during theeight months she filled with small projects. She lost theopportunity to be making contacts at the bigger companies,to be doing jobs for the bigger companies, and to be addinghigher level projects to her portfolio.Over the next month, we assessed the reasons behind whyshe was letting her business run her. Was she ready for thetransition or was she rushing it? Maybe she really wanted tojust stick with doing what she knew she could do well. Biggerclients could potentially require her to do things she didn’thave experience doing yet. Is that scary, I asked her.It also takes a different approach to reach and pitch biggerclients. Was she uncertain about what marketing methodsto use to reach them? Or did she know that cold-calling wasthe best way to reach her target market but didn’t want tohave to make the calls? Or maybe she was afraid of meetingwith some big executive of a multi-million dollar company.After working through some of the potential blocks, Traceylaid out a plan for marketing to the big companies in her area.She contracted an assistant to make the preliminary phonecalls to qualify prospects and set up meetings. Once themeetings were set, Tracey felt fully confident in presentingher services to the decision-makers. Within 2 ½ months, shehad two new “bigger” clients and was outsourcing some ofthe smaller jobs to colleagues she had met through hernetworking meetings.Take a note from Tracey -- learn to say NO to goodopportunities, so you can say YES to the great ones!Are you saying “yes” when you should say “no”? Here’show to find out. Ask yourself the following questions:* What is your vision for your business?* What is missing where you are now?* What needs to happen in order for your vision to become a reality?The process to follow is to:1. develop a crystal clear vision of what you want your life to look like2. use your life vision to create the vision of what you want in your business3. make a list of what actions you need to take in order to go from where you are now to where you want to be4. take consistent actions toward your vision5. evaluate every new opportunity to determine if it moves you closer to your visionIt’s a BAD opportunity if:* you don’t feel good about the work you’d have to do* you wouldn’t be paid fairly* you don’t like the people you’d have to work withIt’s a GOOD opportunity if it:* gives you good experience but pays poorly* pays well but doesn’t fit with your vision* you’d enjoy the type of work and pay but not the people you’d work with or place you’d do the workIt’s a GREAT opportunity if:* you love the work you’re doing* get paid well for what you do* feel inspired and invigorated by the people you’d work with and the place you’d do the workHappy Opportunity Hunting!