The first function in your client development process is . . . FUELING.

Your Business or Practice is a Vehicle
You may find it helpful to think of your business or practice as a vehicle.

Vehicles are means of transportation.  As a vehicle for you, your business can take you from where you are today to where you want to be in the future.

When you think of your business as a vehicle, it’s easy to see it taking you to a well-deserved retirement, dropping the kids off at a nice college or university along the way and maybe even trailering a nice big boat behind you to enjoy whenever you feel like stopping.

Your Vehicle Needs Fuel
Every vehicle requires fuel of some kind to operate effectively.  To your business or practice, that fuel means people . . . who can help you grow your business . . . directly or indirectly.

You Need The ‘Right Kind’ of Fuel
As you know, you must be ‘choosey’ about the fuel you’ll put into your vehicle.  Putting gasoline into a diesel engine or diesel fuel into a gas engine will cause you a lot of problems — and it won’t help your vehicle operate as you expect to take you where you want to go.

It’s no different with your business or practice.  You want to begin your client development process with the most suitable people you can — assuming you want your business to operate effectively, efficiently and profitably.

You Need ‘Enough’ Fuel, Too
Your journey through life . . . from where you are today to when you send the kids to college and when you seek to retire . . . is a long ride!  Getting from ‘here’ to ‘there’ will take some doing.  And, of course, you’re expecting your business or practice will help you make the journey.

But if you lack sufficient ‘fuel’ — people who can buy or refer people to you — you may not be reaching your ‘destinations’ as you intend.  In fact, you may have no choice but to settle for less . . . a less desirable lifestyle before you retire, a less desirable college for your kids, a less desirable quality of life in retirement for yourself and your spouse.  Not a pretty picture, is it?

KEY POINT:
If you don’t have BOTH the quantity and quality of the people you need to operate your business or practice as you want, you may be working longer than you like,  harder than you want and for far less than you deserve.