“At your absolute best, you still won’t be good enough for the wrong person.” — Unknown
An expert’s client mostly isn’t searching for immediate results, ROI/profitability, or budget-friendliness. Those can all be important factors, but they want to see the elusive substance known as “fit”.
That’s short for a “good product/market fit”, even if they don’t consciously know that to be true.
A good fit means they see your offer as an answer to their prayers and will happily pay for your service.
A bad fit, on the other hand, isn’t really about whether your service is good, but whether it’s good for them.
For example, I don’t care about watching sports at all. No matter what amazing pile of content, commentary, or coverage they offer, it remains 100% uninteresting to me.
No offer will be good enough if there’s a serious misalignment in expectations, value perception, professionalism, language, deadlines, personal style, or simply insurmountable operational issues.
Here’s what I look for:
1) Assess expectations: their thoughts about the desired result, scope, and stability.
2) Confirm financial compatibility: preferred ways to measure value, as well as rates and payment terms
3) Watch their behavior: professionalism, signs of micromanagement, or god complex.
All sales start with “who” you are selling to. That also means weeding out bad-fitting clients before they do damage.