Do you work with every prospect that comes your way? Even in the best of times most agents do, figuring “Any business is better than no business.” And when times are tough, sales associates tend to look at prospects like someone dying of thirst looks at a glass of cool, clear water.

Yet this very understandable approach to new business could in fact cost you the very thing you want –a steady stream of new business.

The reality is that you will do better by being very selective with whom you choose to work. The reasons are very simple: you will enjoy your job so much more and those that you do serve will appreciate your efforts that much more.

The funny thing about human nature is that the more selective you become, the easier it will be to attract those very people. When I had my Mortgage company in the mid-1980′s, real estate agents told their borrowers they had to call and mention the agent’s name if they wanted a chance to work with me. Needless to say, this created a sense of extreme value in the minds of prospects —they were chasing me, instead of the other way around.

This effect was helped greatly by my very public declaration that I simply did not work with everyone…

It’s not a matter of who can benefit from what you sell. It’s about choosing the customers you’d like to have.

Seth Godin

There is one very important caveat here. This only works well when you also choose to specialize. Trying to be everything to everyone is like taking a megaphone to a crowd of people and screaming that you will take all comers —it kind of defeats the purpose.