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Last week we spoke about setting a cap to the number of clients you work with. Today we’re going to talk about the nuances involved in that.
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There’s only a set number of clients any of us can work with at any one time before our reputation starts taking a hit. Our service starts dropping off long before we realize it, unfortunately, and other people are impacted (namely our clients), and our reputation begins taking a little bit of a hit.

You don’t want to go near that point. You want to take pride in having that number of clients that you can work with and then capping it there and letting people know you’re full. That’s a great thing to be able to say and something to take pride in.

But what do you do now when A-clients are going to refer you to their friends and family? How do you navigate that? You should take pride in having those meetings with A-clients (or regardless of how you’ve got your clients segmented) and letting them know,

“We have hit that enviable position in any business where we are full. We have all the clients we want right now. We have all the clients we need, but we have all the clients we want. We love them.

While we do intend growing a little more, we want to do that appropriately. We love servicing our clients and delivering great service and value. We’re excited about some of the plans that we’re looking at right now. However, right now we are at capacity.”

Let your clients know that.

Then you can simply mention,

“We’ll let you know when one or two of these plans come to fruition and we’ve got a little bit more capacity that we’ll only make available for friends and family of existing clients. So we’re excited about that. We wanted to let you know that we’re thrilled at the position we’re in. We have you, partly, to thank for that, and we’re really excited about the future.”

So let people know your being full is something to look at positively. That means if I’m one of your clients, I understand I’m in a select group! I absolutely value what you’re telling me to do now because I don’t want to lose my seat on the bus, so to speak. Take pride in announcing this, but also let people know there are some great things to come in the future.

So, when you are having to navigate these circumstances with existing clients,

1. Be proud of your circumstances. You’ve done a phenomenal job! You’re at capacity. You’ve got all the clients you need right now.


2. Consider carefully wording how you explain this to people. Don’t just say you’re full and leave it at that. That can sound a little arrogant to some people. Who knows how they might think of you after that, and they may never come back and refer business to you. Instead, have your language to communicate this thought through carefully.


3. Update clients when you do make changes. Maybe you bring on a new hire, or a new advisor and capacity opens back up. Then you’ve got some good news to announce. You want to let clients know, “Hey, great news! Remember we said we were full? We’ve just hired a new advisor. We love how she’s working out! People are rapt to work with her, and so we wanted you to meet her, and we are now open for more business from your friends and family.”

With that, you’ll leave a great idea in their mind about how to refer their friends and family to you.

I look forward to bringing you another Distraction-Proof Advisor Idea next week.