Last week I shared with you some slides on finding the perfect match between what you have to offer and the ideal clients for that offer.

Included in the pack was a page on the criteria I use to decide which clients to focus on.

There are lots of things you'd expect in there: do they have a real need I can help with, is it a priority for them, would I enjoy working with them, are there enough of them to make this viable, etc.

But there's one criterion people often overlook – and it's a big mistake. In fact it was really brought home to me last week.

Last week I splurged a bit of money on a few things. An online training program for a few hundred dollars on a topic related to my field. A trip to Paris for Kathy and me in December (we love the way Paris lights up at Christmas). And yes, I got up early to join the online queue last Friday for the new iPhone :)

The thing is that 10 years ago I would have had pretty much the same need for these products (or their equivalent). But there's no way I'd have bought them. 5 years ago I'd have thought very hard about them and maybe bought one or at most two of them.

But last week I didn't bat an eyelid.

It wasn't because I needed them any more than I might have 5 or 10 years ago.

It wasn't because they were more persuasively sold.

It's simply that today I'm much more able to afford them than I was 10 years ago when I was just starting out on my own.

Never forget how important it is to focus your efforts on people who can easily afford what it is you have to offer.

I know that sounds obvious. I know no one deliberately sets out to focus on people who can't afford what they're selling.

But we often inadvertently shoot ourselves in the foot.

For example, if you do sales training for small businesses and the way you attract clients is to talk about all the problems and the pain of low sales, then you'll probably attract people who really need your training. But the chances are if they empathise with the agony of low sales, they won't have a lot of money available to spend on training because of those low sales.

If you do leadership coaching for new managers, who is more likely to be able to buy a significant amount of coaching from you? The newly promoted managers themselves, or more senior people in larger organisations who might buy a bigger program of coaching for a group of new managers?

The way we describe our services and the problems and benefits we highlight determines who we attract as clients.

The problems we discuss in our blog posts, videos, podcasts and emails determines who we attract as leads.

If you want clients more able to afford your services, focus on the problems and challenges those sorts of clients are likely to have, not just the obvious problems that everyone (and especially those least able to afford you) have.

Of course, there might be other reasons why you focus on people less able to afford your services. You might enjoy working with smaller or solo businesses for example (I do). You might feel a duty to help those in real need.

But make sure you're focusing on those people deliberately, not accidentally.