It sounds counter-intuitive, but in all the New Year’s hullabaloo about resolutions, have you resolved to get more bookings that hold in your business?

Sounds good, but how exactly do you do that? We’ve talked before about the 80-20 rule in building your direct sales business, and the need to focus on the income producing activities in your direct sales business, but we haven’t really talked about firing your clients.

Did I just hear you shudder?

“But Lisa!” I hear you say. “How in the world am I going to make more money and get more bookings by firing my clients?”

Well, I didn’t say fire ALL your clients – just the bottom 20%. Consider this, for every ten hosts and guests you have there are two that are probably not serving you or your business in an empowering way. Likewise, you’re probably not serving them in an empowering way either! What if you could clear out 2 clients and make room for 2 more that were even better?

What if you could clear out 2 clients and NOT add any more, and still do just as well, if not better?

You can – when you focus on your TOP 20%.

This is the beauty of the Pareto Principle. In fact, best-selling author Mike Michalowicz, author of “The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy To Grow A Remarkable Business In Any Field” says that the best thing you can do is cut off the dead weight and nurture your best “fruit” in order to grow a business akin to one of those 800-pound giant pumpkins.

So how exactly do you do that in your direct sales business? How do you get more bookings that hold? Here’s a simple 4-step approach.

4 Steps To Better Bookings In Your Direct Sales Business

1. Get clear on who you want to work with. Have a perfect-fit customer in mind before you start culling your list. If you already have a client you’d like to clone, begin there.

2. Sort into A-B-C list clients. Your “A” list clients are the ones that most closely match your perfect-fit customer. “C” list clients are the people you KNOW you’d fire if you had the guts to do it. The “B” list clients are everyone else.

3. Cull your C list clients – through redirection or simply firing them. It’s always better to redirect them to another consultant if possible. Maybe there’s someone on your team that would be a better fit for working with them. If not, then be honest (not cruel), and let them know your business model is changing and you won’t be able to work with them anymore.

4. Focus on your top clients. Use that time you would have been spending on “C” list clients on either your “A” list or “B” list clients (remember the 80/20 rule). The goal is to determine whether your “B” list clients are really “A” listers in hiding, or if they need to be cut from your client base so you can focus more time on the “A” list clients.

If you continue to sort your clients and hosts this way throughout your career, you’ll always have a healthy, thriving book of business. Clearing space allows you to free up that wasted energy and focus on what really matters – in your life and business.

If you are looking for more specific booking tips, consider our Booking Bonanza audio training.