New business is the lifeblood of any firm and you have a huge role in getting it. You have to get prospects to choose you and clients to continue to choose you. While it may not be natural, comfortable or easy, it’s still yours to do.

Fortunately, most of your competition think that being technically competent, meeting deadlines and offering competitive pricing are the way to impress new clients, so they stop there. Those things are important, but not sufficient. Clients and prospects think that they are the minimum standards for being in business in the first place. In reality, they are table stakes; the ante to sit at the table. And your competition is highlighting them?

Prospects and clients choose you for their reasons, not yours. They choose you because:

1. You are easy to work with. Your positive, can-do attitude is a breath of fresh air.

2. You are creative in finding solutions. Textbook solutions are the beginning of the discussion, not the final resolution.

3. You are accessible and responsive. They have confidence you will be there when they need you most.

4. You are someone they can talk to and think through difficult situations. While you can’t decide for them, you can give them the information they need to make good decisions.

5. You demonstrate you genuinely care about them and their business. You can’t fake this. They know. Believe me, they know.

Notice that these reasons are intangible. Don’t let the fact that you can’t quantify or measure them lead you to believe they aren’t important or valuable. In the end, they are all the difference. The more you demonstrate them, the more you make it easy for them to choose you.

Let your competition talk about table stakes while you play for the all the chips. Play wisely and be the easy choice.