Running the firm
Write down who you are not for
It takes an hour, almost nobody does it, and it improves everything downstream of it.
Published
The exercise
List the client types your firm is a poor fit for. Not aspirational segmentation — the actual list.
Most firms cannot do this immediately, which is itself the finding.
What tends to be on it
Clients who want to direct security selection. Clients whose situation needs specialist expertise you do not have. Clients below a size where you can serve them properly. Clients who want daily contact when your model is quarterly.
Why saying it publicly works
It signals confidence, which is scarce. It filters before it costs anyone a meeting. And it makes everything else you say more credible, because you have demonstrated willingness to say something against your own interest.
A firm that will take anyone has told you nothing about who it is good for.
The objection
That it costs business. It costs you meetings with people who were going to be unhappy.
Every firm has an implicit version of this list already. The only question is whether it is discovered before the engagement or after.
What it does internally
It makes the referral conversation easy, gives staff permission to decline, and turns pricing into a decision rather than a negotiation.
Where to put it
On the website, in the first meeting, and in the referral conversation. Phrased as fit rather than judgment: we are probably not the right firm if you want X.
The follow-through
Then actually decline them. A list you override is a list that costs you credibility with your own team, which is worse than not having one.