I almost flushed $10,000 down the toilet.

Back in early 2014, when Mark and I were newly engaged and brooooooookity-broke, his parents offered to float us some money to put deposits down on our wedding venue, caterer, DJ, etc.

During a routine visit to the small Illinois town where he grew up, Mark’s dad slipped me a check for a tidy sum, then Mark and I dashed out to meet friends at the town bowling alley.

Fast-forward one or two beers… I’m in the ladies’ room doing ladylike things, and fwoooop! there goes the check, flutterflutterflutterpfft down to the dingy bathroom tile.

I flushed and walked out, oblivious to having dropped the check.

Didn’t realize I’d lost it until I checked my jeans pocket the next morning and my soul left my body.

Mortified, I admitted over coffee that I’d lost the check, and…wtf, my now-father-in-law just cut me a new one.

“It’s a small town,” he said. “Somebody will call me in a couple of days to tell me they found it.”

Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. No harm, no foul.

But that’s, um, not how it works in business.

In business, leaving money on the table (or floor of a public bathroom, depending on your industry, I guess) almost always results in somebody else picking it up and taking it to the bank.

A former coach once told me I was silly not to offer marketing copy coaching and co-writing on top of my “done for you” copywriting services — for those who didn’t need a huge amount of help, or didn’t have the budget to hand it all off.

Today, it’s become a huge part of my business, but goodness only knows how many clients gave me a hard no in the Before Times because they just…didn’t have another option to work with me.

There are sooooo many ways other businesses leave money on table (or put it there then set the table on fire):

🔥 Not offering a lower-commitment way to stay in touch when somebody isn’t ready to fork over the big bucks
🔥 Making it hard to contact them (or having an unclear call to action)
🔥 Letting calls or emails fall by the wayside when someone shows clear interest (yes, your sales process is part of your marketing)
🔥 Using confusing language or getting too clever about what they do
🔥 Introducing new objections with their marketing copy
🔥 Being shy about sharing why they’re the best partner for their dream customers (it’s not bragging when you come by it honestly)

Have you ever flushed $10,000? What adjustments can you make to keep it from happening again?