For most of our clients, business is hard to come by these days. When coaching in this environment, we first look for the quickest and easiest sources of new business. To this end, we ask a series of simple questions:

• Where did your last five assignments come from? Your last ten?
• Where did your first new client from?
• What worked before that you haven't done for a long time?
• What worked once that you have never tried again?

We have learned to ask this last question through years of experience. When I first started coaching, I was surprised when I learned of a tactic that worked well once and had never been tried since. Not any more. It has happened too often, and I have even caught myself letting a good tactic get forgotten this way.

People get busy. They get distracted by other things in their lives. A tactic which can't be repeated immediately for some practical reason gets replaced by others.

Well, it's time to dust off those old tactics.

One consultant I know put together what he calls a road show, a short educational session on his specialty, and took it on a trip to large clients located off the beaten path. Underserved by others, they welcomed the attention. Ten visits resulted in three new clients (though not immediately). That was three years ago, and, until now, he has been too busy to repeat the effort.

Guess what. He's on the road again.