Editor's Note: In this first part of a two-part series, Bruce lists the five categories of prospects that require the most urgent attention from professional service marketers and business developers. He also provides insights into just who these prospects are and how you should treat them. Read the final part of this series, which discusses the final five categories of prospects, on RainToday.com.

If all the world of professional services is ruled by billable hours, which says that thou shalt feel guilty about any hours spent that are non-billable, and at the same time you realize that some time must be spent in practice development, then a way must be found to make your practice development hours more productive. For which read -- greater results with less expenditure of time and money.

There are many ways to do this, but one of the best is to understand the categories of prospective clients. The value here is that if you know the categories, then you can allocate different degrees of effort -- and urgency -- to each type of prospect.

It's as simple as understanding that the urgency in chasing down a lead from a reliable source is greater than it is for a client you're carefully nurturing for the future. Let's look at the categories, in order of the urgency of your response.

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