In today's market I see lots of Loan Officers and Realtors who seem to have the mentality of "work with everyone", it might lead to a closing. They spend their time and energy with "clients" who are high maintenance, marginally qualified, and sometimes just plain disagreeable. When the deal either quietly dies, or blows up suddenly, they have just made a very expensive mistake.
I have found that I can't work with certain types of people and made a decision some years ago to say no and turn down a potential client if I think I cant work with the person, or they are not likely to close.
The advantages to being choosy about your clients are: More energy, More enjoyable work, Better utilization of your time, and when you finally close, a client who is happier and more likely to refer clients to you.
Now, there are some disadvantage to saying no, such as straining a referral relationship. If your relationship is strong, you should be able to explain why the lead is not a good fit for you.
Its tough the first time you have to do this, but the more you do it, the stronger your resolve becomes. You are in control of your business and your work day. The payoff is your sanity and work/life balance.
Remember, a fast "no" is better than a long "maybe".
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[there are some disadvantage to saying no, such as straining a referral relationship]
I'm not even sure that's so much of a disadvantage . . . because if you can't close a client then the referral agent's not going to get paid either--and the incidence of 'bad feelings' could be a lot higher.
Better to, as a teacher of mine once said "turn you down now than let you down later."
My first broker told me once that if I fired too many people, eventually there would be no one left. She gave me wise counsel in most aspects of this business but she was not right in this instance.
There have been plenty left and I say no when no is smarter than yes, if that makes sense . . . :)