I'm a pretty impatient guy. To me, if something isn't moving fast, it's not moving at all. I run my business that way, too. If I don't respond to a client's request in hours or at most two days, I get anxious about the possibility of losing that account.

That's not always a good practice. Last week, I was reminded in no uncertain terms by a client of the virtue of patience after mistakenly turning up the heat a little on a pending order. I own a staffing business -- we place writers and editors. I knew that a candidate I'd sent to one client would be great for that company, and I decided to just put in a little wake-up call before the candidate took a job elsewhere. The client wasn't happy about the nudge, and I hung up with that queasy feeling you get when you've almost blown a deal. In the end, things turned out O.K., and I think the call helped. It sure didn't feel like it for a while, though. You've really got to be a diplomat in this business.

It's like dancing: When do you push, when do you pull back, and who leads? The timing comes with experience and knowing how to read your customers. When you get out on the floor, it's important to be aware of where your partner's toes are at all times.

Now, I wish I were a banker. There's nothing fast about that industry -- as I've come to learn in my efforts to get a loan. (I'm still waiting, thanks for asking.) Amazingly, everyone accepts that bankers dance real slow. After all, when they make a decision on a loan or line of credit, they're holding all the cards. There's a classic TV commercial showing a banker behind a desk intoning "any day now" to an anxious would-be borrower on the phone. Try that with one of your customers.

Of course, most of us have no such luxury. We constantly battle time as we struggle not only to be the best at what we do but to get there before the competition. In case you haven't noticed, turnaround times have become increasingly short as E-mail, overnight deliveries, the Internet, and portable communications devices have given everyone the ability to have everything instantly. There's no more room to fudge when you don't deliver a proposal or answer a letter. Managing the float is becoming harder and harder.

All this pressure raises the question: Is faster necessarily better? It can certainly be detrimental -- for example, when you deliver a proposal that's not quite ready. If you're uncomfortable with your product, it shouldn't go out the door.

It seems everyone is on an accelerated clock. But do people really need things faster, or do they just feel they should demand instant service to be modern? My company often signs up clients who needed to fill positions yesterday. Then they take months to decide on a candidate. And there are clients who hire us for writing projects they need right away, then drop the project entirely or let weeks go by before giving us what we need to start. This probably is an indication that though things seem to be moving quicker, in reality it's business as usual at most places.

I also get an uneasy feeling from clients who seem so rushed that they don't have time to return calls. I had a boss like that once. As soon as you stepped into her office, her head spun around like Linda Blair's in The Exorcist. People who always appear busy really aren't; they just want to intimidate you into thinking so.

The trick, of course, is to stay a few steps ahead of the game and anticipate things. This way, you won't feel as though you have a gun at your head every time you answer the phone.

Good advice. Now, if only I can follow it.

George Giokas is the president and CEO of StaffWriters Plus, a specialty agency that places writers in temporary and permanent positions with corporate and other employers. It also provides editorial consulting work. His database includes 2,500 writers and editors specializing in more than 60 categories. His Web site is located at www.staffwriters.com, and you can E-mail him at george@staffwriters.com.