The Client Letter
September 13, 2012
Sedona, Arizona
Sunny 54 Degrees
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On July 30, I began what turned out to be an interesting experiment in giving away free advice.
On that day, and every weekday through today, I spent about 25 minutes on the Art of Clients Facebook page answering questions about working with clients.
On some days, I got no questions. On others, I got several.
Today is the last day that service is available.
Why?
Because I’m realizing (again) that free advice, given in that way is in direct opposition to a core objective required for real success.
You might think that money is a core objective for me. In one way, yes, you’re right. But I’m smart enough to know that pursuing money directly breaks a law of nature:
What you chase tends to run away.
Money is a product of something else. Money is a product of impact.
The more impact I have, the more money tends to come my way.
Free creates no impact in people’s lives. That’s really the problem. Without impact there is no change. As it turns out, “free” can end up being quite expensive for you.
Earlier this week, I took some time and thought through some of the processes in my client work under the following scenario:
I imagine I have $1 million in the bank and 6 kids at home whose future well-being depends, in part, on the quality attention they receive from ME.
With that thought and those feelings, I went through the steps of my client intake process and said, “Would I do it this way?”
Would I spend 45 minutes on the phone with a prospect, listening, dispensing advice with zero skin in the game from the prospect?
Nope.
Would I take hours out of my week to dispense free advice to anyone who asked?
Nope.
Would I even give a second thought to prospects who said one thing and did another?
Of course not.
So why do I do that sometimes?
Because I lose sight of my core objectives and what mentors and experience have taught me about how to achieve them. Every now again, I have to readjust and make changes, as I’m doing now.
You might look at the year’s worth of free Client Letter issues and say, “Well, isn’t that free advice you’re dispensing there bucko?”
Two things…
First, in my opinion, there’s a difference in process between selling products and selling YOU.
Quite a difference in how the positioning works there.
Second, nothing in life is black and white. That’s what the system teaches us to believe but that’s only because brainwashing a society like that is an easy way to control them.
This business is an endless sea of shades of gray. Exceptions to everything are all over the place.
You have to make the appropriate decisions for your core objectives.
When you’re in the service business, there is no resource that is more valuable than direct access to you.
So you need to be judicious about how that resource is used.
I love to write, and I’m good at it. Thanks to the wonders of technology, a single letter can reach the hearts and minds of thousands of people.
That’s leverage. It’s free, what I’m offering, so there’s less impact there. But there’s still a ton of leverage. That’s what I’m looking for to help achieve my aims.
In the service business, you have one huge advantage over a typical information marketing business.
The supply of your primary “product” is extremely limited.
But if you don’t communicate that and act accordingly, you’ll squander your biggest advantage.
In your work with clients, this is extremely important.
Until the sale is made, every action you take either contributes to the attractive energy required to make a sale or it takes away from it.
A free consultation? Takes away.
A paid consultation? Adds to it.
A lack of supply of what your client wants (you)? Adds to it.
“Needing the business.” Takes away.
Confidence and a lack of emotional attachment. Adds to it.
Go ahead and try things in your business that “break the rules.” I do that all the time. Who knows, they might work. If they do, great. If they don’t, come back to the core principles and try again.
Rinse and repeat. That’s progress. It’s as messy as hell.