The Client Letter
September 23, 2013
The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 53 Degrees
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are some major mistakes I’ve made in my work with clients and today I’m going to come clean about one of them.
Basically, I spent years living a “life of crime” without even knowing it.
I thought that when you were working with clients, it was all about an even exchange.
You did work which was valued at the exact level of the fees paid to you.
Even Steven right?
Only if you’re stupid. And boy was I stupid. In fact, I shudder to think at how many great clients I scared away because of this, so let me explain.
As a business owner working with clients, I’m basically operating my own bank.
It’s a bank of trust and a bank of value.
I have an account and each of my prospects and clients has an account as well.
If I deposit value or trust and then turn around and withdrawal that same value or trust in the form of money, my account stays at zero. Over time, I make no progress.
That’s what I did for years. Did work, got paid.
Basically, what I was doing was robbing my own bank!! I’d put some “money” in and then empty it right out.
Call the cops, I’ve been robbed!
The smart way to do it when you’re running a “bank” like this is to make sure the ledger is lopsided in favor of your prospects and clients.
In other words, you flat out screw yourself on the value exchange.
You make 99 deposits into the accounts of prospects and clients, and you make 1 withdrawal from your account.
With a ratio like that, you’re pretty much never going to go wrong. What’s more is that you’ll end up adding value to so many people’s lives that they won’t be able to deny their desire to help you.
That’s a huge secret right there. It sounds so obvious. But very few people do it.
To be clear, I didn’t get just how important this was at the beginning.
I didn’t get it for two reasons:
- I wasn’t thinking long term. I was thinking more like Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. “I wanted my Oompa Loompa and I wanted it now!” (If you’ve never seen this movie, click here to see the clip.)
- I also wasn’t aware that I was in the banking business. And because of that, I had no idea how my “transactions” with a client affected the future.
This is why you build a PLATFORM. Because it allows you to make those deposits so they are well received by your prospects and clients.
This is why you show up for your prospects and clients over and over again. More deposits, more value, more trust.
Much like compound interest, this value and trust grow over time.
So if you’re in this game for the short term, my suggestion would be to find another game… because it takes a while!
But if you’re here for the long haul, then start building today. The Platform Report can step you through the process. And it’s your free with a subscription to The Rainmaker Letter.