The Client Letter
December 6, 2013
The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 26 Degrees
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Tim Ferriss often talks about the idea of a Minimum Effective Dose. (If you’re not familiar with this idea, read about it here.)
In short, it’s the least amount of effort or investment required to get the result you want. Anything more is wasted and unnecessary.
So what is the minimum effective dose required for you to get a client? Do you know?
I like to adapt this idea a bit and think about it in terms of a minimum daily effective dose. Breaking it down into daily chunks makes things much more mangeable. And the daily reminder keeps it a focus of my mind.
Dan Kennedy often tells the story of his commitment to doing ONE thing daily to prime the pump for future clients.
You might consider this HIS take on the minimum effective dose idea.
Do you have a minimum effective daily dose to get clients? What’s the one activity you can do in small quantities every day that leads to clients? Do you have it clear in your mind? Are you doing it?
My take on the minimum effective daily dose idea solves one of the most frustrating things about the client business. See if this sounds familiar as I explain it:
You go looking for clients… you get clients… you get very busy working with clients… you stop “looking” for clients… you finish your client projects… you look up and now have no clients.
As a way of life, that routine sucks. Sorry, it’s awful.
The Minimum Effective Daily Dose changes all of that.
This is just like it was in the music world. I got my first church job as an organist when I was 13 years old. From that point on, until I was well into my 20s, I played every week.
There was a lot of music to learn and not a lot of time to learn it.
So I had a choice:
Option one was to cram everything in one or two marathon practice sessions on Friday and Saturday. This resulted in high stress and low retention, but it got the job done. Not so sustainable, however, from an emotional point of view. You can go nuts under pressure like that.
Option two was to commit to the minimum effective (daily) dose required to reach the same goal. Do it every day, work it into the fabric of my life and slowly walk towards the goal.
I’m embarrassed to admit that, with very few exceptions, I never chose the smart option. I was always cramming.
But “cramming” doesn’t work when you want to get clients. You don’t “get” clients, you grow them. It takes time.
Commit to some sort of minimum effective daily dose for attracting clients. Before you know it, you’ll begin to see real results.
P.S. The next issue of the Rainmaker Letter is getting released in just a few days. This month’s issue is a special report on positioning, attraction and polarity called: How to Sell Without Needing Them to Buy. Get onboard now and make sure you don’t miss it!