The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 72 Degrees
Yesterday I was speaking with a Platform Express client and the discussion turned to the whole idea of becoming the hunted.
When I was starting my business as a consultant and copywriter, I started out as the hunter. That’s really the only place you can start when you have nothing and know no one. Frankly, “being hunted” wasn’t really something I even knew existed. And as for actually making that happen, well I wasn’t even close to knowing how to do that.
Back then, “selling” was about going out in the forest, killing something and dragging it home. It was hard, hard work.
One day, I discovered that some folks had actually figured out how to get their clients to come to them. This seemed like a pretty cool thing to figure out how to do.
I have to admit, it took me a while. And I’m still not done. But I’m light years ahead of where I was. And for that, I’m extremely thankful.
But I still screwed things up…
You see, no one had mentioned that just because you GET a client, it doesn’t mean that all of your challenges end. In fact, getting the client is far more straightforward than keeping the client. And keeping the client is far more straightforward than keeping that client without allowing that person to drive you crazy.
If you don’t know how to do this, you end up allowing that client to assume the role of taskmaster and make your life less than ideal. (And the worst part is, it’s your fault! Most importantly, it’s not the best way to properly serve the interests of your client.)
The secret I’ve discovered has to do with energy.
You already know about the force of attraction. I talk about it all the time.
What I didn’t realize at the beginning is that the force of attraction is ALWAYS present. Sometimes it’s high, sometimes it’s low.
The place I always got into trouble was that after I GOT the client, I’d forget that I was still playing the game of business.
I’d allow that attractive force that had PRODUCED the client to whither away into nothing. Bad news.
I’d become the “nice guy” again and totally lose track of the energetic dynamic of the relationship.
The goal is to maintain the force of attraction throughout the entire client relationship.
The good news is that you can engineer this. The bad news is that you have to work to do it.
But if that’s something you’re interested in… if you’d rather be the hunted and not the hunter, then you’ll definitely want to be there for this.