Follow-Up Follies

The Desert of Arizona
Partly Cloudy 50 Degrees

I gave up “following-up” a long time ago. These days if I speak with a prospect and they “disappear,” I might send a resource I think would be helpful or something. Maybe a newsletter I wrote or perhaps highlight some client work that’s relevant to their situation.

If they came as a referral from a trusted source, I might even add one additional touch in there just out of respect for the individual who sent them.

But after that… I move on.

I stop “following-up” completely. They will come to me or we won’t work together. Maybe that sounds harsh, but it’s really the only course of action that makes sense given the facts.

The facts are that I can attract clients who bring resources to the table from thousands of different places.

Clients can only receive the specific benefits of what I do and how I do it from ONE place… ME.

That doesn’t mean I think I’m God’s gift to the world of client attraction, mind you.

But it does mean that I want to be a steward of the gifts I’ve been given. And trying to bestow those gifts on people who don’t want them is being a poor steward of what I have.

People do what they want. Humans naturally pursue what they want. If they’re not calling, it’s because they don’t want you. At least not right now. If they DID want you, they’d find you.

And that’s all you need to know. That’s the truth. And with the truth, you can make smarter decisions.

What’s worst is that traditional “follow-up” thinking takes your focus OFF your best use of YOU (which is serving people who want to be served) and wastes that energy on people who are not offering you that opportunity.

Do you really want to work with people who you had to convince to move forward? Raise your expectations for YOURSELF. The right people will climb up to your level and find you.