The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 49 Degrees
Today I want to tell you a story. A story of how a single email, sent by me, eventually (key word) transformed into client relationships (she brought friends) of about $60K-$70K.
First, I want to talk a little bit about “lag time” between cause and effect in the client attraction business. In my experience, it’s about a good 6 months, at least. You start your marketing machine, and a few months later, things start to happen.
When I started out, I marketed myself (albeit poorly) pretty consistently. At that time, I sent out hand addressed pitch letters to the world “announcing” how great I was.
As time went on, I got clearer about who exactly I wanted to attract. (I’m still doing that, so don’t think it’s a one time event or decision. For me, it’s been an evolution towards clarity.)
Now I am naturally fascinated by successful people. And I wanted a way to build relationships with people in my industry in a way that didn’t broadcast “salesman.” So I started interviewing people.
I sent an email to a woman in our industry asking for an interview. She did some “checking” and, after finding out I probably wasn’t an axe murderer, she accepted the request to do the interview.
Only problem was, I dropped the ball and never wrote back!
A year or two goes by…
I finally get my act together and write again, saying I’m ready to do the interview.
More weeks/months go by. We finally do the interview. One thing leads to another and what began as a single email turns into an excellent client. I’m talking projects, retainers, referrals etc.
I talk a lot about how I view my way of attracting clients as more of a solar system than some kind of linear marketing funnel.
Most people (unless they are referred) start on the outer edges of this system.
This woman I’m speaking about did. She was actually a customer before she was a client. She was a monthly subscriber to The Monday Hotsheet™ back when I charged for it. (Before I wised up and realized that I was stupid for putting a paywall between the world and consistent demonstration of my ideas and what I do.)
She was a customer for a while on what you might call the “outer orbit” of my solar system.
Just watching, waiting, paying attention to my demonstration.
At some point, she was ready to move to another orbit.
That’s when she sent me an email that went something like this:
“I’ve been wanting to use your services for a while and this seems like an excellent time…”
And there you have it. The solar system in action. One day, you’re dealing with strangers. Months later, somebody “crashes” down on the surface of your planet and asks to work with you.
It’s about as far as you can get from traditional “direct” marketing, but it works.
Understand this was years ago… way before I even got clear on the whole Platform model. Things happen more quickly these days but this was the very beginning of me starting to figure out how effective the “slow attraction” process was.