The Desert of Arizona
Clear 39 Degrees
To be completely upfront, I did some pretty stupid things in my business in the early years.
Back then, I was looking for copywriting clients. I had no idea about the whole “attraction model” of business building. Instead, I tried to sell myself into projects.
When you do this, you SKIP OVER the #1 most valuable step in the whole “working with clients” business.
That step is to create a way for prospects to ASK YOU for help. This transforms everything. You know that if you’ve ever experienced it. You don’t go after them, they come after you.
When you engineer things so prospects ask you questions like, “I know you’re the one I want to help me. How could you help me solve X?”, you know you are on a good path.
When you DON’T do the work required to generate questions like this, you often have to resort to things that might seem smart at the time, but that look like “behavior unbecoming of an advisor” from the view of your prospect.
“Takeaway selling” is one example of this. It’s an extremely powerful approach coined (I believe) by Dan Kennedy. I’m sure the idea existed long before, but I think that’s the first time I heard that term.
Of course no one wants to “miss out,” which is the human trait that takeaway selling leverages. But there’s a smart way to use this force and a not so smart way.
Instead of using it as a “tactic” that you pull out like a weapon when you want a certain result, I find it’s far more powerful to build it in to your offerings.
Take the “Monday Mastermind” service I offer. It’s not available all the time. It’s available on Mondays. And each Monday, there is only one spot. It’s a simple example, but an example nevertheless.
So is the idea of an “enrollment window.” I often use that with clients as a way to ENGINEER a decision with a prospect. They know from the beginning they will have a limited time to make a decision. You don’t care what the decision is, but you DO expect a decision.
Again, this is takeaway selling implemented on a strategic level. It’s built into your business, not just spread on top when you need it.
There’s just one problem:
“Takeaway selling” doesn’t work so well if a strong ATTRACTIVE force for you or what you do doesn’t already exist.
It’s a little bit like the kid who isn’t welcome at the marble game. After he gets rejected and says he’s going to take his marbles somewhere else… well, it just makes things look even worse. He was never wanted in the first place.
You need to engineer ATTRACTION.
The way I do that is through the use of a media platform. My “media platform” is this very email you read every day. I talk about this a lot. You don’t have to go this route, but it’s a pretty well trodden path. It’s not hard to see that it works.
Over the years, I’ve developed a strategic process to get your platform off the ground. In fact, I just took a group through this. We’re just finishing up.
And after a few tweaks, I’ve made it available again for people who are ready to pursue this method of client attraction.