Mountains of Arizona
Sunny and Windy 52 Degrees
1:52 p.m.
I used to get annoyed with clients and prospects who would disappear.
In my early days, I’d freely give a lot of time and focus to people HOPING they would hire me. I’d even spend hours delivering free consulting packages I was taught to call “proposals.” So when they went silent, it’d be a little frustrating. “After all I did for you!” Ha!
Eventually I stopped the proposal garbage. A bit later than that, I stopped giving so much after I realized it’s the exact opposite of the best way to help people before they actually hire you.
These days, the train (me!) comes, the train stops, the train waits, the train leaves.
If you get on, great! If you don’t get on, see you next time!
It’s a common fallacy that you want to have your scheduled filled with clients.
This is the WRONG GOAL to pursue, in my opinion.
The point isn’t to be full of clients, the point is to have the demand for you far exceed the supply of you.
These are two different things. And these two different things are achieved in two very different ways.
Engineer demand. That’s what will put you in the driver’s seat.
These days, I speak with prospects, I offer what I have, then I move on to the next opportunity. No follow-up, no checking-in, no “touching base,” no reaching out.
The thing is, I am actually interested in helping people. Even the ones that disappear. So the media platform stays in their life, adding value, as long as they want it. It serves as a gentle reminder that there is still a solution to their problem out there.
The train doesn’t yell at all the people on the platform informing them they missed the train. It communicates the message through its actions, when it pulls away and moves on.
It’ll be back, so maybe next time. When you set it up right, there’s always a next time.