There’s a small rock sitting on the bar in my poolroom with the word “Patience” carved into it. I think my Sensei gave it to me, or it could have been my wife, or my neighbor…apparently there’s a long list of people who feel this is something I need to work on.
If truth be told, I don’t think I’m alone. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff you would do, if only it was simpler.
Unfortunately, simple answers usually only exist for simple problems. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I find that the more challenging the problem, the more we have to think “deep into the game”, as the chess masters say.
For example, let’s take the topic of getting more new clients.
On the surface the answer should be simple…Just ask them.
“Hey you. I realize we’ve never met, and you don’t know me, but wanna buy my stuff?”
OK, perhaps we say it a bit more elegantly, but haven’t you been guilty of that? I know I have.
It’s what’s called selling to strangers.
Does it work? Sure-if you’re willing to talk to enough people. It sort of reminds me of my strategy in the ‘70s of going up to women in the disco and asking them to go home with me. (Hey it was the ‘70s, I was young-gimme a break.)
Did it work? Sure. All right…occasionally. But what about the quality, you ask? Well…that was a bit suspect.
The problem is that if we blindly put our nose-to-the-proverbial-grindstone, asking strangers to do business with us, not only do we get a lot of rejection, but we also have no filter on the type of clients we eventually wind up with.
Granted, if you have no clients, the idea of having any clients, regardless of how bad, sounds good. But I think it’s important to remember that the goal is to have both quality and quantity.
So how do we accomplish this? Is there some sort of magic bullet/answer that if we only learned it, all of our client attraction problems would go away?
Of course not.
But…there is a strategy that will make the process a lot easier.
But…it takes a bit of patience.
Here it is…
Stop trying to sell to strangers.
That’s it. It really is that simple.
Stop trying to sell to strangers and focus instead on building a relationship with those who can either hire you, buy from you, or refer you to others.
And the way to do that?
Bribe them.
Give them something that’s interesting for free. A tip. A suggestion. Something helpful. Answer a question that people often ask you. But most importantly…
Focus on building a relationship…Not trying to sell someone something. There’s plenty of time for that down the road.
Patience & Best Regards
Mark
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