Most businesses go through “feast and famine” periods – periods where either you have so many clients you’re longing for a day off and other periods where you’re wondering if everyone forgot your business exists and with the current pandemic, many more businesses are feeling the “famine”.
The ideal is to balance out the feasts and famines to ensure a consistent flow of revenue and workload.
The best way to do that is to ensure your prospective client pipeline stays full.
Sounds great right?
It is.
This popped into my head when a former client reached out.
We haven’t done business together in over 7 years, neither have we talked. He’s remained on my list, receives my weekly email, follows my Facebook business page and is a LinkedIn connection. I mail him birthday and Thanksgiving cards, but no other contact in 7+ years.
Turns out he was in a meeting when a specific topic came up and he told everyone he had the perfect person to go to.
Key phrases: “perfect person to go to” and “when a specific topic came up”
Two reasons this is important:
- It’s important to be known for some “thing” so that when “that” topic comes up, you’re the person they think of.
- It’s critical to do something every day, every single day, which contributes to future business. Send a birthday card, jot a note, pick up the phone, mail an article, send an email, reach out via a social networking private message. . .you get the idea. Be of service with no other goal than to be of service.
Never stop watering your garden. Some seeds take longer to germinate and others pop up when least expected.
Without doing something every day to guarantee future business, your business has no guarantee of survival during the lean days. If you read my recent email newsletter on prepping for a recession, this is another layer of that recession prep.
I’ve long taught that we need to be everywhere our ideal audience is (and that includes places outside the industry). And it’s for a simple reason, we can’t predict timing.
You may be in front of the perfect client today and she doesn’t pay you any attention. Tomorrow, you may be elsewhere when she’s in her office praying for someone with your exact skill set.
Because we can’t always be at the right place at the right time, we need to be “there” all the time – always in front of the right people who know us for what we do, not as a generic “Jack or Jane of all trades”.
What’s next…
- When are you the perfect “go to” person/business? If you can’t answer this, ask your best clients what they think you/your business excel at.
- Identify a list of potential clients who have money and will need that skill set at some point in time. You don’t know when they’ll need your services, just that they will.
- List all the places they hang out and how you can be there. Think outside your industry. What are their hobbies? What are their interests?
- Ensure that they know who you are and what you offer so that when the need arises, you’re the only person they think of.
- Keep in touch with them – not salesy, helpful. How can you consistently add value – new connections, resources, opportunities, recognition, support, validation?
And now for the ultimate question – Will you take 20-30 minutes right now to grab a notebook and do the 5 above steps? Or will you say you have “no time” and wonder why things aren’t changing?
At a minimum, grab your calendar and schedule a time to do this exercise.
“Motion beats meditation.” ~ Gary Halbert