“Money is flowing out your front door.”
“It’s all very well wanting growth, but right now you have a leaky bucket.”
…said Alex to several clients over the years.
And it still happens, in this era of hyper-choice.
Enquiries, referrals, get lost in a vacuum.
- Promises that someone will get back to them, when it suits them. Not kept.
- Emails forwarded to the chosen responder – lost in inboxes full of busyness.
- Processes and alerts to track them – non-existent, or haphazard.
All the while the potential client waits; the flame stutters, and then dies.
At some stage they go back to the referrer or partner, miffed. Your reputation scuffed.
When someone makes an enquiry there has been an emotional fire to hurtle them through their ‘do nothing barrier’.
A fire that breaks them out of their comfort zone and maybe changes something.
Get a will, a financial plan, business advice, check out how real this cyber security issue really is; let’s go…
But emotions fade. Attention gets distracted, something important – the enquiry – loses mental space to other ‘urgent’, shiny new distractions.
Within 24 hours it has plummeted down their priority list. And the emotional fire is turning to embers.
When someone makes an enquiry:
1. Book the next meeting with your chosen responder there and then. Or at the very least, when you can contact them to book the meeting.
2. Capture why they are making the enquiry, the underlying source of frustration or issue, and why now.
This is the kindling to be referred to at the next meeting. To keep the emotional fire stoked, the enquirer motivated.
3. Have the meeting with the chosen one within 24 hours. No later than 36.