I recently had a conversation with a very well-known Internet Marketing Guru… Hereafter referred to as “The Guru.” A colleague, who I respect, had recommended that I meet him. She told me that “The Guru” was producing a big event this fall and she thought I might be interested in attending. She said she’d be there and so would a lot of other people that I know.
I’d known of “The Guru” but was not really familiar with his work. I knew he was supposed to be a master of the “art of enrolling clients.” The event sounded somewhat interesting, I’m always on the lookout for additional resources to offer clients (and the “art of enrolling clients” could certainly be useful to many of my clients), I’m always looking for marketing partners… And let’s face it, I did want to see the “art of enrolling clients” in action…. My colleague thus facilitated an introduction via email.
After that email introduction, “The Guru’s” assistant contacted me to schedule a phone date for me to speak directly with “The Guru” himself. Woo hoo!
On the appointed day, at the appointed time “The Guru” called. I’d spent the previous hour reading about “The Guru” online. I looked at his website, his LinkedIn profile, Facebook, twitter… All the usual places. Google makes it easy. At the appointed time I was sitting by the phone. I was ready.
“The Guru” called. We chatted for a few minutes. In those few minutes it became very clear that “The Guru” had no idea who I was. He knew why he was calling… He just didn’t know who I was. Now, I am not saying this from an ego point of view that he should have known “The Queen of prospecting.” What I’m saying, is that he should have taken at least 5 minutes before he called and googled me. Clearly he did not. Not only that, he didn’t even know who had referred me. He did, however, know that he was calling to get me into his event and how much the event cost. Interesting “enrolling” approach.
25 years ago we didn’t have Google, or LinkedIn or Facebook or any of the resources that are available today to gather information. You would have your target’s company name, phone number, mailing address and that was pretty much it. If you were lucky, you might have a contact name at your target company.
25 years ago, however, prospects did not actually expect you to know much about them or their company. They were willing to answer a lot of questions… not today. Prospects today do expect that you’ve done a modicum of homework on them before you pick up the phone to engage. If you do not, they tend to react poorly… as I did… (and no, I won’t be attending the event).
So, dear reader, please take to heart this lesson learned from “The Guru” himself: if your goal is to engage and then “enroll” clients, first do your homework.
