What if your phone could only accept incoming calls?
You could answer it.
But you couldn’t call anybody.
No cold calls.
No “just following up.”
No checking in to see if they’re ready yet.
No chasing anybody.
How would you get business?
I’ve always loved provocations like this because artificially constraining something forces you to think differently.
If you couldn’t call your prospects…
How would you get them to call you?
Suddenly, you’d start thinking about everything differently.
What could I send them that would be genuinely useful?
What could I teach them?
What information could I give them that would help them make a better decision?
What could I continually do so that when the moment comes that they need help…
I’m the obvious person to call?
That’s a completely different posture.
You’re not pouncing on people.
You’re not trying to manufacture urgency.
You’re not trying to convince someone to do something before they’re ready.
You’re almost…
unbothered.
Because you understand something important:
People are going to do what they want to do, when they want to do it.
Your job is to be there when they do.
I saw the beginnings of this thinking in Journal #6 from 1997.
One of the questions I had written while designing the follow-up system for my seller leads was:
“How can I get them to call me instead of me calling them?”
Thirty years later, I think that’s still one of the best questions you can ask about your marketing.
Imagine that your phone only accepts incoming calls.
Now build your follow-up system accordingly.
The ultimate position isn’t having better techniques for chasing people.
It’s creating so much value that there’s no reason to chase them in the first place.
It’s creating so much value that there’s no reason to chase them in the first place. :)
Dean