Too Much Value

On Monday I started pursuing my own marketing business.

Here’s what I have to show for week 1:

• 18 proposals sent

• 3 Indicated Interest

• 1 Signed

A 5% conversion rate isn’t too shabby. I didn’t expect to sign a client on the first week so that was an added bonus and for a couple of days it looked like I might sign three clients this week.

Unfortunately, I made a couple of rookie mistakes that prevented me from landing all three.

This might sound crazy, but I provided too much value AND I allowed too much responsibility to leave my hands and gave the power to my prospects.

For the two clients I have not yet landed (it could still happen), I actually went ahead and delivered some results for them before ever signing them.

In my mind, I was believing the best (being naive) and thinking that if I could go ahead and solve their problems without a contract or agreement in place then they’d be so impressed that they might just pay me anyway AND find more work for me to do.

Instead, both of those prospects have postponed their purchase decisions until “next week.”

I’m already counting those two as lost because I believe they’ve gotten what they need and no longer have any use for me. 

On one hand, it was naive of me to think what I thought. BUT, on the other hand I didn’t expect to sign any clients this week much less three so I feel I can afford to test this method of working with prospects. It was a failure and a method I won’t repeat, but I believe worth testing.

Those prospects got a lot of value from me without paying a cent so I might have inadvertently created some fans, but that doesn’t generate revenue and put money in my pocket.

I’m excited to continue learning about business development, communicating with prospects, and landing deals! I’ll keep sharing what I’m learning with you.