But let me take this statement a step further:
You get the clients you deserve because you teach them how to treat you.
This important life lessons came into sharp focus for me a couple of months ago when a client left one of our programs after making $30,000 in four months, letting us know that they didn’t think we’d added any value to their business.
I’d made the ‘mistake’ of asking them for a testimonial – what I received read more like a testimonial for them than for us. It was full of ‘Leela and Gulliver want me to tell you how they made it happen but that’s not true’ –- functionally useless as a testimonial but a valuable lesson.
You see, my partner Gulliver and I have a tendency to heap praise on people -– in no small part because an early mentor was so harsh on us and refused to ever admit we’d done anything even partially right. But the problem with telling people constantly how awesome they are is that they have a tendency to believe you.
Look, it’s not that said client isn’t awesome. And it’s not that said client doesn’t have a great deal of value to add in their niche.
But the fact that they’ve decided to completely and conveniently forget the work we’ve put in for and with them to the point where they couldn’t even be gracious enough to give us a usable testimonial… well… I take full responsibility for that.
It that tells me that we don’t spend enough time pointing out the value we add.
The mentor mentioned earlier used to do this all the time.
“Do you see what I did there? Do you see what I gave you? I just added another $30,000 to your business.”
At the time we’d all roll our eyes and be like, “Okay, Okay, we get it!”
But now I really understand why.
Your clients can’t hear what you’re not telling them.
People, naturally, want to believe that they are the cleverest, that they can do everything on their own and don’t need any help.
If you’re not constantly showing them what you’ve done and what’s next you’re not just going to lose them, they’re going to live in a fantasy world where they knew it all before you taught it to them.
Do not assume that just because you’ve gone out of your way for them, they’ll recognise that.
Rather, they’ll respond to all your hard work and insight with comments like, “Yeah, but that was obvious.”
Sure it was… after I showed it to you… and once I made you implement it and you got the results.
Hindsight is 20/20.
But memory isn’t always.
Leela Cosgrove is a speaker, author and information product specialist. She is also a firewalker, has a black-belt in Tae Kwon Do, a penchant for tattoos, and enjoys bands such as Rammstein, Lai Bach, Marilyn Manson, Pennywise and Bad Religion. She is also hosting the upcoming Renegade Rockstar Conference. Rock it out!
James Tuckerman - Anthill Mag Reply:
June 26th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Hi Michael – Please try to keep your comments directed at the opinion. Not the person.