Are You Interested in My Work or in the Market for My Services?

Transcript

Hi there, it’s Peter Winick. I’m the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage, and here’s the idea that I wanted to share with you today, and that’s this: far too many authors, thought leaders, keynote speakers, etc., get stuck in these long-term sales cycles or what, at first blush, might appear to be sales cycles.

One way that I have found that you could sort of get to the bottom of things, if you will, is to just be honest and ask the person that you’re talking to, ask the potential prospect: “Are you interested in my work? Are you curious about what I do, or are you interested in my services?” Big difference.

Why is that a big difference? Thought leaders will engage in their work ad nauseam, if you will. That’s what they love to do, and they want to talk about how their ideas can help the client solve their problems or be applied to their issues or whatever the case may be, and they’ll engage in ongoing conversations.

There’s a big difference between sort of curiosity and engaging you at an intellectual level, and hiring you, engaging you on a financial level. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking directly, “Hey, is this kind of a curiosity conversation, or is there an interest, a need, etc., to hire me or my firm or the services that we represent?”

Anyway, love to hear what you think. Thank you.