“I’ve sent 89 mesages, but I’m not really getting replies”.
Usually, this is because the targeting is off. It’s easy to consider someone a candidate, when actually they aren’t.
That’s why, whether you’re doing outreach or engaging with inquiries, you need to have hard rules on who you spend your time with.
In this case, my friend wants to help authors with their business, by building websites for them.
Good niche, if you know how to play it.
But also: it’s only a good niche if you know who to ignore.
For instance: a fiction writer is likely to earn less than an author who writes on business topics. Not necessarily so, but plausibly.
So the hard rule should be:
Ignore everyone who isn’t a business author. Otherwise you just end up on calls with people who can’t afford you.
Another one:
An author who wants to get into consulting.
That person is much less likely to have the budget, than a consultant with a team, who is preparing to publish a book.
Hard rule: no authors-turned-business-people, only business-people with a book.
Another hard rule – one that we should all live by:
Ignore everyone who doesn’t wear a ‘business-face’.
Sure, someone whose website is friendly and welcoming might be able to invest in your work…
But someone who leads with a strong USP, a value-proposition, and a call-to-action, is someone who gets marketing, understands business, and is therefore far more likely to be in a position to invest.
Of course you can connect or engage with the former – but the real risk is there, that you’re dealing with someone whose business is a hobby or side-project, in which case, again, they don’t have the funds for quality work and you’re just wasting time.
You only have so much time, you can only have a handful of meetings each day.
The more you focus on people who ‘wear a business face’, and ignore those who don’t, the more net gain you’ll get out of your outreach and your buyer-interactions.
On another note:
I’m building an app that coaches you on working your pipeline, moving your deals forward – and closing them faster and at better rates.
It’s called SalesFlow Coach, and we’re scheduled for beta-release in June 2022.
Register here to be notified when it goes live.
