In the past 24 hours I’ve received emails that aren’t in an approved newsletter program, but are obviously sent to multiple people. The first email stated at the bottom “if you’d rather not get this kind of news from us, just let us know and we’ll unsubscribe you.” And that’s fine. I emailed the person, who’s a colleague, and mentioned throwing it into a newsletter program. They said they want people to open it if it comes directly from their email program. Well, okay.

The second email came from an insurance sales person (always my favorite, right after financial planner emails…) and the first line was cheesy and obviously they did an email merge program for “Hey Elizabeth” and then onto the canned “call me so I can sell you stuff.” No opt out option, and nothing personalized.

If you want me to give you my money, spend some effort and time being personal, OR be honest. I send out my monthly newsletter that is obviously going to a lot of people in my network. But there’s no hiding it. If I want to reach out to you individually, or to a smaller group, I’ll make sure to be a real person to you, in hopes you’ll be a real person to me.

Otherwise, you’re burning bridges you didn’t know might be there.

I just got an email from a client of mine. For the past few months when we meet I make the same suggestions, and the client agrees it’s a good next step. Then the following month, nothing has happened and we talk about it, client seems on board, you see where this is going…

And so today, the client did what we’ve been talking about. I don’t remember what I said at our meeting this week but we finally “got over the hump” and then the client said “I just hope it’s not too late.”

It’s NEVER too late. Just be honest with folks, you can spot a liar, we all can. “I’m so sorry I dropped the ball on following up with you,” is a perfectly acceptable response. If it’s a newsletter you stopped doing for a few months, no problem, just pick it up again, no explanation needed (unless something happened and you want to explain it).

When you’re ready, your target market is ready too. Sure you may have missed one or two clients because you drug your feet, but you’ll get there, it’s not too late to start. I promise.

Why don’t I always just trust my gut? Every time I don’t it  comes back to bite me in the ass. It’s ridiculous. I started working with someone and knew right off the bat they weren’t happy and it wasn’t going to be a good fit. But for some reason (open schedule, money) I didn’t say no. I just said yes.
I say yes a lot and should probably stop that. But I still haven’t figured out the right way to say “you sound like a nightmare client when all is said and done, so I should pass” or “I’m not sure your company stands a fighting chance, and don’t want to be there when the ship sinks.” All I know is, every time I ignore my gut, I’m mad at myself with in a few minutes of that signed contract.

Trust your gut, it’s smarter than you are. TRUST ME.