“There is sublime thieving in all giving. Someone gives us all he has and we are his.”
— Eric Hoffer
Back in my marketing agency days, I used to lead webinars that taught small business owners how to do marketing to grow their businesses. The webinars would be sixty to ninety minutes, and at the end, I would offer to book a call with the business owner if they wanted to discuss the possibility of me doing that work for them. The webinars were well-attended, and I did get clients out of them, so that was nice.
But you might not believe one thing that happened: a colleague of mine suggested that I shorten my presentations so they would run no more than twenty minutes. She stated that nobody had that kind of time, and that they weren’t even going to stick around long enough to hear the “pitch” at the end.
This this was sound advice? It does kind of make sense, doesn’t it?
Well, the fact of the matter is that it was terrible advice. Fortunately, I knew better even back then and so I politely thanked her for the input and continued doing what I had been doing all along.
She was right in the sense that some people would drop off the call. But those were not the people who were going to take the next step anyway. Only the people who were interested enough to stay — to put the time in — were likely to request a consultation.
What does this story mean to you?
It means that it’s okay to ask something of your audience. Your “right people” will participate. Your “wrong people” will fall away, just as they need to do.