In the past two weeks, I've written two articles titled "Coding Prospects" and "Liam Neeson Style Results". I deleted them both.
Coding prospects was about three real life prospects that popped into my funnel.
One was a guy that wanted me to teach him how to cold call better. When I told him that I was a very good cold caller, but hadn't made a cold call in 10 years because there were better ways, he pushed back. When I refused to work with him, he called me. I hung up on him and blocked him.
The second was about a marketing manager who had never sold anything and wanted me to train her non salespeople how to sell. Skipping ahead, I suggested that she might be the problem. She said, maybe, but that she wanted to focus on her people. I suggested that she find someone that agreed with her, but I wasn't the guy.
I won't give details about the third, but it ended the same way.
A few years ago, I wrote this article. That's essentially what happened in these cases. I poke at issues and if the prospect resists, I'll ask something like, "So, you don't want to fix the problem after all?" That's me, reaching for the defibrillator paddles to shock them back to life. If they come back, great. We work together. If not, I code them. (That's when the doctor says, "Time of death... 03:30.") and like the doctor, I leave the room for somebody else to clean up and bury the body.
Kevin O'Leary is known for telling entrepreneurs that don't want his help, "You're dead to me.", but if you watch, he almost always gives them a chance to come back from the dead before he pronounces them.
The other article that I wrote and deleted was about Liam Neeson's monologue in Taken. Although our '"particular set of skills" may be different from Neeson's, if we focus on putting ourselves in the best position to use our skills, we succeed.
That's why Kevin O'Leary focuses on the right kind of entrepreneur.
It's why I focus on working with the right kind of sales leader.
BTW, today, I had to do the #1 thing that I try to avoid. I pronounced a client at 10:59 AM. I worked with them for a month. They paid for the second month, but tried to change the rules even though they knew before we started what the rules were. I used the paddles three times to try to shock him back, but he coded at 10:59.
I refunded his payment, told him never to contact me again and blocked him from contacting me.
Another good rule... "First do no harm." I will not be part of the problem.
BTW, do you know what your "particular set of skills" are? Are you always in the best position for success?