Today, there was considerably less hesitation at pulling a card and rolling the dice. In fact, despite the card requiring calling people I either didn’t know or that I hadn’t spoken to in a long time (read: usually a scary task) when I rolled a 1 on the dice, I figured that was too easy and rolled again. This time a 5 – now that’s a task!!
Today’s task: Find (5) people similar to my 5 fave customers and call.
First things first. Listing my five favorite customers. This gave me a great opportunity to think about what these people had in common.
- lovely healthcare brand, long term partnership, stretched our capabilities, easy going, took advice, decent budgets, fun to work with, introduced me to other clients
- accounting firm, easy going, challenging topics, long term partnership, lovely team, introduced me to other clients
- new client, old friend, wants the goods but largely easy going, chunky project in logistics with potential for ongoing work, reasonable time-frame/budget expectations
- large trade firm. Not currently working with this client, but adored working with him. Long-term partnership, challenging projects where we were able to prove our value time and again, made me laugh every time we spoke, referred clients and generally has my back.
- v. senior at a massive pharma co which also meant working with a great senior team. Had been a client at another agency who followed me to my new agency. Deeply committed to the work. Hugely challenging work with great outcomes.
So that would mean I’m looking for;
- someone in a senior-esque role – Marketing/Medical Director, MD, Senior brand mgr, CEO, Principal, owner
- challenging work
- reasonable budget and timeframes
- enable us to produce/contribute to decent outcomes
- potential for long-term working partnerships
- and most of all is nice (a vastly under-rated, but very important attribute – at least on my list).
So I brainstormed and instantly came up with 4 people to call. All of whom I know and who should be on my list but aren’t currently. This kind of feels a bit like cheating, but as there are no rules around this bit, I’m going to do it my way – I encourage you to do the same. Especially whilst we’re in the early days of game play – go for the easier wins. This will boost your confidence.
- C – but now located in Europe – a little hard to catch up for coffee. But I dropped a note to see if they could connect me with someone here.
- P – not currently in any of the industries I’m looking for, but well connected
- An ex colleague who is now the CEO of a firm I’d like to do business with
- An ex-client that I literally ran into this morning
But I’m one short. So I went to LinkedIn.
And I must confess, I went down the rabbit hole for an hour. BUT I did send some LinkedIn messages to two new connections that actually fit the profile above, as well as sending some other catch up emails.
But then I found another ex client to talk to.
Then I had a conversation with a client who was asking for advice on a consulting gig they were doing. He was telling me that it was a wonderful gig that would last them a while with lots of scope. I took the opportunity to remind him that we were always looking for new intros. He responded with an introduction to a new prospect.
Day 2 ends with …
- Clarity around an upcoming pitch – yes, we’ve made the list – lots of work required there
- Another client coming back for another pass at media training – proposal to be worked up
- Another pharma client requesting another year of training/competition management
- 3 reconnection emails sent out
- 4 further phone calls made, messages left – will work through the pipeline on these.
Previously
- 13 networking events booked for April-June.
- 1 prospective healthcare client in the NB pipeline – proposal currently being developed
- Found 2 potential speaking opportunities (both of whom need marketing work – 2 birds, 1 stone!!)
