Thanks to our connected world, you’re already on someone’s lead list.

“They” know roughly where you are in your soloist journey, and they time their outreach via ad, email, or DM when they feel it might be the right time to coax you into purchasing.

This is not surprising - targeted ads and outreach have been around for a long time.

What is surprising is the aggressive, tone-deaf approach, shoving their solution in your face without any validation of your context.

A recent example from my LI DMs:

Sheesh, even a car salesman might ask you how your day’s been before pulling around the minivan.

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So why does this feel so off-putting to a potential client?

Or more importantly, how can you avoid instilling this icky feeling in your own clients and prospects?

In short, recognize that there’s a middle step between your client’s problem and your solution.

Yes, your client is coming to you in some sort of pain and yes, you believe you can help them.

But they’re likely still trying to decide whether to hire anyone to help.

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So that’s your first job — validate their problem and the pain they’re experiencing.

This is most easily done by listening first, then sharing your developed POV on the problem space. (Ahem…your IP.)

From there, you can begin to share details about your unique solution which leverages the context and authority you demonstrated in your POV.

This gently shifts the conversation from ‘Why hire anyone?’ to ‘Why hire me?’.

All told, a calm, listening ear and an easily-shareable point-of-view provide a safe bridge between their pain and your ability to help.

💡

-Wes

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P.S. Are you based in the Bay Area? I'll be speaking at a free, in-person networking event for fractional consultants (and founders looking to hire them!) as part of a16z's TechWeek on October 9th in San Francisco.

Come say hello! Learn more and RSVP here.