🗣️ “What do I do with solid leads who keep kicking the can down the road?”

This question came from a consultant who provides community-building strategies and activations for VC firms.

He said he’s been able to get in the door to initiate conversations, but consistently hears “it’s not the right time” or “let’s talk in a few months.”

He was quick to recognize that the type of service he provides is a long-term play for his clients, with returns fully realized over the span of perhaps a decade or more.

This can be extremely frustrating - you know what you can do for your client, but it’s just not a pressing priority for them due to the long-tailed nature of what you provide.

Beyond this consultant’s community-building context, this type of feet-dragging is common in other areas with a long time-horizon (brand marketing, SEO, IT infrastructure, company culture studies).

So what to do to jolt clients into action?

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First, notice that this happens all the time in your personal life - i.e. things you should be doing now for a mostly undisputed long-term benefit:

• Changing your diet for your long-term health
• Starting a savings regimen to build a nest-egg for retirement
• Routine car maintenance to avoid breakdowns and increase your car’s longevity

What prompts people to action in those circumstances?

There are two distinct motivating angles:

• More education on the benefits
  • New medical research on heart health, explainer videos on saving and investing, etc.
  • This new information can motivate a proactive investment in a future positive outcome
• Response to a painful triggering event
  • A heart attack, needing to borrow money in an emergency, a whopping car repair bill
  • This acutely painful experience can motivate a reactive investment to avoid another negative outcome

Now, of those two angles, which do you think is more effective in waking people up to take action?

More often than not, it’s the latter. Human nature, perhaps?

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Bringing this back to your consulting offer, your client may already be aware of the long-term benefits of your solution, academically anyway. So, more education on that front may fall flat.

Instead, identify the acute pain that your client is feeling today as an early symptom of the larger problem.

The more pain they're in today, the more open they will be to invest in a change.

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For more on spotting urgency, check out:

• ​“911 what’s your client emergency?”​
• ​Spotting their urgency​
• ​Seek out the ticking clock​

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💡

-Wes

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