Experts Don’t Chase
Experts don’t chase for a lot of reasons. One reason is that they’re too busy. The unsolicited pitches of a business and life coach prompts thoughts on expertise, chasing prospects, and the unintended signals some professional services providers send. The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.
TRANSCRIPT
John Ray: [00:00:00] And hello. I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. Dogs chase, experts don’t.
John Ray: [00:00:10] Sometime ago, a business and life coach connected with me on LinkedIn. Almost immediately, the automated private messages followed in a steady beat. My usual response to all this is simply to ignore. But the bots kept delivering the appeals, though, and they were progressively more urgent.
John Ray: [00:00:32] One note promises that her suggestions can help my business get back on solid ground. Never mind that she’s made no attempt to engage me in any personal way to find out exactly what I do, what’s going on with my business, what my needs are, and even what my favorite flavor of ice cream might be. Nothing.
John Ray: [00:00:55] In all these bots – yes, bots. Automated robot messages – she doesn’t offer me any insights that might help me in my business. Not even a pointer to the book she’s got for sale, an e-book, or even a blog post. Not even a pithy quote. Nothing.
John Ray: [00:01:16] Finally, in the last message I received, I got this, “I get it. You’re busy. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on you.” Good grief. That’s awesome. It’s great to know that I’ve got someone out there, someone who doesn’t know me from Adam’s house cat who’s not giving up on me.
John Ray: [00:01:38] Now, maybe you think I’m cranky for my critique, and maybe you think I have something against LinkedIn Sales Navigator or other similarly generation tools. But the tools and the technology aren’t the issue. The problem is how they are employed. These tools can be a godsend for professional services providers legitimately trying to expand their network. When used to chase people, though, with what amounts to spam, these tools devalue the brand you’re trying to build.
John Ray: [00:02:13] I’m thinking about this situation from the point of view of the coach, not me and the hundreds of other people she’s spamming on LinkedIn. Frankly, I feel a little bit sorry for her. She may be the best business and life coach one could ever hire, but that’s not the vibe she’s giving me. The signal she’s sending is that she has to chase people to get business. And that dents my perception of her abilities as a business coach.
John Ray: [00:02:41] If she’s so great, why does she need to chase me or anyone else with automated bots on LinkedIn? She’s not offering me even a glimpse into how she, out of the thousands of business coaches I could find on LinkedIn, might be able to help me with the particular problems that I have. She’s offering me no glimpses of her expertise, even though she clearly has some. Yes, I went to her website and poked around. All she’s doing is chasing.
John Ray: [00:03:10] That’s what dogs do, chase. Experts don’t chase. They’re too busy to chase. And let’s suppose she’s actually fortunate enough to shake out a few leads from this hunting she’s doing. If any of these leads turn into prospects, will this coach be able to command prices which reflect the value she delivers to clients? The chances are slim, I think, because she’s sending signals that she needs the business arguably worse than I or any of our other targets need her coaching. She’s fostering the perception, whether intended or not, that she badly needs the business.
John Ray: [00:03:54] And if you’re a coach who wants to receive prices commensurate with the value you offer, it’s a bottom line killer.
John Ray: [00:04:02] I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. The show archive for this series can be found on your favorite podcast app or at pricevaluejourney.com. And if you’d like to connect with me directly, you can send an email to john@johnray.co. Thank you for joining me.
About The Price and Value Journey
The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.
If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line as well as the mindset you bring to your business.
The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.
John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.
John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.
John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Nashville Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,100 podcast episodes.
