A Nibbles Notebook
Yesterday, I met with a private client who reminded me of one of the MOST COSTLY mistakes I’d ever made in my business… and I realized that — for some reason — I’ve never written about it before.
BUT, to be clear, this mistake is a HUGE profit vampire affecting everyone from solopreneurs to much larger companies.
The solution? A Nibbles Notebook. (Or something more technical if that appeals to you.)
Here’s how this came about. This client comes to me every other week with her notebook dedicated ONLY to our work together. She — an amazing and driven ‘preneur — always comes with an agenda. Yesterday, the word NIBBLES was written down for us to discuss.
She indicated that — after a new launch — she’s been getting LOTS of “nibbles” but wasn’t sure what to do with them… What are nibbles? People who hear what you do or sell and say — often very casually:
“Yeah — I need that.”
I can’t tell you how often this happened to me when I was early in my business. ESPECIALLY early in my coaching career. Typically, the exchange — once people found out what I did — went something like this:
Them: “Great! Man, I should hire you to do that with me!”
Me, trying to hide my CHA-CHING excitement, “Okay. Sure. Give me a call.”
Them: “Okay. do you have a card?”
Followed by me handing them my card. And then… I’d wait. HOPEFUL at first. DOUBTFUL after a couple days. DISCOURAGED after a week. That little nibble profited me squat. Yes, I’ve come a long way, baby. =)
LOSING leads, LOSING nibbles is — by far — one of the MOST COSTLY mistakes you can make in ANY business.
One of the most profitable habits I created to correct this mistake is what I want to share with you today. It’s three fold:
- The first is simple: BE SURE to create a “NIBBLES notebook.” For me, this is a notebook — and now a file — of prospective clients. It’s people I’ve spoken to about my services. It’s people who expressed interest. I have their name, contact information, notes about when / where we met, and details about WHY they thought they needed my services in the first place. When you “call on” prospects, you want to familiarize yourself with what is going on in THEIR world. So, a nibbles notebook is a simple, great way to ensure that EACH NIBBLE you get is properly “documented” and easily found…. making it HARDER for them to “slip through the cracks,” into the dark abyss of “maybes.” A little archaic, I guess with all of the digital contact management systems out there…. but, for me what is SIMPLE gets done… and this little “tool” STILL works for me.
- Get THEIR card and keep the “follow up” in YOUR COURT. This is HUGE, and it’s WHY I don’t give out my business cards. I’d rather have YOURS. This way, I don’t find myself in the “waiting and hoping” stage with no way to reach out and serve you.
- Set aside time to follow up. Every single week. NO — don’t follow up with the same nibbles every single week. I think there are stalking laws against this. =) But, DO have a day every week during which you are in conversation with these nibblers and cultivating professional relationships with this. In other words, you’ve captured their information and their interest. Both are useless unless you’re willing to leverage them with SOME SORT of sales process.
Speaking of a “sales process,” do you have one? HOW do you cultivate a “nibble” into a sale? How do you lead a client from the prospect stage to the paying client stage? What is working for you? Leave YOUR wisdom in the comments below.
