But do they know that?
Think about the old days
When consultants spent half their time with their clients.
Sure, it looked glamorous
The cocktail parties
The fancy dinners
The major sporting events
They were invited to weddings!
My dad was one of those guys
He was very successful, now retired
He’s in Italy right now.
For a month!
He also raised my brother and I by himself
Traveled half the week
Every week of the year
To see his clients
And still went to all of my brother and I’s baseball games, knew all of our friends, went to all of our plays … often pardoning himself through a sea of legs midway through Act I
You think you can do that?
I can’t. And I’m doing everything my dad did
With a partner!
And here’s what this has to do
for the very last time
I swear!
With you waiting for your client
To fill out your questionnaire:
It’s obviously a personal thing with me
But it’s so much bigger than that
When you ask questions
Before you ever meet with your client
Hopefully with as many people on your client’s team as possible
And persistently follow up
Right up to and including
Your first time together
Those question-answering sessions begin to take on the power
Of thousands of miles in the air
All the late-night bonding
Gifts
Remembering birthdays
Going to clients’ weddings
All good things, for sure
But all things that
Take time
Increase overhead
And for whatever reason
Are no longer sustainable
For solopreneurs
The good news is:
You really can do the work of the old school consultant
If you ditch the small talk
The chit chat
The schmoozing and schmaltz
And instead
Use the precious little time you have with your clients
To get what you need
To do your very best work
Collaboratively.
Wanna work on it now?
You are right here:
* Questionnaires That Get Answered
And lead to:
I’m here,
Kevin
P.S. This is the last in a series on collaborative intake for marketers, creators, and consultants. To catch up, here’s One , Two , Three , Four and Five