Don't Give Up!

Photo by Andrea Piocquadio

I was on a coaching call with a client of mine, Amos, who is a corporate Partner for a mid-sized law firm. Amos was beaming about a new client he recently acquired. The opportunity was well into six figures in fees and the deal was an interesting one. I asked him how he met this client. He scratched his chin and had to think back on when he first met him.

“It was a year and a half ago at a conference. We exchanged contact information, and I stayed in touch. It wasn’t until today that he needed my help.” Replied Amos.

“Let me ask you a question.” I inserted. “When you returned from that conference, what did you think? Was it worth your time and energy?” I asked.

“At the time, no! I thought it was a waste of my time because I didn’t land any new opportunities.” He said.
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“What is your opinion of that conference now?” I asked.
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“Yeah, yeah. I get it.” He sheepishly replied.

I have conversations like this with clients all too often. Everyone expects instant results from their BD efforts, especially when it comes to attending networking events. The leading cause of disappointment comes from setting the wrong expectations.

Most professionals measure success at an event by how many opportunities they uncover. I get it. That is the goal, but how long of a runway are they allowing to land these opportunities? Three months? One month? One week? Day of?
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In Amos’s case, it was a year and a half before the new contact from the conference gave him an engagement. Often, it can take longer than that.

The better metric to set for a conference is the number of new relationships established, and/or rekindled, rather than the number of new leads surfaced right after the event. It is then up to the professional to nurture those relationships until they mature into a client.

This is easier said than done when you are a driven professional who expects things to happen quickly. The natural tendency is to give up on an event or even a relationship if an opportunity doesn’t surface quick enough.

As I often say, patience and persistence are part of the building blocks of a successful business.

Business development is a long-term play. Let’s not give up too quickly on the efforts we put into it.

It is safe to say that Amos has returned to that conference with a new appreciation of what success looks like from his time investment.
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This may be a good time for you to think of those moments when you were quick to judge those prior relationships, associations, and networking events as “time-wasters.” Think about resetting your metrics for success and don’t give up so quickly.