Stop worrying about the bell curve. Stop chasing customers and clients who have no intention of buying.
A planner from Macquarie Bank once gave me a prospectus for an investment in water (I do not remember the details). I didn’t have the cash for the minimum investment, but I didn’t let him know that because my ego was, then, far too massive. He rang a couple of days later to close the deal, and I mean close the deal, not engage in more selling. He was so confident in his product that the thought of a potential investor turning him down was unthinkable. But he hadn’t met my ego. When I told him I wouldn’t be investing, using some lame excuse, he got angry. ‘Don’t waste my time again’, click. I was furious and for a long time. Like years. Now, years and years later I realise he was right. Marketing has two costs; money and time. And I wasted his. That was 2008.
You think he has been furious at me since then. I think he had forgotten about me before he hung up the phone. He moved on.
Legend has it that Allan Morris and Allan Johnson, of MoJo fame, were presenting a new advertising campaign to the big bosses of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. It was the early 80’s. During their presentation, a mid-weight Coke marketing executive asked, “So who’s your target demographic?”. Mo or Jo shot back, “Any cunt with a mouth.”
Your service or product is not going to appeal to everyone. The days of mass marketing is over. You own a niche. And anyone outside of that niche will be a time waster so do not bother marketing to them.
Build rapport.
Build relationships.
Build trust.
Sales will take care of themselves.