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I wasn’t an early adopter of AI, even when I heard other coaches and business owners raving about its value.  I think it was because I saw people so obviously using it to write their newsletters, blogs, and even performance goals.

You can always tell when AI has written something.  And sometimes, the person is passing it off as their own creation!  I’ve written my own newsletters twice a month for over 20 years, so yeah, I was a little judgmental.

Today, I want to talk to you about the things business owners do that impact their results and sabotage their success.  As you can imagine, after 20+ years as a business coach, I’ve seen it all.  All the things that work … and the things that don’t.

Let me illustrate the latter with a story.

You have two separate conversations. You get two indications of interest.

“I’ve talked with my friend and I think she’s interested in your services. Here’s her number.”

“Can you put together a proposal on that and send it to me?”

Yahoo! People are interested in doing business with you.

When and how do you follow up with a prospective client … and how do you decide when to stop pursuing a prospect?  Good questions … ones I see my business coaching clients struggling with fairly often.

You wanna know the sad part?

Many small business owners end up leaving money on the table, because they don’t follow up with folks in a timely manner.

“Thank you.”  It’s not that hard is that to say.  But it seems as if folks have forgotten some basic common courtesies.  I’ve noticed in my personal life and my business coaching that people just don’t routinely say thank you anymore the way they used to.  And only a few go out of their way to express genuine gratitude for those serve them and do nice things for them.

Why is that?  After all, it’s pretty easy to type a two-word email or text message.  And yet, while plenty of people still say please and thank you like they learned in kindergarten, too many folks just don’t.

And even fewer write a personal note … you know, an actual handwritten note … to say, thank you … I’m thinking about you and appreciating who you are in my life.

I blame the advent of electronics for that.  Pen and paper, envelopes, stamps … that’s all way too involved.

Now, this relates to business owners in a very specific way. 

I had an experience recently that made me appreciate something more deeply than ever before.  And, as a business coach who helps people bring in new business, I wanted to share the story with you.  I think it teaches an important lesson. 

But first …

True or false:

Being successful at selling your services is all about becoming skillful at persuasion.  You have to promote the benefits of working with you to prospective clients and get them to want what you’re offering.

Last week, I had an open day with no coaching clients, which allowed me to schedule a couple of medical appointments.  I wasn’t looking forward to the first one at all … my annual visit to the gynecologist.  Now, I know you women know what I’m talkin’ about!  And you boys, you have your own version.  Nothing fun about these check-ups.

In fact, I was surprised to be feeling a fair amount of trepidation when nothing was physically amiss. 

It’s the end of the year.  It’s the natural time to reflect on what you did and didn’t do this year … what worked and didn’t work.  You don’t need a business coach to tell you that.

But it’s the holiday season.  Who has the time for a deep dive? 

So, let’s cut to the chase and focus on one simple question.

This is a tale of two providers.  One got the business.  The other didn’t.  And you won’t need a business coach to tell you why.

We went away for 10 days at the end of June and had to board our new puppy overnight, as the timeshare property we go to doesn’t allow dogs.

As new “parents,” we were understandably concerned about his having to be away from us for the first time and how he’d fare.  So, I had a lot of questions for the potential service providers.

After much research, I contacted four businesses.  Two never returned my calls.  Hmmm.  Makes ya wonder what’s goin’ on there.

With the two I reached, the experiences on the phone couldn’t have been more different.

“They tell us not to give away too much.  Honey, you just gave away the farm.”  That’s a verbatim quote from a woman who’d just heard my talk on marketing to a group in Minnesota a few years back.  Guilty as charged!   As a business coach, I was doing exactly what many business experts warned them NOT to do.