Ready to go after the bigger fish in Offline. Advice?

Thanks John. I have dealt with some business owners that were probably worth millions on paper and used to do it on a daily basis but for some reason, at least lately, I'm thinking its different. For one thing, they did not get that big by accident. They have sort of passed the initial cut and know they are good. But the local places I am dealing with are usually an investment a family did in hopes of buying themselves jobs, got themselves into trouble after they figured out being in business is not the same as working in the business.

But I guess ultimately, I am using the same skills.

I remember, the single largest commission I ever made was from a real estate holding firm that hired me because I was honest when they asked the question, "Why should we try what you are saying? Can you guarantee it? Why should we believe you?" I told them, "Well you should believe me because what I am proposing is working for smaller buildings. No I cannot guarantee the results but I can guarantee what I am doing, no one else is even thinking of and it is working. We adjust our strategy fast and mitigate any loses that way." It was as tho I was their families best friend after that because I honestly said, "I dont know FOR SURE it will work." I think if someone would have walked in with a proposal saying this is the best thing since Facebook would have had their BS detector in over-drive. But if I tried this on a small pizza place, forget it!

Thanks, SD. This has always sort of been my stop point in business. I get to the point where I know I have to hire a team but am not for some reason willing to do so. But hey, if I can garner the numbers you are talking about, why not!

Have you found a sort of middle income place (say $10M to $50M) will hire this level of team? In my area of the country (canada), $10K/mn would be a nearly impossible sale for say a small scale manufacturer. Yet if they did that, they would have the business to support it. This is why I am hoping if they saw it in a business section of the paper, their minds will maybe change a bit. In other words, give them the biggest answer to what is mostly on their minds, keeping them up at night. Then let the calls happen. I've done it with real estate and could not believe how fast we had the calls from the time we started the business.

Great question. Do you outsource those bits, or do you have those skills in house??

I had to read this about 3 times, Michael to get the real meaning of it. Some people are either sales people, technicians or emperors. I do see a lot of people selling services but not delivering (in fact most accounts I have taken on were because the owner was not getting the service promised them in the first place from another firm).

Normally I would also say I am not ready for bigger fish but since I have moved into my city from a MUCH larger one (10M), I have come to understand the pond here a bit more. If I was in that 10M city, no way could I deliver whats required.

I think this is the case of any business around my area. They begin, are popular until people start to find out they cannot deliver what is necessary (they likely did not charge enough to do so and did not have the confidence yet to charge much more). In fact, I am couching a girl that is still in college and making a huge full-time income as a wedding photographer. She is having exactly this same issue. She will not be able to sustain it because her original level of service has reduced with the amount of clients added (exponentially).

Am I getting the meaning of your comments, Michael?