I'm not a fan of "getting to know you" calls.

Those are the ones where someone reaches out and says that they'd "love to connect to hear more about what you do" ...

Or they say; "Hey, I'd love to talk with you about something - do you have a few minutes for a call?".

Some people swear they're good for building relationships, but let me explain my stance:

During the first year of my coaching business, I did at least 300 of these calls. Almost every day I had a "getting to know you" call, and some days I had multiple ones.

So conservatively speaking, I spent 300 hours in year #1 doing them.

And how much business did I get from them?

Very little (I could have done a lot more with 300 hours of concentrated effort elsewhere in my business).

So as the years have gone on, I've changed my approach (hat tip to my friend David Ralph for this trick):

When someone contacts me with a vague request for a call, I ask them to send me an email with what it's regarding.

 

And then I can decide whether to do the call or not.

More often than not, they don't send the email and I've saved myself time. 

 

Or they send over a copied and pasted sales pitch that I'm not interested in, and I've saved myself the hassle then as well.

I know that some people will disagree with me on this. I'll hear "I've made some great friends this way Marc!", or "I've gotten referrals this way".

Ok, but if you worked out the ROI for the hundreds (or thousands) of hours, was it worth it?

Coaches have to fill their time with productive activities, and vague or fluffy calls aren't the way to do that.

I may sound like a crotchety old man with my opinion here, but I stand by it.

 

Anyways, I am dedicating time to talk with serious coaches who want to benefit from being in a great mastermind to get to the next level. 

 

These calls are to find out more about your business, and to see if you're the right fit for the mastermind (not everyone is accepted). 

 

To book a call to apply, head here: 

 

 

Marc Mawhinney