Why We Say No to Opportunities and How You Can Get Us to Say Yes
Episode 044: Show Notes
Today, we are super excited to talk about some stuff that might surprise you guys. We are telling you all the reasons why we say no to “opportunities”. Most opportunities, honestly. Plus, we get into the thought process behind our no’s and how you can begin to ask yourself different questions when you get thrown various opportunities in your own business. We’re chatting about how to figure out whether an opportunity is the right fit for you or not, if it’s going to pay off, and whether or not it is going to be beneficial for both parties and all of that fun stuff.
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Now, the things we are saying no to may be either big or small — we don’t agree to anything that might not be right for our audience and our business. But perhaps you are on the other side of this fence, and you are using other businesses, companies, or brands to promote your own product. We are going to give you some tips on how you can make your process even better by sharing the types of pitches we’ve loved and said yes to. So you are going to get some inside scoop today and we are pretty pumped about it, and if you want us to say “yes”, then you should definitely listen to this episode!
Defining and Understanding Quantifiable Exposure
The term “quantifiable exposure” is key when it comes to understanding which opportunities are right for your business. In certain cases, you may not be paid for something that you do, so this is where you need to look at what type of quantifiable exposure you will get in return. Is it a tweet? Shares of your blogpost? Comments on Instagram? Email list subscribers? Or perhaps being promoted on a webinar in front of someone else’s audience? The key is to determine exactly what that measurable exposure is that you are getting in return for what you are offering. This is a great way to analyze the value of the opportunity that is pitched to you, especially when those dollar bills are not involved directly.
Communicating What You Really Want
One of the best tactics when it comes to negotiating and “bartering” for opportunities is to really communicate what you want out of the deal. People are not magically going to just know what you want if you haven’t actually told them first. Here’s a great trick to getting someone to say yes to anything: if they pitch you and you’re somewhat interested, even though their pitch is all sorts of terrible, try pitching back exactly what you’re looking for. Worst case scenario is they say no, but at least now they see exactly what you type of opportunity you are interested in, and it will help guide them towards better aligning the opportunity with your business.
The Foundation of a Collaboration
If you are entering into a collaboration and both of you are coming to the table under the assumption that money is not going to be traded, it is expected that one person wants the other person to share about their product or service and provide value to their audience. Keep in mind that if you are going into a collaboration where no money is being exchanged, you can still set up a contract to ensure that you are getting enough exposure in return. Remember that you need to be very clear about what you are expecting and what they are agreeing to, including all the specifics and methods for corrective action if the contract is not fulfilled.
The Opportunities We Say “No” to, and Why
We get pitches daily from people who want us to come to their conferences, to attend their summits, to try their products, to promote their social media graphics, link their blog post on our blog somewhere... The list goes on. When it comes to saying yes or no, our hard and fast rule is that we’ll say no to any pitches offering products or services we have not used ourselves, ones we would never use, or ones we cannot afford ourselves. Those just get blanket no’s, no matter how cool they might be. If it doesn’t align with what you guys want, or we just cannot see any quantifiable exposure, then unfortunately, the answer is no.
Why We Turned Down Several Conferences This Year
For our first two conferences, we did them completely free because we knew the organizers and really believed in their mission. Although it was “free”, we did get some exposure and even had a chance to pitch live in front of an audience. However, once we did the math we realized that we made less money from that pitch than we would have doing a live webinar from home. This was a hard pill to swallow because conferences are so much fun! But it is just not feasible for us to be spending our valuable time when we can generate our own quantifiable exposure that’s larger than the audience that these conferences are bringing in. Since then, we’ve had to really be very specific with how much we would need to get paid, and what kind of exposure we require to really make it worth our precious time, especially since we are the only “money-makers” in our business and there is no one who can fill in for us while we are away.
Are Conferences the Right Fit for Your Business?
If you are high-end service based people, going to a conference may be just the ticket you are looking for. When, for example, your target audience is not the attendees but the other speakers, then going to multiple conferences is a great marketing tactic for your business. The quantifiable exposure is there because you may make the five connections that lead to your five biggest client projects that you do all year long. So determining what your time is worth and whether you will be getting in front of that target audience of yours is absolutely key.
Quote This
If you are going into a collaboration where no money is being exchanged, you can still set up a contract to ensure that you are getting enough exposure in return.
Highlights
Understand the term “quantifiable exposure” and how it takes you back to the days of bartering. [0:02:50.0]
Learn how to communicate what you want, even if it isn’t offered at first. [0:04:15.2]
Discover the fundamentals of collaboration and how to clearly layout expectations. [0:06:38.3]
Hear as we share some examples of opportunities we say no to and the reasons behind our “no’s”. [0:13:56.0]
Understand why we turned down several conferences this year, and why it is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. [0:22:42.6]
Discover if conferences are the right fit for your business, and why they might be beneficial. [0:32:05.8]
#TalkStrategyToMe [0:43:27.5]
Getting a Better Yes:
Know your minimum base or quantifiable exposure needed for doing anything for “free”.
Identify what you want before agreeing to anything.
Type up a canned response for both a “yes” and a “no”.
Writing Better Pitches:
Focus on the value that the person is getting rather than the value that you already have.
Make a list of five people who did not respond or said “no” to your previous pitches because they sucked.
Rewrite your pitch to these five people.
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Defining quantifiable exposure, Communicating what you want in opportunities, Fundamentals of collaborations, Reasons to say no to opportunities, Turning down conferences, and why, Determining if conferences are right for your business, Pitching to get a “yes”
