First published 19 September 2022 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
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Episode 199. I still can't quite get my head round it. The first time we sat down to record at Nigel's house, I wasn't sure we'd even get through the four episodes we did that day. Nearly four years later we're one off 200.
Nigel reckons part of why it's lasted is that neither of us cares who takes the credit (even though, he says, I do most of the work). We treat listeners like guests in our home. Go to someone's house 199 times and one or two meals won't be great. At his place, apparently, that's a Thursday.
Then the serious bit. People were worried about the cost of living and energy bills going into the last couple of months of the year, and Nigel's view was to go back to your existing customers and make what you do for them brilliant, because if you don't, your competitors will. I brought up the Disney queues. You turn a corner thinking you're nearly at the ride and you're still in the line. But they put things along the way to keep you entertained, when people would queue anyway. Nigel compared that with hold music telling you you're an important customer. He also told me Touchstone Pictures was Disney all along, which explains a lot about what's on Disney Plus.
We got onto letting clients go. Space fills. A friend of mine posted about moving from a one-bedroom flat to a three-bedroom house and somehow filling it, with still only one person living there. Nigel does his yearly thing of picking two clients he won't work with next year. Not getting his Cambridge chocolate and Diet Coke is one of the signs. He still takes the first speech of the year whatever the fee, just to get back on the road.
And I finished on markets. In some countries the first customer of the day really matters, so if you want to haggle, get there early. I've seen traders in Turkey kiss the first note and put it in a different pocket. Nigel's advice if you spot me at a Sunday market is not to ask for a discount. It's a swear word.
The short version
- Go back to the clients you've already got. Why are they with you, and why aren't they recommending you?
- If people have to wait, give them something while they wait. Disney does it in the queue.
- Pick the clients you don't want next year before next year starts. Clearing the space makes room for better ones.
- Want a deal at a market? Be the first customer of the day.
And if they're not recommending you, I've gotta tell you, it's 'cause you're not doing a good enough job.
Nigel Risner
But if your diary's already full, there's no room for anybody else.
Neil Martin
