In getting from nothing to something, you travel through else,and else, and else again. How do you do this; how difficult is the travel; are some travels easier? A conjecture of success, by which I mean, being as known as you wish.

Can you get someone interested enough to sustain their interest?

Determining the Contrast

Natural ability makes doing X easier. The factor I’m considering isn’t physical, rather it is

You can’t teach someone to be 7 foot, but you can improve being 7 foot. 

some other set – an X set. Let’s use Steve Jobs as an example of it — he is a 5, the top end of the scale. Most people are 0 on this scale. They aren’t even certain there is such a thing. They mistake X for something else rather than the cluster it is. The 5’s, on the other hand don’t understand why everyone doesn’t know how to do X, and are infuriated when their surrounding 3 & 4’s don’t get more results. This X set is psychological ability. 

In order to succeed at having others assist you, you will share characteristics of the con man. People will be wary of this. But the nature of X is such that you have resilience without being destructive. Many think this means being competitive. It is not. This ability sets out similarities not differences. Successful others will be trustful of you, rather than being wary.

In asking you are giving – not giving in;  not giving up – Those who have will share because they know they aren’t being tricked. You are prepared to give and share, not give and take.

It Goes Wrong

The followup fails because you failed to start off correctly. Further, you can’t correct your actions. You don’t have resilience that is reliable. It isn’t the asking, it is the follow up. Your follow up, not theirs.

Trade Show Effect

I am a reticent attendee of trade shows. In my far past, I attended for training, and, for a few years, I attended to sell. This was my retouching equipment and supplies. It was never easy, but it was the cheapest way to demonstrate to the novice, to convert the mis-informed. Mostly it was to connect with existing customers. Maintain their allegiance. Follow up was key to new accounts. That was the hardest part — who, in what way, with what frequency. When to stop spending this follow up time with this prospect.

The Difficulty:

Determining those people who occupy your time to their selfish ends. Those people who are just killing time, yours and theirs.

I was aware of that caution, so, along with my innate self reliance, I’d find reasons to ‘move on’ to other prospects. One such case, I’d presented to a regional director. Seemed promising, but after a few months I put his card into the ‘annual’ file. But my persistence hadn’t been offensive, just not productive. He remembered and contacted me. In those 6 years he had left _company_, opened a paper box maker, then an outdoor advertising company. He wanted my coating system in that operation, but I’d closed up, moving on to other things. He had persisted. He had remembered. I hadn’t.

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The prompt for this post was forum activity over the upcoming Fotofest in Houston.

next: Origin Of This Post