Be the Trigger Event

A trigger event is some occurrence that has an impact on your dream client’s business in some way that provides you with an opening to start a dialogue, and potentially, create an opportunity.

• Your dream client hiring a new person in a key role, one that would care deeply about the outcomes you help deliver, would be considered a trigger event. You see these trigger events fly by on LinkedIn every day when you receive notification that some of your contacts are in new roles or new companies.
• A political, economic, or technological event can also be a trigger event. If you sell microchips or something, some tech company deciding to enter a new market might be a trigger event. A massive change in the economy is always a trigger event, declines causing people to look for ways to cut costs, and great growth causing people to need all of the things that allow them to pursue growth.

All of these trigger events are worth paying attention to, and I have seen personnel changes followed by changes in suppliers almost as a matter of course. But all of them entail waiting. And waiting isn’t a good strategy.

You, Trigger Event

You are, in fact, the real trigger event. Or you could be.

You could have such an incredible ability to create value for your dream clients that meeting with you alone would cause them to rethink some of their business practices and change some of the decisions they are struggling to make. Provided you have the business acumen and situational knowledge. Provided you have the questions. You could be that trigger.

You could have such a unique ability to help your dream client with a vision of what is possible that you could in a single conversation put a major crack in the status quo, opening it up to finally being broken and replaced with some better, long overdue future state. You could help a prospective client who doesn’t know he should be dissatisfied realize that he should be.

You are the trigger when you know how to share the implications of political, technological, economic, and cultural changes in a way that allows your client to see around corners, avoiding hidden dangers, and taking advantage of new opportunities.

Your personal note sent after twelve value-creating touches could be the trigger event that causes your dream client to change. The fact that you are known, that you are known as a value creator, and that you have relentlessly pursued your dream client can trigger a call as soon as your prospective client recognizes that they aren’t happy. That card can trigger a call to explore change.

You don’t get paid for waiting. Your dream clients don’t produce better results while they are waiting for you. You produce better results when you stop waiting and decide that you are going to be the trigger event that you and your dream client have both been waiting for.