You Are Not the CIA
As the timer is ticking down – both fast and slow, where there seems to be plenty of time for the hero to disable the bomb but also not enough time – the question is always: will the bomb get diffused? Will the structure and people targeted in the attack be saved?
Most times every is saved. The hero does hero things. Life continues. No one is the wiser about how close to death and destruction they were.
In the movies, we see this scene play out. In the lives of those innocent people, they will never know.
In the real world, this type of thing happens, and it doesn’t make the news. Maybe an odd headline: “terrorist plot foiled.” And that’s it, everyone moves on as if nothing happened.
Because nothing happened.
The CIA, other 3-letter organizations, the military, and the people who support the military face this constantly. Saving the world and no one even knowing it. I have seen it several times myself – where a dangerous, bad thing was stopped before anyone knew about it or was the victim of its intended harm.
You are not the CIA.
The world of business brokerage should not operate in the shadows. You aren’t The A-Team, where you only help people who know how to get a hold of you, despite constantly being on the run from the government.
You need to be present. You owe it to business owners.
The business broker industry has an awareness and education problem. Business owners’ timers are ticking down to zero all day, each day, and they don’t realize someone can help exit their business with a good financial result and avoid just shutting it all down.
This is why it is so important that you have a deep and wide online presence.
Relying on referrals, hoping for a new listing, posting every six months when you run out of deals, and getting desperate to refill your pipeline is not a successful strategy.
That is what (unprofessional) salespeople do. They scramble to get leads in their pipeline. They get busy working those leads. They get paid. Then they realize their pipeline is empty.
If a business owner approached you with that type of revenue model, asking you to help value their business, what would you tell them?
Yet there is a good chance it is exactly how you are running your marketing.
And sure, I have met some brokers who have been in business a long time (started before there was the internet), don’t post online, don’t care about social media or podcasts, don’t worry about their website, and they are doing just fine.
But for most everyone else, you need to be present. The business owner who realizes they need help needs to find you easily and quickly.
And not just find you because you can outspend others for PPC in the “business broker near me” category. They find you, consume your content, and build a one-sided trust relationship with you in their mind because of the authority and experience you share.
More than the deals you closed or the listings you have, it must be how you think, why you think that way, why it matters, what business owners don’t know they don’t know, and what bad things happen if they don’t hire you.
That bomb is ticking for each business owner. Will they know you can help them cut the red wire to save the day? Or are you playing undercover secret agent that no one knows exists?
If you aren’t posting constantly and strategically, if you don’t have a podcast or appear on lots of podcasts, if you don’t have a YouTube channel full of wisdom, if you aren’t publishing a regular newsletter and blog articles – how are you expecting business owners to find you?
And if that feels like a lot to do, you are right. But remember, just start. Work on one strategy and then keep adding to your catalog.
Until next time,
Jason
PS. Take the Digital Impact Assessment (free) →https://get.businessbrokergrowth.com/assessmentNL
