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One of the most important things I tell my clients is that if we add value to the lives of others particularly those we serve, that investment will come back to us a thousand fold through them being great brand ambassadors for us, a source of great referrals and also we create lifetime loyal clients who think of no one but you when they are looking for the solutions.  This is truly priceless.

This was reminded to me again today as a result of an email I received.

Today I was lining up the interviews for Biz Growth Live for the year ahead and I thought I would approach one of my mentors as a potential guest expert as I know the Biz Growth Live community would love to hear them speak.

Now this person is a BIG player – yes they earn US$40,000 A MONTH on average as a solopreneur – and I’m contributing to that income in the mentoring fees I pay them.

I drafted a pleasant email complementing them on a number of areas they had supported me in the last year and then went on to enquire if they would be interested in being a guest expert in Biz Growth Live.  They certainly know me so it was not a case of the email coming out of the blue.

Now let me say, their fees are REALLY high for the value they deliver but I have felt that their support and services were key for my success so I invested in their programme.

I sent the email off and quickly got a reply  – a curt email – not from them but their virtual assistant.  Could I guarantee X number of participants on the call was the question?

Well of course I can’t guarantee anything – I will of course do my best as isn’t it in my interest to promote the call too and be seen sharing the stage with this legend and guru?!

Further email exchanges ensued and I am still waiting the outcome.

I know full well that they are doing a similar call with someone else in my network in the US so it is possible to engage with them.  Here I was thinking that me as a client (helping them achieve their US$7figure practice), with a business with global reach – and  providing an opportunity for them to extend their reach across Europe would be of interest to partner with even for an hour.

I guess not!  Yes I will reflect on my approach to them and if I could have done anything else to create a different response.

I can’t say who the person is for obvious reasons – who knows they may even read this post.

What I do know is:

• if we have someone else represent our business and our brand are we clear with them how we want them to reply and the impact we want them to have?  My mentor may not even know of the email exchange
• we need to be consistent in the judgements and decisions you make in your business so that you are not seen to favour certain people – particularly as the world is very small and the communities in which we circulate even smaller so our different responses to seemingly similar requests for help, partnership and engagement will be found out
• and its critcal respect and honour your clients – the ones that are helping you be successful – go that extra mile foir them so that they become loyal brand ambassadors and may even invest in some of your more expensive solutions.  In my case, even a direct email from my mentor would have gone a long way given that I am paying them a significant fee for their mentoring services.

Let’s just say I am not currently a strong brand ambassador of this person – and certainly won’t be recommending them to others given the current response I have had.  I am pretty sure that given the low value for my investment and this recent engagement I am probably going to exit their programme.

Perhaps they just got too big for their boots! 

I just hope I am never judged in the same way by my clients.