Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

There's a nice group of folks coming together for the next "Simple Marketing Success" 10-week group coaching program that begins October 8. 

In fact, you have about 24 hours to catch Early Bird pricing that expires tomorrow (9/21). 

I'm talking with a lot of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and independent professionals about the program.

Some are a great fit for the program and will benefit hugely. 

Some are not. I will almost always catch these people during the application process and weed them out.

This is one such story... 

This entrepreneur emailed me the following question: 

Hi David,

I hope you are having a great weekend!  After some debate, here's the verdict: I want to take the course, I believe, you see, I'd make a great student - but money is an issue for the household if you know what I mean.

So here's a question: Would you feel comfortable giving us a 100% satisfaction guarantee? If at the end of 10 weeks I have not been able to get a solid booking(s) to at least cover the cost of the program, then you'd give us a full refund. But if I have been able to get a solid booking(s) at the end of the 10-week period, then we call it a major success and both parties are happy, including my wife. Can we do that?

I won't bore you with pointing out the half-dozen red flags with this prospect. You can probably see them all for yourself. 

This post is about guaranteeing YOUR consulting, coaching, or training outcomes. 

My policy - I don't do it.

And neither should YOU. 

Here's what I replied to this fellow:

Pat,

If you're looking for some kind of guarantee, the problem is that I can only guarantee MY program.

I can't guarantee YOUR results. 

Here's what I guarantee:

• I'll lead 10 weekly calls
• You'll get 10 weekly assignments
• You'll get digital audio downloads of 10 calls
• You'll get word-for-word transcripts of 10 calls
• You'll get 280+ pages of tested small business marketing strategies, tools, templates, and ideas
• The ideas and tactics you'll get have been proven with over 300 entrepreneurs, small business owners and independent professionals
• I'll be available for UNLIMITED email support and respond to you within 1 business day, usually much sooner
• You'll get TWO 30-minute private 1-on-1 calls with me which you can use for any purpose
• You'll get full access to the online Group/Forum website for asking questions, seeking feedback, and posting responses and assignments

• I can't guarantee you'll be on the calls
• I can't guarantee you'll listen to the recordings
• I can't guarantee you'll do your weekly assignments
• I can't guarantee you'll read the transcripts
• I can't guarantee you'll read the book
• I can't guarantee you'll implement a single strategy or tactic
• I can't guarantee you'll email me when you need help or guidance
• I can't guarantee you'll set up your 2 private coaching calls
• I can't guarantee you'll follow my advice
• I can't guarantee you'll participate in the online forum
• I can't guarantee you'll work hard (or at all) to make this program WORK for you

And I'm not in the business of "convincing" people with feel-good guarantees.

I don't work with hundreds of people at a clip. I work with a very small, very dedicated group of entrepreneurs, business owners and independent professionals who are committed to their own success and want to accelerate its timetable and expand its scope.  

If that's you, then terrific. Let's do this thing.

If not, no hard feelings.

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on using guarantees in YOUR coaching, consulting, training or professional services business. And if you use a written guarantee, feel free to post the link and a quick plug for your services, too!

How to unlock, unblock, and unleash LinkedIn Groups...

If you're a thought-leading executive or entrepreneur, chances are excellent that you are actively using the Groups feature in LinkedIn. (And if you're NOT - well, you're missing a tremendous opportunity to add value to your prospect base, find new clients, and build new relationships - but more on that in another post!) 

I belong to 50 LinkedIn Groups and of those, I own or manage three of them.

Today's topic is in response to the following email I got from a member of one of my groups:

Hi David!

I have tried to submit comments at least twice now on discussions that have been started by someone else in the group. When I hit the submit button, it tells me my comment is pending review.

Is there something I need to do on my end to get my comments to go through? Am I being blocked for some reason?

And then the SAME THING started to happen to ME in other groups I belonged to...

It was both a real headache and a real mystery to figure out how to solve this... til now. 

Take a look... [Click the Enlarge icon in the lower right for a better view!] 

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on managing and profiting from LinkedIn Groups. And if you own a Group, feel free to post the link and a quick plug for your Group, too!

Watch this short video and see if you are making these same sales mistakes... 

[Click the "Enlarge" icon in the lower right corner to watch full screen]

Scary, right?

Needy, desperate, pushy, salesperson-centered tactics are so obvious and easy to spot when OTHER people (especially spammers) do them to us.

But how easy is it (and probably imperceptible to you) to fall into the same mode with YOUR own prospects, clients, customers, and buyers?

Stop chasing. 

Stop hounding. 

Stop bugging.

Stop "following up."

Start engaging.

Start inviting.

Start offering. 

Start adding genuine value.  

That's how professionals win! 

p.s. If you want to grow your marketing, sales, and business development muscles, we still have a few open seats for the Simple Marketing Success 10-Week Virtual Bootcamp experience that starts October 8, 2013. Let me know you're interested (email or call me 610.716.5984) and I'll forward you the application materials and program guidelines right away.

My friend, Avish Parashar, just launched his "Speaking Expert" podcast and I was honored to be his first guest. 

Check it out here. 

As you know, it's smart friends that will make or break your success.

I'm lucky to have smart friends like Avish - and he's lucky to have smart listeners like YOU who will take all the strategies from his podcast (this episode AND all the upcoming ones, too) and implement them. 

Remember, only action creates results. 

YOUR results start here.

Enjoy!

p.s. We still have a few open seats for the Simple Marketing Success 10-Week Virtual Bootcamp experience that starts October 8, 2013. Let me know you're interested (email or call me 610.716.5984) and I'll forward you the application materials right away. 

Build the Tribe Before the Tent

Have you ever wrestled with these problems?

• I want more leads from my website
• I need more subscribers to my newsletter
• I can’t seem to generate any comments on my blog
• I’m not getting any traction in my LinkedIn Group
• It’s a huge struggle to fill my public workshops or events
• I built an e-learning or video course but sales are disappointing
• My Facebook business page is a ghost town
• I wrote a great book and nobody’s buying it

I’ll stop there so you don’t get too depressed, OK?

We’ve all been there. And we all know that “Build it and they will come” is the last great false hope of the entrepreneurial class.

But in that statement also lies the answer.

Think about: “Build it and they will come”

Who’s “they”?

No, really - ask yourself this question.

Maybe even write down your answer on a piece of paper.

WHO. IS. “THEY”?

Most executives and entrepreneurs I work with who want to do a better job of marketing themselves and sell more products and services will come up with these answers:

THEY is:

• My customers
• My clients
• My buyers
• My prospects

OK, let’s take this one step further - who are your customers, clients, buyers, and prospects?

Here are some clues:

1. They’re not strangers
2. They’re not going to buy “sight unseen”
3. They’re not going to buy on first contact

So what does THAT mean?

1. They know you and your value proposition
2. With them, you’ve built up visibility and credibility
3. They buy (usually) based on a relationship, not on a single transactional impulse

Frankly, we all WISH buyers would buy ALL our products and services on a “transactional impulse” but that almost never happens, unless you’re running late night infomercials for knives - or insomnia cures. That one phone call - that one sales page on your website - that one email - that one postcard is almost NEVER going to make the sale.

Whatever product, service, or program you’re selling - the bottom line is simple:

You have to build the tribe before the tent.

Rather than this sequence:

1. Invest time, money, effort, and energy (lots) to create a new product/ service/ program
2. Offer it for sale
3. Crickets. (Silence.) More crickets 

What if you created this sequence:

1. Be as helpful as you can to as many people as you can as frequently as you can
2. Build a loyal, fast-growing tribe of followers, fans, subscribers, and friends
3. Offer value and invite engagement
4. The next time you create something to sell, they’re lined up, credit card in hand, eager to buy the moment it’s released for sale

Who does this?

Rock stars. Artists. Gurus.

How?

They built the tribe before the tent.

• Your website = your tent
• Your keynote speeches and seminars = your tent
• Your professional services offerings = your tent
• Your newsletter = your tent
• Your coaching and consulting programs = your tent
• Your blog = your tent
• Your LinkedIn Group = your tent
• Your workshops, conferences or events = your tent
• Your e-learning or video courses = your tent
• Your Facebook business page = your tent
• Your book = your tent

At the beginning, who and what are inside these tents? Obviously - it’s you. And a small fire. Just enough to keep you warm.

Now imagine yourself running around between these ELEVEN different tents, frantically tending those eleven fires, scrounging around finding enough wood to keep each fire alive.

• How much room is there in each of these eleven small tents?
• How available are you to welcome visitors into any one of those tents?
• How much of a success (or failure) would you feel like if you occasionally got between 2-3 visitors in each tent to sit down and tell you their story or enjoy a toasted marshmallow with you?
• How much time could you spend with THEM before running out to one of the nine or ten empty tents and leave them to entertain themselves?
• How long do you think they'll stay in that empty tent without you to serve as host and with the fire slowly sputtering out in your absence?

Hmmmmm... interesting questions, right?

Now imagine things the other way...

You have a thriving tribe...

• You offer them value
• You invite their engagement
• They start to follow you around
• First 5 people - then 10 - then 25
• And pretty soon 50, 100, 200 or more...

At some point, these folks will want to sit down - they’ll get hungry - they’ll get cold.

So you build something for them - a tent - and they welcome the opportunity to sit down with you around a blazing fire. They’ve each brought a log. One has a lighter. Another brings out some hot dogs. Someone else brought baked beans. Others start to break out the marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey bars - S’mores for everyone!

There’s ONE tent. It’s not YOUR tent. It becomes OUR tent. You’re the leader. The provider. The sherpa. The guide. They gladly follow you for two reasons:

1. The experience you provide when they follow you (value, resources, stories, ideas, guidance)
2. The community you’ve built around them (the tribe, the relationships, the company of like-minded friends)

This is a much larger conversation -- and it’s tied to a very exciting project that we’re working on with some of the coolest small business experts on the planet. Can’t say any more than that for now. But stay tuned and you’re sure to hear more about it soon.

But the question YOU need to ask for the moment is…

How can YOU build the tribe before the tent?

Because sitting around in a small empty tent, exhausted, cold and alone… well, that just isn’t a lot of fun, is it?

What do YOU think? What are some examples of “building the tribe before the tent” that you’ve experienced? Are there some people YOU admire whose business fits into this model? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your thoughts and experiences…  

Disclosure: I never badmouth anyone in public. EVER. Even if they deeply and richly deserve it. And I’m not about to start now, even though this story may send chills down your spine. All names have been removed to protect the goofy.

First, check out this exchange (via Facebook message) between me and a successful international keynote speaker with whom I am friendly (and who earns in excess of $20,000 per speech):

• HIM: hey you do ongoing coaching type programs, right? 
  like you get clients that pay you X per month or year for telephone time or something else?
  im asking because i was approached recently by a CEO who wants me to do executive coaching/mentoring for him.  do you have some sort of outline i could follow please? i havent structured a deal like this before

• David Newman
  I do marketing coaching, not “executive coaching” but many of my clients DO - usual structure is 2-3 phone meetings per month with email access to you in between and for CEOs I wouldn't charge less than $5k per month. 7500-10k per month if the meetings are in person. Normally you'd lock them in for a 6- or 12-month commitment.
  That's all you need to know to close the deal. Boom - you owe me a Pepsi.

• HIM: lol thanks. but what do they get for their money ? in terms of time commitments etc and i dont have any formal program structured. or is it pretty informal? they call and you just shoot the shit?

• David Newman
  If the content of the expertise you're trying to sell isn't in line with what the CEO needs or expects, you're toast - you can't just charge for something and "wing it" - don't mean to be harsh, bro - but are you playing to your strengths here??

• HIM: he approached me, not the other way around
  he was in my audience recently and came over to me and said he wants to hire me to be his executive coach
  so i certainly havent promised him anything i cant deliver
  but i dont have a bunch of papers and programs and checklists or any formal program, because this is not something i normally do.

I’ll stop there simply to spare you the pain and embarrassment of more.

What’s wrong with this picture? I could go on and on but I promised myself this would be a short post.

PLUS I want to hear from YOU in the Comments section below about your reactions and advice in avoiding this type of train wreck.

Here’s my 6 cents on what is dangerous and crazy about this exchange:

1. Someone who can deliver a killer keynote speech (regardless of fee level) does NOT automatically qualify as an executive coach. Totally different skill set. It’s like hiring a virtuoso pianist to build a custom stereo - yes, they both make music. But the similarity ends there.
    
2. “Do you have some sort of outline I could follow?” Imagine this question coming from a jet fighter pilot, a brain surgeon, or a trial attorney. There is no outline -- it’s a skill set that takes YEARS of study, serious expertise, and deep experience. You don’t “follow an outline.”
    
3. “I don’t have any formal program structured.” Here’s your first clue, Sherlock Holmes - if you don’t have a formal program for what you’re trying to sell, then you have no business selling it. Holy cow, do I really have to spell this out? Shouldn’t this just FEEL wrong? Apparently not...
    
4. “They call and you just shoot the shit?” Umm, no. I just gave my friend some pricing guidance that a high-level executive coaching program is at least $5,000 per month. And he asks me if that money goes toward “shooting the shit”? Seriously? (Maybe I should reconsider going into the executive coaching business after all.) Meanwhile - there are serious, committed, high-value executive coaches that just read this and their foreheads are about to explode. And I don’t blame them.
    
5. “But Dad - HE started it!” OK, that’s not exactly what he said. It was “he approached me, not the other way around” as if THIS makes it OK to charge money for a service that my friend is neither qualified nor prepared to offer. But wait. we’re not quite done - it gets worse...
    
6. “I don’t have a bunch of papers and programs and checklists or any formal program, because this is not something I normally do.” Again, let’s transplant this statement to a different profession - forensic accounting, cancer research, or defusing bombs. You’d probably want each of these professionals to show up with more than “a bunch of papers and checklists” to fulfill their responsibilities, correct? And you might even be more nervous to learn that “this is not something they normally do.” The lesson? THEN DON’T DO IT!!!

Not to brag, but I’ve presented over 600 marketing keynotes, seminars, and strategic work sessions since 1992. I’m certainly not a $20,000 speaker like my friend, but I’m pretty damn good at what I do in front of a group.

I’ve also served as a marketing coach and marketing mentor to nearly 400 executives and entrepreneurs both individually and in my group programs since 2002. I’m pretty awesome at that.

(By the way, if all this seems too bragalicious for your personal taste, I would challenge you that if you don’t understand what YOU are truly GREAT at, you’re going to have a hard time getting clients to pay you premium fees that reflect your value.)

Bonus question: As a marketing coach, do I have a “bunch of papers and programs and checklists”? As a matter of fact, I DO. But guess what? It’s not those that MAKE me a marketing coach. They simply make my clients BETTER clients - and more successful, too.  

What do you think of speakers who offer coaching "just because"?

Please use the COMMENTS area below to chime in with your advice, insights, and experiences on both sides of this equation - as the speaker or coach AND as the client who may have had a “disconnect” experience with a professional who was GREAT in one delivery mode and surprisingly disappointing in another?

Many of my marketing mentor clients want to boost their online presence - in the words of my pal Henry DeVries, they want “more blogs, more buzz, and more business.”

So how - exactly - do you generate more buzz around your online platform?

One of the easiest ways is to host conversations and dialogue on your blog by proactively inviting your readers, subscribers, and visitors to leave comments.

There are two paths to doing this - and one is a whole lot more effective than the other. But either one is better than doing nothing at all. More on that in a moment...

How to Generate a Ton More Blog Comments in 10 Seconds

Approach #1: Ask! (General)

End each of your blog posts with an invitation to comment. Don’t just ask “What do you think?” - you have to be more explicit and TELL people to use the comment feature on your blog - and then tell them what to do to get there.

Example #1:

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas and join the conversation...  

Approach #2: Ask! (Specific)

One of my favorite clients, Integrity-Based Leadership expert Richard Melancon, recommends taking this one step further. Rather than asking broadly for comments at the end of your blog posts, Richard is a fan of asking very specific questions directly related to the content of the blog ideas you just shared.  

Example #2:

For my recent post, “I’ve Quit and Here’s Why” I took Richard’s advice and used the following at the end of the post:

What have YOU changed up in the last 3-6 months to STOP doing what doesn't matter and start DOING more of what matters most? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your specific changes and how they've freed up more time or made you more money...

Example #3:

On my previous post, “17 Keys to a Great Sale and a Great Date,” I used this:

What do you think? What parallels do you see between dating and selling? How have your best sales conversations unfolded? Please share your advice, insights, and experiences in the COMMENTS area below...

Big difference, right?

There’s no right and wrong here - you may want to try both approaches and see which one generates more comments, more dialogue, and more good conversation with your fans, followers, and readers. The proof is in the pudding.

As for me... well, you can see what I’ve decided to do below.

What do you think about inviting blog comments in a general way or a specific way? Have you gotten better results with one or the other? Please share your own blog commenting philosophy in the COMMENTS area below and...

I’ve quit.

Yup - done, finished, over.

“Quit what?” you ask?

I’ve quit blogging.

OK, that’s not quite true...

But I’ve quit blogging daily.

It was an experiment.

And it worked.

And it didn’t.

Here’s the deal - for most of last year, this website averaged between 5,000-6,000 visits per month. Not great, but not terrible either.

At the beginning of this year, I committed to an experiment - namely blogging every weekday.

Yup, 5 posts a week. Week in and week out. I stuck to the schedule and didn’t miss a day in 26 weeks. 6 full months.

The result?

It worked great.

Almost immediately (OK, it took 8 weeks, but that’s close enough) my web traffic went from an average of 5,000-6,000 visits up to an average of 10,000-11,000 visits. One month, we even generated 15,000 visits - triple the old number. I'll explain that "we" later in this post...

My opt-in rate doubled (for everything - my free ebook, blog subscriptions, my free teleseminars.)

My SEO went up - I moved from page 2 and page 3 of Google results for certain keywords to page 1.

The second result?

I found out what really worked to drive more traffic, more leads, and more business.

And it wasn’t the blog...

It was three things:

1. My new book. Specifically, the marketing plan for my book, which turned out to also become the marketing plan for the website and the marketing plan for my speaking and mentoring programs. Woo hoo - who'd a thunk it?

Lesson: If you “lean in” and commit to the marketing for ONE flagship product, service, or program like I did with my book - you will start to generate momentum that carries over into everything else that you are doing.

2. Email marketing. Plain and simple, the more marketing emails I sent, the more web visits I got. Accident? No, of course not. Most of my emails contained links back to the website for the latest blog posts, the occasional teleseminar invitation or a new program announcement.

Lesson: The more email you send that contains high-value content, advice, insights, and recommendations (aka email that’s too good to delete), the more stickiness you’ll generate for your fans and followers. 

3. FLOP - Namely, “Featuring and Leveraging Other People.” I wrote about this concept in detail here and it has also been a tremendous driver of new traffic and new friendships, new clients, and new projects. Inbound FLOP is me shining the spotlight on others. And outbound FLOP is me participating in other people’s book launches, surveys, guest blogging, and so on.

Lesson: It’s not all about YOU. It IS all about how YOU can serve and promote other experts in your field who have a complementary skill set, message, or service offering. Welcome to the new collaborative economy. They win when you win. And you win when they win.

Sooooo... I’m still blogging.

But I’ve scaled down to once or twice a week.

And I’ve scaled UP the other activities listed above.

Because that’s what generates results.

What have YOU changed up in the last 3-6 months to STOP doing what doesn't matter and start DOING more of what matters most? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your specific changes and how they've freed up more time or made you more money... 

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

Buyers who lie should be deeply ashamed.

Salespeople and marketers have a bad rep for lying and deception but in my experience (both in my own speaking and consulting practice and via the hundreds of other consultants, entrepreneurs and independent professionals who tell me THEIR horror stories), PROSPECTS are much, much worse liars.

Somehow (for buyers) they think it's perfectly OK.

In reality, it's an unconscionable breach of professionalism.

For me personally, this has become VERY unusual because I've learned to be relentless in nailing down commitments.

Except once in a while, a buyer totally blindsides me. This is the story of how that happened and how YOU can avoid it happening to YOU. 

You will also get my voicemail and email templates and scripts to circle back with elusive "closed" prospects multiple times. 

Back story: 3 questions to lock in commitment

This prospect (an association executive director) gave me a verbal agreement to hire me over the phone - as in answering point blank my questions:

1. "So are you still looking at other options or are we closing this deal right now on the phone?"
2. "Who else needs to sign off on this before we make it final?"
3. "Are you sure that you're ready to sign the agreement?"

Answers were:

1. "We're closing the deal right now"
2. "Nobody else - I hire the speakers and my marketing person will be in touch with you to get everything we need for the website and the program book"
3. "Yes we have a deal."

Within 30 minutes of hanging up the phone, I emailed her the agreement, the invoice and my "Welcome Kit" email.

This was followed by WEEKS of radio silence, unanswered emails, unanswered voice mails and then an email from her this morning which says, "We decided to go with a local California speaker"

In the rest of this post, you'll get my follow-up sequence which will make YOU money if you use it. So the good of the many outweighs the good of the few... or the one. 

This is a classic case of "The operation was a success. Unfortunately, the patient died."

How to circle back with a "closed" sale with dignity  

Here's my recommended timeline for you when you get a verbal YES commitment from a prospect (which should be as good as a signed agreement but let's face it - it's FAR from it!) and they disappear on you. 

1. Phone call with prospect. 

2. Ask qualifying/closing questions

3. Send agreement/invoice paperwork. 

4. If they go radio silent, EMAIL #1 is 6-7 days later and you simply resend your original email with all attachments and this added note at the top:

Susie,
Just resending the below in case it got lost in the shuffle last week. Please confirm receipt because I want to make sure this lands safely in your hands. Thanks! 

5. Follow-up phone message (either at the same time as the email or a day or two before or after):

Susie,
Just wanted to make sure our agreement landed safely in your email inbox. Please do give me a call back at xxx-xxx-xxxx just to confirm you received it. I'm looking forward to our work together.

6. If no response, Wave 2 comes 3-4 days after that and sounds like: 

Susie,
We're both flying at 100mph. Please do get back to me with a quick reply and let me know if we're still a go as you indicated on the phone. If yes, we'll start preparations as soon as you return the paperwork. Looking forward to our collaboration. 

7. Again, it's your preference whether you leave a 2nd voice mail message a few days before or after or simultaneous with the email above. Whichever you choose, the second voice mail sounds like: 

Susie,
If you've had a change of heart about your decision, please let me know. If you'd like to discuss these arrangements, please let me know that too. Thank you in advance for your reply so I can plan around your event accordingly. Give me a ring when you get a moment at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Thank you, Susie and talk to you soon. 

8. Next email is 2-3 days later and is simply a written version of the above "change of heart" voice mail message. 

9. The final note is something like this: 

Susie,
Circling back with you about next steps. Please let me know which of these multiple choice answers is most reflective of current reality (which I lose track of regularly!!)

a. I am swamped but still want to move ahead with what we agreed to  
b. Our needs have changed and I want to discuss a different approach 
c. The deal is off in spite of the verbal commitment I made
d. Hey Newman - drop dead and never darken my doorstep again. Buzz off!!

Thank you in advance for hitting reply with your quick answer.

10. In my particular case, my prospect at great long last sent me this note:

Hi David,

Thank you for following up. I apologize for the delay in responding. I didn't want to re-connect with you until we had resolved several critical, conference-related details.

We have decided to go with a local, Southern California keynote speaker for the XXXXX 2014 Conference in San Diego. Upon reflection, it makes better business sense for us to employ local resources whenever possible.

I truly appreciate your time spent discussing XXXX 2014 with me. Thank you, too, for your diligence in following up.

We will be back to the East Coast within the next few years, and we will touch base with you again.

Take care ~ 

Susie Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire Prospect [Not her real name]

11. I hate liars and lying. (I admit it - it's one of my hot buttons.) So this is the reply I sent. I've added the decoding in green for your benefit: 

=====

Susie,

Totally understand. [Every email where I'm stunned and have no idea what planet the person is from starts with these 2 words. It's much nicer than "Are you freaking nuts?"]

Just one final question for you. [The old Columbo TV detective strategy]

Is your local speaker a better fit content-wise or just budget-wise? [Did you lie to me for money or for a better reason?]

If it's strictly a budget issue, I wish you had come back to me first because we could have worked out a travel-inclusive fee arrangement that would still be within your budget. [I'm a nice guy and was - and still am - willing to work with you despite the fact that you reneged on the deal after I verbally confirmed it with you THREE different times on the phone]

Is this worth revisiting since you and I had a confirmed verbal agreement to book the conference? [You should be ashamed for going back on your word without so much as a courtesy email or phone call to let me know the deal was falling apart and/or to ask for my help in saving it]

=====

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas and join the conversation...