Our Secret Formula to Winning Business During a Global Pandemic

A global pandemic has clear winners and losers. Theaters? Losers. Bike repair shops? Winners. Fine dining restaurants? Losers? Digital strategy firms? Well… it can go either way. On the one hand, who the f*ck wants to make strategic investments when we could be entering into a long recession? On the other hand, in a world where you can’t meet people at a Chamber networking event or a conference, you best be showing up well online.

When the Pandemic Era started in the U.S. (Is it long enough to be an era yet? It has been like 50 years, right?), Spring Insight was basically at capacity through August. Our existing business was a good thing since every single project in our pipeline went away within a week. If this were a movie, you would now see a montage with me pulling off one-a-day calendar pages starting in March and running through mid-July while Queen’s “Under Pressure” played in the background.

As August approached and I looked into the abyss, I brainstormed with my team about new approaches and fancy marketing techniques we might try. That is when we came up with our secret formula that I am now going to share with you: We decided to…ask people if they could suggest anyone who might need our services.

No, really, our approach was that simple. I created a list of current clients, strategic partners, people I like, people I don’t like as much but respect, people who wear pants on a daily basis, etc. I drafted an email that reminded people what we do and with whom we typically work–and let them know that we have capacity to take on work. I asked them if they had any suggestions on people we might contact.

The approach is quite simple. The more difficult part was giving up the facade of always being busy and asking for help. The payoff? Well, in all honesty, it has been remarkable. We are not done with the campaign (So, if you are wearing pants and haven’t received an email, you probably will soon.) I am taking it slowly so I can personalize each email and have meaningful conversations as they come up. But already I have received introductions, invitations to networking events, and work requests from existing clients. All in all, it has been a resounding success.

So, the secret formula: drop the pretense of busy and ask everyone you can for help. Want to see my exact email? Here you go. Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you…How are you feeling about your website? Is it time for a strategic upgrade? What about your marketing presence?

I have a great firm to recommend.