Katie McManus recounts a call with a prospect named Dan who forgot they'd already talked, then complained about her advice without realizing he was talking to her. The awkward moment captures what happens when someone criticizes you to your face without knowing it's you.
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I was on a sales call today with this guy, let's call him Dan, who completely forgot that we had a call three years ago. And not only that, he complained about that business coach that he talked to three years ago. That was me. So let me back it up. So three years ago, Dan booked a call with me. He wanted to grow his business, but he also had a lot of limitations about what he was willing to do to grow his business. And, you know, like, when I get on a call with someone who isn't sure what they want to do, you know, I kind of take it as a moment to brainstorm with them, to really understand, okay, well, what do you want? And, you know, what does your life look like right now? What do you want it to look like? Okay, cool. Here are the business models that'll really help you get to that goal. And I remember the conversation because it definitely wasn't the right fit. Like, he wasn't far enough along in the idea phase for me to be useful. So anyway, that was three years ago. He's been on my email list ever since, and he's followed me on social media. Like, he literally found me on LinkedIn. Anyway, so a couple weeks ago, an email went out and he booked a call. He booked a strategy call. And I thought, oh, well, that's interesting because, you know, we talked three years ago. And so I was looking at his intake form because I have people answer questions before we hop on the phone. And it's funny, cause, like, when people book for the second time or the third time after, you know, exploring it and then deciding it's not the right time and then exploring it again, they generally acknowledge that we've spoken before. There was no acknowledgement of that in this intake form. So. So I, I was kind of wondering if, like, maybe he forgot that we'd spoken already. So I decided to just get on the call and I was like, you know, if he remembers, then I'll, you know, we'll talk about it. It'll be fun. But if he doesn't, I don't want to embarrass him. So anyway, so we get on the call and he does not remember me. Like, I am a brand new human being to him. Like, last time we talked about me living on Cape Cod. This time we talked about me living on Cape Cod. Like, sir, how many business strategists are you talking to who live on Cape Cod? Like, is there a club I should be creating? Anyway, so we're talking, we're talking, we're talking. And I Remember the conversation we had last time? And I remember what, like, didn't work for him back then. And so today, as we're talking through ideas for him to grow and scale his business, I, you know, I suggested, you know, here's one option. Here's another option. Here's another option. Do any of these feel like a good fit to you? And he's like, oh, my God, yes. And we started talking about, like, the ethics because, you know, he's in, he's in the medical field. I will say that medical field. So there's a lot of licensing restrictions and things like that. And you know how you Bill is different. And, you know, we just have to be very elegant in how we're transitioning his business into these other little markets. And he stopped and he was like, oh, it's so good that you understand the ethics of this, because let me tell you, I talked to a business coach through three years ago and she didn't understand and she wanted me to do this, this, this and this. And he literally laid out exactly what he and I talked about three years ago and then went on to say how that coach that he talked to three years ago was the worst. And I just, I died. I died inside. I, I was like, oh, yeah, okay. And I, I didn't tell him it was me because at this point I can't. Like, it would embarrass him. And, and I'm sure he would probably say, oh, no, it wasn't you. But, dude, like, it was. If I still had the notes from that phone call, I guarantee you it would be boom, boom, boom, boom. The same points that he's talking about here. So anyway, I guess I'm just sharing this because if you're worried that you're gonna make a mistake or do something stupid or people are gonna judge you and think that you're not good at what you're doing, they're. They're probably not gonna remember. They might even go so far as to forget that they had a full ass 40 minute conversation with you previously and book another one and bitch about you to you. So anyway, has this ever happened to anyone else? And what would you have done? I want to hear about it in the comments.
