Are You Too Smart to Get Clients?

You might be too smart to get more clients.

“Shut up!” I told him before he uttered another word. I don’t usually talk like that but he was pissing me off.

“Shut up!” I repeated, forgetting my lapse seconds earlier. “Are you really that incapable of thinking?”

Why is it that some people are just too smart for their own good?

Seriously, have you ever met someone whose intelligence (self-proclaimed) was so superior that facts and empirical data were an inconvenience?

It’s been a long time since he got to me. About thirty years ago, playing in the same neighborhood. My, how the years disappear when you run into someone from the ‘old days.’

He was speaking about some political-economic theory. Yet, history is filled with references of his actions (belief) failing miserably, millions being killed and the pattern repeating in various scenarios.

But, he’s an intellectual and loves the sound of his thoughts (like the tyrants before him), so he has his beliefs – perhaps he wants to be a tyrant, hadn’t thought of that.

What’s that have to do with you?

How can being too smart keep you from getting more clients?

Easy, let me share a humbling experience I had.

I wanted to use public speaking as one of the ways to get new clients. So, I started speaking to any group that would have me when I started out.

I was getting great reactions from the crowd and it felt good, really good.

Yet I was starving – meaning I wasn’t getting any new clients or making any money. But hey, they liked me, so I kept driving and flying all over the place speaking to groups.

A friend of mine recommended I make some adjustments to what I was doing. He should know, he had made enough money from speaking, that he never had to speak (or work) again.

No, I thought. I know what I’m doing. I know what the people want, and besides, “they like me!”

So, I went on talking to various groups and getting great positive feedback from everyone in attendance. They wanted me to come back and talk some more, what could be wrong?

What was wrong was that I couldn’t ‘afford’ to keep speaking. I wasn’t getting new customers and it was too expensive to keep doing it ‘my way.’

Here’s Where You Come In

Are you doing something that isn’t working?

Here’s a quick test to find out. Do you have the results you want?

In your business, are you signing up new clients and otherwise achieving the results you want?

Is your primary relationship ideal? Do you even have one?

How’s your health? Good? Bad or indifferent?

Step 2: (okay, I didn’t label the above step 1)

Have you been actively working on changing;

…What you’re doing in your business?

…How you interact with your primary partner?

…What you eat and how you exercise?

I’m not talking about recognizing you ‘should’ do something differently, but actually attempting different things?

Be honest.

Yeah, didn’t think so.

One of my friends told me early on, “you can be right or you can be rich.”

Now, that didn’t sit too well with me. I wanted to be both. Don’t you think Warren Buffet is right about his investments? Steve Jobs was sure right about Apple, Pixar, Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and iEverythingElse.

Surely I could be both.

But then it hit me – BFOTO (pronounced “Ba-Photo”) – or – Blinding Flash Of The Obvious…

What I needed to understand was that what I thought to be true – just might NOT be true – opening me up to what IS…

Now stick with me here…

I am smart. I can read, write and chew gum – though not at the same time.

But, I’m reasonably smart, which means I can argue a point and justify just about any position you can imagine.

Sometimes, just for fun, I argue the opposite of a popular position, just to exercise my debating skills…and sometimes to annoy the other person.

I have thoughts and beliefs about people, places and things.

I act on behalf of those thoughts and beliefs.

If I’m not careful, I fall in love with my thoughts and beliefs – and the ability to justify my actions – and ignore the results and consequences of my actions.

This is the Intelligence Trap.

The idea was introduced by Edward de Bono. He goes on to explain that the better someone is at explaining and justifying their point-of-view, the less likely they are to actually explore the subject.

To ‘explore’ means to test their ideas against facts, history, common sense and their own perceptions. The opposite action would be to close your eyes and mind to what’s around you in spite of evidence to the contrary.

It actually means, the more ‘intelligent person’ can be a pretty bad thinker. This is more true than not.

Are You Too Smart?

Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.

But couldn’t that also describe the intelligent person? It explains my behavior sometimes.

In this case, I got tired of being right and decided I wanted to succeed – to get more clients and make more money.

I went back to my friend, tail between my legs, and asked if he’d share “what worked for him.”

I tried it ‘his way’ and was very pleasantly surprised by the results.

And then I realized, it wasn’t ‘my way’ or ‘his way’ – it was an effective way. It was a way that worked.

Luckily, It turns out I wasn’t as smart as I thought.

Related articles

• This Could Change the World (davidkoons.com)

Tags: David Koons, get clients