The authority-killing blunder that spiked my reputation with an ideal client

Plus, how to see it coming and avoid it with ease

In 30 minutes, I went from getting compared to the CEO of a publicly-traded company by my C-suite contact (on a conference call full of her subordinates)…

And getting paid near-instantly when I sent an invoice…

To, well…

Blowing my aura of authority into a million tiny pieces like I stepped on a landmine.

Before I share the details, plus how to avoid my mistake, let me explain why you?really?don’t want to make the same one.

As you may know, there are few things in business that make your life easier than being viewed as a trusted authority in your area of expertise.

• Everything you do is viewed more positively (through the halo effect).
• When a situation is unclear, you get the benefit of the doubt.
• Invoices get paid?fast…
• You can get away with charging much higher rates…
• And you get quick and easy access to all the information you could ever need to see from your client.

It’s the difference between being viewed like a doctor who diagnoses a problem and prescribes a solution… and a vending machine that your client can press to get a doohickey at their convenience.

So you can see why it sucks to cultivate a reputation of respect and authority with a client…

And then have it vanish in the blink of an eye.

When I made the blunder that blew it, it was shortly after I’d wrapped up an email funnel for my client.

You see, before I touched the funnel, it was bringing in $1.15M per month… and it was seriously under-optimized.

So I pulled out all the stops to deliver something great. And once finished, I knew the funnel was about to add a few hundred thousand in monthly recurring revenue to my client’s bottom line.

So when I got on a Zoom call to walk through the copy with my old contact and the new one, who I was being introduced to…

I didn’t feel the need to “sell” the copy—or myself.

I knew the results would soon speak for themselves. And I knew my original contact saw me as a Golden Goose.

That was where I went dead wrong.

Because my?new?contact didn’t know any of those things.

She didn’t know why my original contact regarded me so highly. She didn’t know my copy was about to bring in oodles of new customers and make her look like a hero.

And my half-hearted walkthrough of the funnel was not reassuring.

As a result, she was?not?impressed after the call had wrapped up.

But I didn’t realize it until a few weeks later when I sent over an invoice. My new contact told me, “We will make sure we are good with all payments…”

Great…

I had gone from being compared to the CEO and paid near-instantly… to having my invoices regarded with suspicion.

And needing to send?weekly?reminders for?months?to get paid.

All because I didn’t realize...

That when your contact at a client’s business changes, your authoritative reputation gets erased.

In hindsight, it seems really obvious.

But it never occurred to me that I needed to re-establish my status… and make a great first impression all over again.

Instead, I just assumed my new contact would view me the same way as my original one.

Big mistake.

Because even if your original contact puts in a good word, you have no idea what kind of weight that holds with your new one. Or, what kind of a relationship the two might have.

So how would I have done things differently?

On the intro call, I would’ve “sold” the copy (and my expertise). In other words, I’d explain all the efforts I put in to develop the funnel. And how I leveraged those efforts to put together strategic messaging that was about to make the cash register ring.

So if you want to avoid making the same authority-killing blunder?

When your contact with a client changes, start rebuilding your reputation from scratch. Look at your new contact more like a prospect than a client.

You’ll avoid my silly mistake, maintain your authority, and reap all the rewards that go along with it.

Yours for sharper marketing,

Dustan Gumaer