There is a bias called Illusion of Control. This bias is defined as the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control events. I’ve used DiSC for many years and I’ve often said to people in debriefs that people who are the D and I types are more likely to feel like they can control the turn of events and make things happen. I’m a combination of the S and I types, which means I feel that way and don’t feel that way. Depends what day of the week it is, I guess.
I may also suffer from the Recency Bias. This one is defined as the tendency to overemphasize the importance of recent experiences or the latest information we possess when estimating future events. Thus, when I’m getting a little surge of business, I feel like I’m on a roll and things are going to keep rolling. This is a feeling. It’s a good feeling, but it is not based on data. Unless, I have a pipeline of opportunities to point to.
Here’s my message: Don’t stop trying to get business. Always dedicate some time to planting seeds, nurturing the ones you’ve planted, and pushing a bit to get business from those who’ve expressed an interest but haven’t pulled the trigger.
I have a client who owns a small business that’s only been around a few years. They were doing well last year and assumed due to the recency bias perhaps, that it would keep flowing. I asked them about sales and marketing efforts a few times knowing how important it is to keep those up. They did a little, but it was far short of a big push.
They are not doing as well as they’d predicted. Business did not keep flowing and things didn’t just grow organically like they thought it would. So now they understand they need to make sales and marketing a priority.
And lots of it!
The more you do, the less likely you will be affected by the illusion of control where you just need to do a little something here and there and business will flow again. We want to believe it’s that simple, but alas, it is not. Fight this bias by stuffing your pipeline as full as you can. You can turn down business you know. I turned down more business last year than I normally do and it felt…interesting. I was definitely out of my comfort zone doing so, but if I didn’t, I would have been way out of my comfort zone, which could have damaged my business.
I hope my soapbox speech here is giving you some perspective on your thoughts and feelings around your business and the flow of opportunities. Contact me if you have follow-up questions or would like to talk about your coaching business and how to develop it.
Also, read our blog post on one simple change that can possibly affect your coaching business here.
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