I have a guy whose podcast we’ve been trying to get on for a year and a half.

It’s not that the guy has been ignoring us; my assistant(s) have been going back-and-forth with his assistant over dates, times, etc. for a while now.

But, things keep getting pushed back.

The guy got sick and can’t record.
An emergency happened.
There’s a book launch that pushed all recording back.
Can you reach out to us again in three months?

This guy has a big audience that’s right up my alley. So we deal with all this run-around (all of which is from their side of the conversation.)

It doesn’t frustrate me though. Because we have 1,500 different people we’re working on collaborating with all at the same time that this is happening. This guy is just one of many.

So all this time that we haven't been able to connect with him, we’re connecting with one of the other 1,499 people to find who’s ready to go now.

And I’m sending more possible collaborators to my staff every day.

Look this person up.
Get this guy’s info.
Let’s reach out to this woman.

Here’s the point: This is about the power of your pipeline.

Your pipeline is all the people who you are currently “working on,” at different stages, in order to move a conversation towards some form of business deal — such as a sale, joint venture or collaboration.

Your pipeline can include prospects who you hope to sell to, or businesses you’re aiming to collaborate with.

It is your job as a marketer and business owner to keep new blood constantly pumped into your pipeline. As long as your pipeline stays full, you never have to focus on or worry about any one entity within it.

This guy isn’t ready? Fine.
She’s procrastinating? No problem.
He needs 3 months? Sure.
They have to take my proposal up the ladder? Ok.

I have others to work on.

The ultimate goal is to always have multiple people at every stage of your pipeline, which makes for constant and smooth “deal flow.”

This requires —

1) A clear system for how people get into your pipeline
2) A well-defined “who” (i.e., who you want in the pipeline and why)
3) Everyone knowing the goals of the process
4) Someone / something keeping the pipeline filled with new blood

The building and maintenance of your pipeline is a systemic challenge. Systems are one of the four main pillars of what we’ll focus on when you’re a member of Work On Your Game University.

Learn more about the University and schedule a call with us here: http://www.WorkOnYourGame.net/apply