Make friends, not leads

It’s so fancy in here! We’re newsletter’ing for lots of clients, so it only made sense to dress up the RevBoss email a bit.

Don’t worry, still the same schtick*, 100% written by me, Eric.

Also — we consolidated some lists and this might be the first email you’ve gotten from me and/or RevBoss or the first in a long time. Welcome and/or welcome back!

The unsub URL is at the bottom if you don’t want to get these helpful, painstakingly wrought, occasionally funny, 100% organic emails going forward.

As always, reply to this email to let me know what you think. I read and respond to every reply.

Be good. Thanks for reading.

~Eric Boggs
CEO @ RevBoss

*Sorry, no Steely Dan Easter Eggs or puberty confessions in this email.

The reality for 98% of us is that the long game is the only game left.

(Congrats to the 2% that caught lightning in a bottle.)

I talk to clients and prospects every day that ask about getting more leads and getting them faster.

I get it…but “get more, go faster” is 2023 “numbers game” thinking and 100% the wrong approach for 2025.

1. There was a time that you could email 100 people or spend $300 on Adwords or write a blog post today and get a lead tomorrow. It was a fun time. That time is going away...and already gone forever for most. You need to accept this reality and adapt accordingly.

2. You need to worry about making friends, not generating leads. Nobody wants to see a demo or "catch up". And the harder you try to make a friend, the more desperate and weird you come across...which isn't the best way to make friends.

3. The only things that work are creating something that people want (the product), offering it in a way that is easy for them to consume (the offer), and working to create real connection through things like newsletters, events, collabs, webcasts, LinkedIn, high-intent outreach, etc. (the process)

I've had several clients and friends who's businesses have gotten obliterated simply because their product is no longer viable in AI-first world. (SEO agency, design agency, web studio, video agency, SaaS company, etc.)

There is no justice in it. They didn't do anything wrong. AI just happened to them.

For everyone else that's still standing, I very strongly recommend that you adjust your expectations and your approach:

1. Seriously evaluate the viability of your product. If an AI model can basically say or do the thing you do, that's OK -- you just have to shift your thinking to outputs and start swimming with the current vs. trying to compete with ChatGPT. Don't believe me? Check out Gartner's market cap over the past several months...

2. Don’t try to get a lead, try to make a friend. You have to lead with real value, credibility, and helpfulness. Put your best self, offer, and thinking into the marketplace, see how it goes, and iterate. Create a first step in your sales process that is an easy "yes" for your ICP. Transactional marketing is headed for the dustbin...and it's already there for many.

3. Reinvent your outreach. There are motions that will work, see list above and see this email. They're just slow, unpredictable, and require more TLC. It's the long game, after all.

Most importantly -- don't keep doing the same thing (or worse do nothing) and expect that you can just tweak some messaging or get a little smarter with your targeting to solve the problem. Think reinvention, not optimization.

In fact it's likely -- maybe even probable -- that you need to become an entirely new business.

That's what we've done at RevBoss.

Let me know what you think.