Simon, "my pipeline is drying up."

I've heard that sentence for 22 years. Usually the next one is: the referrals were carrying us, and now they aren't enough. Then comes the usual advice. Build a lead machine. Buy a list. Automate a thousand emails to strangers.

Before you do any of that, take one hour and look at who already knows you.

I talked this through with Cordes Owen on the Law of Relevancy Podcast (July 2024). Listen to the full conversation: The Law of Relevancy with Simon Severino

Your pipeline has three temperatures

Many founders think filling the pipeline means talking to strangers all the time. "You probably don't have to." Here's the order I'd use with any client.

Hot. Current clients you can ask: who else needs this? What else do you need help with? Current strategic partners too. The accountant who sees a client needs sales help and knows who to introduce. A referral starts ahead of everything else, "because you borrow the trust initially."

Warm. People you talked to a year or two ago. Past clients and friends of clients. People who subscribed to your list this week, downloaded something from your site, or registered for a webinar two months ago.

Cold. Strangers on LinkedIn, X, YouTube. I like this one too. It just comes last, once you've run out of people who already know your name.

🐬 Picture it on one page, three columns. Do this for an hour and "you can probably call 60 people." That's two weeks of calls before you touch a single stranger.

Why the list stays untouched

Everyone knows this works. So why does the list sit there going stale?

Because of what you feel with your thumb over the call button. They might say they have no time. They might say no to the intro. "The fear is I get personally rejected."

That's the real cost of skipping this. The people who already trust you hear nothing from you, month after month. And you go shopping for an expensive cold machine, because emailing strangers feels safer than calling someone you know. Cordes put a finger on the other side of that trade: inboxes full of well-written automated mail pretending to be a friend. The insincerity is what puts him off, and he's not alone. In a world that keeps producing more of it, the question I keep coming back to is simple: who's real?

It isn't personal. That's where your control lives

Some of my clients use a picture for this. It's a desert. People are thirsty. You have water. Do you keep it to yourself, or do you say: here is water, who needs this?

Say it out loud and hear how the tone changes. You're not asking for a favor. You're bringing a need and a solution together.

Then split what's yours from what's theirs. If they read the email, if they pick up, what they do with it.. all theirs. "The only thing that's in my control is giving other people a chance to buy."

🐯 That's the whole shift. Someone who calls to make your business better isn't begging or chasing. They're leading the conversation, and the buyer can feel it.

The fear doesn't go away

Cordes asked when my fear of making the move had gone. It hasn't. "I have more fear than ever." The kid on the soccer field wondering if the move will embarrass him is still in there.

What changed is how much weight I give it. In the middle of a Pilates class I'm always sure my triceps are done. They aren't. It's just a burn. And emotions come and go like weather, so I run in the snow, in the sun, in the rain.

Nobody's calling list got shorter by waiting for the feeling to pass. Pick up the phone with the fear on board.

Start this week

1. Take one hour. Three columns: hot, warm, cold. Fill hot and warm only.
2. Ask your current clients. Who else needs this? What else do you need help with?
3. Call down the warm list. How are you? How is it going? What else do you need?
4. Hiring a seller? Hand them this list on day one, so they have real people to call instead of a blank screen.
5. Score it Friday. Set the number of calls in your Monday Strategy, check it in Friday Learnings.

Two weeks from now, picture your calendar. Real conversations with people who already like you, intros you asked for, and a no that doesn't sting the way it used to. You have your evenings back, because you didn't spend them building a machine. That's Sprintlife: control of the sales conversation, and the time freedom it buys you. 🌴

Listen to the full conversation with Cordes Owen: The Law of Relevancy with Simon Severino

Grab the free tools and fill your pipeline alongside other founders in the Sprint Club: https://www.strategysprints.com

Ready to accelerate now? Book a Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/strategysprint/discovery-call

Happy hunting.
Simon & The Sprinters 🐬⚡️🐆