Fill Your Dance Card: Opening convos with MISSION DRIVEN Partners

Travis Sago

Aug '23 (edited) • Opening Convos & Coffee Dates

As Ronin, we want BIG OPPORTUNITIES.

Big opportunities ARE long-term opportunities.

A "one-night stand" can be fun.

But it's still a hit-em and quit em deal.

Even if the dude(tte) is a perfect 10.

In on Friday...

Out by Saturday...

And then we're "chasing again".

I may not be speaking for everyone...

But to me...

Chasing one-night stands gets old.

I'm the marrying type.

I want deep, long-term relationships.

Now...

In business, it turns out I am polygamous, LOL.

But...

I realize I may be in the minority about long-term relationships.

This is why in the agency space you see folks blast out 1000s of cold emails in a week to complete strangers they think might be 10's.

Then the 1 or 2 ez girls out of 1000 say, "Let's go back to my place."

They hit it and quit it.

Their "ez girl" goes out and bangs another dude the next night.

Then it's back to the chase.

This is the same as seeing someone just won a 2 comma club award and sliding into their DMs.

If our MAIN CRITERIA...is money, list size, audience reach..."their surface level" attributes.

If you do happen to get on a date with them...

And then they want to "do it themselves," or "rip you off" or "dump you for someone hotter"...

Don't complain that they are SHALLOW!

As an investor...

Who wants the long-term rewards of a long-term relationship (aka big opportunity)...

I realize big opportunities are CREATED, not FOUND.

I am looking for a LONG TERM PERSON who is on a MISSION!

They put MISSION as a priority BEFORE MONEY.

I want to CREATE a relationship with them.

I want to CREATE big, long-term opportunities for BOTH of us.

Mission-driven people are much rarer than an individual who puts MONEY before MISSION.

In my experience...

Many folks don't even HAVE a mission.

And that's okay.

I just don't want to invest in a relationship with them.

Now...

Every long-term relationship starts with "hello".

You strike up a conversation...

If the conversation goes well...

You do "coffee".

The coffee date is to see if it makes sense to have a first date.

They get on a coffee date to see if they can get what THEY want in the future.

(Reread that last sentence, please. It's the key to filling your dance card.)

The mistake I see is inviting people to talk about themselves and their tools.

If we were a kitchen remodeler, we’d invite somebody on a coffee date to talk about how they dream their new kitchen would look.

Not to talk about our new jigsaw, our modern toolkit and the newest cabinet installation methods.

What we are doing in Ronin is the SAME!

If we invite people to talk about how to get THEIR mission, THEIR message and THEIR programs reaching new markets, we will enjoy never-ending coffee dates.

If we invite people to talk about THEIR challenges filling THEIR empty spots in THEIR program…we will be heavily caffeinated.

If we invite people to pitch our Sale Saver, we will get some coffee dates, but it will be much harder.

This is why I research before I invest.

I look for people on a mission with a unique message who aren’t only focused on money.

I’ve started many coffee dates with a variation of:

“I read your book. Everyone needs to know this. How can I help you spread the word?”

(That is general and summarized.)

More specifically…

Opener:

“I’ve never seen any real estate investor just send out deeds and ask people to sign them AND get them to send them back too!! Genius. How did you figure that out?”

(Natural conversation in between.)

Then…

Coffee date invite:

“You've discovered the best way for someone new to REI to start investing I’ve ever seen. Everyone starting in RE should know about you. I know a few markets that would gobble you up. If you’re not too swamped because of your book, could do coffee over Zoom? I’d love to help spread the word about what you’re doing.”

Now, I use different approaches depending on what I’ve got going on.

But that approach rarely fails.

It may require a 2nd coffee date, though…that's okay.

Often on the coffee date…

We both “realize” the best way to help spread the word is with their very own audience!!

Then, once I understand their people even better…after a first/second date...

I see new avatars/ markets for them they didn't see...

I see how one or two tweaks to their offer can double the amount of leads/sales they're getting.

I see how changing their messaging can get others to spread their message and mission for them.

I've turned a coffee date into a long-term relationship.

I don't have to go clubbing every weekend chasing the shallow, ez chicks.

Hope this helps.

Recap:

Research PARTNERS! Look for MISSION-DRIVEN people who happen to have followings and money too.
Open a convo
Propose coffee talking about what THEY want to talk about. Don't propose seks.
Listen. Listen. Listen. If you find an opening where you think you can help. Propose a risk free first date. If it takes a 2nd coffee date, that's OKAY!

Rooting For Ya,

Travis

PS Our Ronin

@Andrew Ludlam

shows us how this is done. Check out his live example.

PPS On a scale of 1 to 10 - after reading this post - How much did it help?

1 = Travis, you should really consider looking for a new line of work.

10 = I feel like I could start a convo with a bit of research with ANY mission-driven person now.

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