About five or six years ago a groom wanted to hire me to draw caricatures at his wedding. One problem though. The bride was kinda against it. I’m sure she thought what many people think.
It’s low rent.
Caricatures are for kids.
It’s stupid.
Ok, I’ll give her stupid. I draw cartoons, I’m no stranger to stupid. But still…
I emailed the groom a few times and we spoke on the phone. It’s always kinda strange for me when I speak to a Millennial on the phone. So many of them are into texting, instant messages, and written communication.
Not that I can blame them. The more I write the more I prefer to communicate with the written word too. Anyhoow…
Back to my groom. With our e-mails and even our phone conversation he kept talking about meeting up in person. It was odd because 98% of my events I book via email or over the phone.
I made an appointment and met them at a park. I finally got to meet the fiancé and she was very pretty. They made a beautiful couple. But to quote one of my favorite lines from the movie Evolution, she was a bit of an “Ice Queen”.
She was not warm to me at all. Time to do like Flynn Rider from Tangled and bring on the smolder…
I tried charm…
She shot it down like trying to shoot a layup over Shaq.
I told her my story and my background in comics…
She was about interested in that as a college lecture on Dung beetles.
I even went the social proof route but she wasn’t seemingly impressed.
I was using every ounce of my creativity. I felt like I was doing a crossword puzzle but none of the words I kept using seemed to fit. I slowly learned why the groom wanted to meet me in person. He wanted an accomplice to help convince the fiancé to include me in their reception.
Eventually the groom had his way and they did book me. It taught me a lesson though. In my success in not scratching and clawing for every gig I could get I got lazy. Why should I have to do things like talk to people or meet them in person? Ain’t I Mr. Special…?
I grew to really enjoy talking to my perspective clients in person. You get the good stuff. You learn about them, how they met, what their goals are. It’s the kind of thing that you just can’t get from sending emails (usually) or looking at their Instagram page.
To quote a John C. Maxwell book title, “everyone communicates, few connect. Connect with your prospects, clients, and tribe. The connection will go way beyond words.
Adam