Rainmaking Recommendation # 111:  Your “Red Velvet Rope Policy”

Image Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/Freedigitalphotos.net

In the late 1970s, two men, Ian Schrager and  Steve Rubell, opened a now famous club called Studio 54. Then they did something incredibly amazing!  They set up a Red Velvet Rope at the entrance to the Disco and then created a policy in which they determined who would, and would not get into this remarkable place.

People lined up for hours (see video) but if you weren’t famous or fabulous, you were not allowed in. Even people who spent $250 dollars a year (a lot of money in those days) on an annual membership to the club were denied entrance if the owners or bouncers didn’t feel like letting you in that evening. That didn’t stop people, almost 4000 every night, from clamoring to get in and stand behind that velvet rope for hours upon end just for the chance of getting in to Studio 54.

In 2006, Michael Port wrote a book called “Book Yourself Solid”.   The first chapter discusses creating your own ‘Red Velvet Rope Policy”.  This means only working with your ideal clients – with clients you love.  Creating a policy in which you determine who you will and won’t work with will also begin to have others clamoring for your services.  This is because when you say no to someone, they want it even more.  Think back to when you were a kid and your parents said “No” to something you wanted.  How much more did you want that?

I wrote about cloning your ideal client in Rainmaking Recommendation #12 more than 4 years ago.   You must create the criteria and description of what, and who, are your ideal clients.

But there is a more important reason for creating a description of your ideal client besides working with people you love.  We live in a world where we are bombarded by information constantly.  Most of it is just noise and our brain just cannot handle all of the information.

There’s a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which is there to filter out all of the noise.

When you input your criteria for your ideal client or your goals, the RAS goes to work only letting you see what fits into those circumstances and descriptions. When you are networking, you will seem to meet many potential clients who fit this model or who know someone who does.  When you are online, you will begin to see more people/businesses that fit your ideal.

Try a little experiment:  Think of something you want, for example – a new car.  Think about that car – the make, the model, the year – then begin to notice if you start to see that car on the road.  It’s not that all of a sudden, more people are driving that car – it’s that your brain has filtered out the rest of the cars on the road. It doesn’t have to be a car, it can be anything you put your mind to – suddenly, you will begin to see that thing everywhere.

Send me an email or leave a comment when this experiment works for you.  Let me know what you thought of and if you are seeing more it than ever.

Quick note:  Marketing Field, LLC is being rebranded as The-Rain-Maker.  

A new offering of services include: 

• Rainmaking seminars with ethics CLE’s (currently pending only in New Jersey) that are be held in your law firm’s conference room,
• workshops, 
• one-on-one coaching (from anywhere in the world)
• group coaching (from anywhere in the world)
• and a VIP day in which you will meet with me and a host of other legal practice management and legal marketing professionals.  

For more information, please send me an email or call.  The new website will be coming soon!