How To Create REAL Scarcity (And Get Your Prospects Moving)

Couple weeks back I shared how I landed a $4,000 advertising deal for Simple Programmer with a single email.

And I mentioned that the email worked because I included an offer, a deadline, and a little dash of scarcity:

The email said that another potential sponsor was wanting to buy the same space in our newsletter, and it was “first come, first served.”

A subscriber named Mike responded with the following question:

Was there actually another sponsor “waiting in the wings”?
If not, isn’t that dishonest?

Why so cynical, Mike?

He almost makes it sound like people are sometimes less-than-honest on these here interwebz…

Heh, imagine that.

No, actually I completely agree with Mike.

In this case, there WAS a sponsor interested in that exact same advertising placement.

I’d sent out a proposal just a day or two before, and I wasn’t sure when they might make a final decision.

Now if you’re a freelancer, consultant, coach, advisor, whatever—listen up for this next part.

Scarcity WORKS.

However, making stuff up (aka lying to your prospects) just to manufacture scarcity is a bad plan.

Instead, the answer is to build out your sales “pipeline” so that there is ALWAYS someone waiting in the wings.

When you always have more customers clamoring for your time than you can handle, you don’t have to gin up fake scarcity.

I’m in the process of doing this right now with our advertising prospects.

Whenever I talk to a potential sponsor, whether or not they decide to buy any advertising from us right now, I add their name to a “waiting list.”

I’ll stay in touch with these leads in the coming weeks and months…

And then when we have a sponsorship slot to fill, I can blast out a quick offer—

Then just stand back and grin at the ensuing feeding frenzy.

Setting up this kind of competitive, now-or-never situation can light a fire under your prospects and keep your schedule booked solid.

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