As a consumer, I am often lured by offers that are for a limited time or running low in availability. Of course, you also need to be careful with this message. There are some merchants who have sent me emails about this wonderful sale – the first time, I may have jumped on the opportunity. However, they then seem to be sending me these sales every week. I no longer felt compelled to buy at that moment because I knew there would be another sale soon – perhaps with an even better offer.

I had not really thought about applying this to services. Great insight there. Thanks.

Great post! I use this same principle in my business when new clients come to me for copywriting. While discussing projects, I often explain my schedule in a way that makes my time seem limited, makes me appear in demand and puts the concept in the prospects mind that space in my schedule gets snapped up quickly.

In many cases it’s true, but when I communicate that as opposed to just giving them a prolonged deadline I typically hit a home run and get them to lock into my schedule with a deposit weeks before a project even begins.

I was extremely nervous about this when I considered it about a year and a half ago, as I didn’t want people to walk away and find someone else more available. I’ve yet to have that happen though.

It’s a smart practice that not only helps you sell your service to customers and clients but – in the case of those of us offering a professional service – it helps us manage our schedule more effectively without feeling like we need to smash all the clients in as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the post!

-Derek