Have You Shopped Your Own Business Lately?

I have recently started to contact some of today’s most successful and well-known global thought leaders for a one day event I am planning on organizing. I have to admit that, for me, this has been an interesting experience. I was impressed with the direct and quick response from quite a few of these thought leaders or their assistants.

This is where this story gets interesting. One of these very well-known thought leader wrote me back that he is interested and that all such engagements are handled through Tom (a made-up name) with his speaking bureau whom he copied on the email. I immediately contacted Tom who wrote back to tell me how busy he is during the entire week and that he needs more details before we talk. Tom finally wrote me back that he is available to connect all day Thursday. I wrote back suggesting 9AM. Tom replied later that he has a meeting at 9AM (don’t forget, he said he was available the entire day) and suggested 2PM. I replied, agreeing to 2PM only then to get a reply back from Tom’s assistant who wrote that Tom has another meeting and suggested 2:45PM?

That’s when I’ve lost it. I wrote Tom letting him know that this is getting absurd and my time is as important and busy as his. He did write back apologizing and commenting that he just needed to change his schedule. I wonder how many other possible speaking opportunities did this well-known thought leader miss because Tom just needed to continually change his schedule?