Heart-centered folks have a love-hate relationship with using deadlines in their marketing, and for good reason. Deadlines can be used in extremely manipulative ways.
Perhaps you’ve come across those websites that are ticking down to a deadline that’s only a few hours away… and yet if you clear our your browser history and revisit the page, the same counter has reset. Meaning that there is no set deadline, the ticking clock is just a gimmick to get you to feel pressured and panicked.
And yet, here’s a truth about this world we live in: it’s busy. You’re busy. We’re all busy. Many of us are living lives filled with complicated tasks and a whole host of things to get to, far more than our neurology evolved to handle.
This means that life can seem like treading water, rushing from one thing to the next, handling the most urgent items, and the things we really want to get to drop to the bottom.
In some ways, humans have always been like that, even if it’s accelerated in this day and age.
Deadlines can be used for good.
It’s true, a deadline can wake people up, to let them know that an opportunity won’t last forever, that it will disappear. That helps them take time to notice if it’s important to them, if they want to give it their attention.
Deadlines need to be legitimate.
The web page countdown that resets itself is just pure manipulation. There’s never a good reason to use it.
However, there are all kinds of legitimate deadlines and limits. A class starts on a certain day, and after that, you can’t join any more. It takes a certain amount of energy to onboard and care for new clients, so you can only take a certain number at a time.
Pro-tip for courses and workshops: use an early-bird deadline.
There are two big reasons to set an early-bird deadline. The first is that it’s simply a pain, and potentially overwhelming to get new participants set up at the last minute. Tech issues, scheduling… it can all cause some last-minute scrambling, that isn’t any fun at all for you or for any administrative support you might have.
This goes double for live workshops and retreats. When you rent a space, there’s generally a deadline the venue gives you, after which you owe 100% of the fee, whether or not you have a good enrollment. Setting a deadline in advance of that deadline means you can make a go/no-go decision, without sitting on pins and needles right up until the final deadline.
Early bird deadlines also allow you to see what’s actually happening, and give you a chance to maybe course-correct. Because so many people sign up at the deadline, setting an early deadline can tell you if people are responding, and whether you need to tweak what you’re offering/ how you’re offering it.
I’m encouraging you: embrace the legitimate and open-hearted use of deadlines. It helps people wake up to what you’re offering, and it does a real service to your business as well.
What’s your relationship to using deadlines? What are bad examples and good examples of deadlines you’ve seen?
With respect,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
P.S. Soon we’ll be offering our next course!
The Heart of Your Business, an eight session course that helps you have a healthy relationship to business, and to your business, to finally understand what it takes to make a business successful.
It’s appropriate for everyone- people who have been at it for quite awhile, people new in business, or those who are just thinking about going into business for themselves, and haven’t yet.
We’re not ready to register folks yet, but it will run late June into August, it will be priced at pay-from-the-heart (you set the price), and it will be nourishing, helpful, practical, beautiful.
In the meantime, you might want to take a gander at our Learning Community, that will be open again for new members in early summer, but you can join the waiting list if you haven’t yet.
There’s also a variety of home study programs that we offer, just in case you like the DIY thing.
4 Responses
I really need to work on setting deadlines for myself. I know that would dramatically help me get more created. I keep getting so distracted with other things. Thank you for the info! I appreciate it.
Keeping your business on track with the deadlines is pretty difficult to maintain but must be observed always. Thank you for sharing those tips, they’re all indeed helpful.
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