Hey Reader,

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The last time my brother visited, we ended up talking about how stupid the current corporate layoff trend is. You know the one. It's where giant corporations lay off a bunch of highly capable people on a Friday and then post a bunch of job openings for the roles they just fired people from the following Monday.

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Only the salary ranges for the new job openings happen to be meaningfully lower than what they were just paying someone to do that same job.

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It's the classic cost-cutting to maximize profits that giant corporations do, but it's also very stupid and short-sighted.

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Here's why, according to my (literal) genius of a brother: right now, companies aren't firing easily replaceable people. In fact, they are specifically targeting and firing what my brother calls master craftspeople or experts. They're firing the experts that make the company run because those experts are apparently costing the company too much money (even though I think we all know they are making the company a lot more money than they cost).

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And guess what? Companies are replacing those master craftspeople with apprentices.

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This is very dumb and will cost them in both the short and long run.

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Why?

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Because every apprentice needs a master craftsperson. And a giant company that's in the business of firing all of its master craftspeople will soon have a "flood of apprentices problem" also known as a "people who don't have the expertise needed to do the job they were hired to do" problem.

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And I know what you're thinking: why are you telling me this, Brionna?

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I'm telling you because if you're a master at your craft, Reader, then there's currently a lot of money on the table for you. And there will continue to be money on the table for you for the foreseeable future (as long corporations keep up this practice).

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Got your attention now, don't I?

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Okay, let's get into this, friend.

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Caveat: This is an especially relevant conversation if you are a business-to-business service provider who specializes in key business functions (product, marketing, operations, etc.). But it will also be relevant for coaches and other service providers who fall into the human resources category.

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First, we currently know that companies have fewer experts inside of their businesses because they fired lots of them to increase profits.

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Second, we also know that the people who were hired to be the new "experts" are usually apprentices who still need the guidance of an actual expert.

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Third, the smartest experts and master craftspeople are positioning themselves as consultants offering apprenticeships to the apprentices inside of companies who don't actually know how to do their job.

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Fourth, there are lots of master craftspeople who subscribe to this newsletter who are in a great position to leverage this opportunity.

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Fifth, now I'm going to tell you how to do this from a legal perspective based on my experience as a former in-house counsel.

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Positioning Your Offer from a Legal Processes Perspective

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I want you to remember that I'm a lawyer, not a marketing expert, so figuring out how to position yourself in the market to get the attention of these corporate apprentices is on you.

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But once you do that, here's what you need to know about the internal structure of most large corporations that will help you close the deal:

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1: Most large companies have an internal expense threshold. Any expense that falls below that threshold only needs approval from a team manager. Any expense above that threshold needs to be approved by the purchasing and procurement team. Your target customer is the apprentice who prematurely found themselves in the team lead/manager role.

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2: Whenever purchasing and procurement get involved, you can bet that there will be a vendor onboarding process that is annoying and takes a long time. You can also bet that it will take longer than 30 days to pay you.

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For this reason, finding ways to avoid this process, especially on the initial sale, is ideal. It's particularly ideal if your apprentice is not well versed in the company's procurement and purchasing processes. The more process involved in hiring you, the harder it feels to hire you, and the less likely you are to get hired.

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3: A safe bet for the aforementioned threshold amount is $10,000, but this varies depending on the company and the team function. Mission-critical teams sometimes have higher thresholds than say non-mission-critical functions like Employee Resource Groups.

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Here are some personal examples from me:

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I don't know what the threshold at Salesforce is, but I do know that one of their mission-critical teams offered to pay a $20,000 invoice via credit card (an offer to pay via credit card is usually a good sign you're below the threshold).

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On the other hand, a workshop I did for an Employee Resource Group at Google for $8,000 had to go through purchasing and procurement.

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4: As you may have guessed from my examples, pricing an offer below the expense threshold often helps you bypass the slow and annoying vendor onboarding process and it can get you paid right away.

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5: If you can create a repeatable, below-threshold introductory offer that is essentially the first phase of an apprenticeship for all those in-house apprentices, then there is money to be made my friend.

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Because those apprentices are actively looking for help and they have the power to say yes to below-expense threshold help.

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So creating an appealing offer that's priced to get you in the door easily is (a) going to help you generate meaningful revenue from a repeatable, standard service and (b) sets you up to solicit more long-term business from the apprentices who you really like working with.

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If you're picking up what I'm putting down because this directly applies to your business, then feel free to book a Legal Strategy Session with me where I help you tease out a correctly positioned offer to get you in the door faster.

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In your session, I'll talk more about navigating the process, including what questions to ask your potential buyer to figure out how to avoid the procurement process (and whether you should avoid it), how to price your offer, and a few other strategies for securing new clients faster from a legal perspective.

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If that sounds like your jam, click the button below:

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Until next time, wish you good health and prosperity,

Brionna

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Offers From Friends: My friend Dani Gardner is launching a new program Discoverability by Design that starts in early June. Dani calls herself The Quiet Marketer and she teaches online entrepreneurs how to build an audience without being on social media all the time. I've taken several of Dani's courses and workshops since I discovered her in 2019 and highly recommend her work. If you're interested in a marketing strategy that doesn't require you to do all the things, then this might be the Program for you. Please note that I'm an affiliate of this particular program, so if you sign up, I also get paid.

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