On Tuesday I told you about how I flew to Geneva to attend a conference just to “accidentally” bump into a potential client so I could ask for a meeting.

And inevitably, although I got the meeting, it didn't result in winning a client. 

I did a whole bunch of other stuff that didn't result in winning clients either.

I tried cold calling: no clients.

Networking: no clients.

I got interviewed on the BBC World Service, got quoted in newspapers like the Independent and the Telegraph. Even got quoted in International Business Week.

No clients.

Now I'm not saying those methods don't work. They absolutely do for some people.

I know people who love getting on the phone and calling people – even people they don't know. They're good at it and they get results from it.

Others are great at networking and really enjoy it.

Pretty much every method of marketing works sometimes.

The problem for most of us is we don't have enough time to wait for “sometimes”. We need something with more certainty.

That's where authority comes in.

Authority amplifies any form of marketing.

No matter what method you use to contact someone, you're far more likely to get a positive response from them if they've already heard your ideas and buy in to what you have to say.

If they know they'll get value from talking to you they're much more likely to agree to a call or meeting than if you're someone they’ve just bumped into or who's called them out of the blue.