A few weeks back, I found myself sitting on my aunt and uncle’s back porch listening to the birds when the conversation turned to pottery.

You see, my aunt is a professional potter. And like any good business owner (hey, artists gotta eat too!), she’s constantly trying to crack the code on what makes people buy art like hers.

My uncle – Mr. Computer Guy and ever the logical thinker – offered his theory: “to improve the aesthetics of their home.”

My aunt and I both laughed. (Though if you’ve ever consciously thought “why yes indeed good sir or madam I would like to purchase this piece of art so as to improve the aesthetics of my home” hit reply and let me know. I’d love to be proven wrong on this one!)

Anyway. The conversation kind of spiraled from there (as porch conversations often do).

But it got me thinking about how much of successful selling relies on the principle of right place, right time.

In my aunt’s case, the case for why people buy could be as simple as someone walking past her booth at a summer festival….

…after walking through their living room that very same morning and taking note of a sad & empty (and conveniently pottery-sized) shelf.

...as they were mentally planning what to buy their sister for her birthday that weekend.

…or shortly after coming to the realization – potentially fueled by a whole heck of a lot of coffee combined with some aspirational doomscrolling – that they wanted to be the type of person who ~bought art.~

In my case? Well, that brings me to my last Quarterly Copy Pass launch.

After the launch wrapped up, I sent out a survey. And the number one reason people gave for not joining?

It wasn’t price. It wasn’t “this isn’t for me.” It was the timing.

More specifically:

“I just hired a business coach and want to see where that goes.”

“I’m in the middle of developing my SEO strategy right now.”

“I want to try out these templates first that came with a course that I just bought.”

All completely legitimate (well, minus the templates – we got beef with templates over here 😉). And all completely outside of my control.

Aaaand that’s what makes this whole issue of timing kind of an annoying truth about selling.

Because you can’t always predict timing. In some cases, you *might* be able to manufacture some of it (Black Friday, anyone?). But a lot of it is simply…

You bubbling up into someone’s awareness at exactly the right moment. (Ugh, how annoying!)

(To offer another example: Earlier this year, I *immediately* bought a launch email checklist from a fellow copywriter. I hadn’t actively been shopping for something like this, but she conveniently landed in my inbox at the exact moment I was actively thinking about my own launch.)

So, what’s the takeaway here?

Honestly, it’s less of a “here’s how to fix it” and more of a “here’s how to make peace with it.”

That said, it never hurts to have the reminder to continue showing up consistently – so you’re there and visible when the right moment strikes.

Though please, for the love of all that is holy, do not manufacture fake urgency to try to force the timing. We’re not about that in these here parts!

All that said:

If this email *just so happens* to be landing in your inbox at *just the right moment* – i.e., a moment when you’re actively thinking about copy + messaging for a website refresh, a sales page for a new offer, an upcoming launch – consider that serendipity and hit reply.

~Nicole

P.S. Speaking of timing… my Quarterly Copy Pass will be opening up again in Q4!

If you think the timing for getting ongoing, personalized (+ practical!) feedback on your copy might be right for you, join the waitlist right here.

Nicole Elliott Human-First Conversion Copy & Messaging Strategy Non-salesy sales copy that sells w/out the sleaze   hello@nicoleelliott.co www.nicoleelliott.co

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