Dear Service Professional,
As we (hopefully) move away from the Great Recession you may be seeing inquiries, albeit tentative. They’re interested in your landscaping/consulting/tutoring services, but they don’t want to spend that much so they ask you if you can scale back your proposal.
Don’t do it.
I speak from previous experience. Actually, my previous experience has previous experience. In fact, I’m writing this blog post to remind my future self not to sell half a web design, half an internet marketing campaign, or half of a social media consult to anyone who asks.
It’s not that I’m a jerk. Let me rephrase that. It’s not because I’m a jerk. It’s because of this:
If you run your own business and you know what you’re doing then you have put in a lot of time and effort into creating an offering that works. Giving someone half of that project does neither of you any good. It’s not like a pizza that can be evenly split; it’s more like a half-cooked pizza that no one wants to eat.
Here’s why you want to say no:
Chances are, you’ll get some push back if you tell them you can’t scale back your project. I often ask what would it be like if they offered their customers half a job? If that doesn’t work I ask them if they ever would drive just half a car? Wear half a pair of pants? Or get half an appendectomy?
If I get a smile, or at least a acknowledging grunt, I explain that I’m not looking for disappointed customers. I’ve been down this road before, and for us to do a job we’re proud of and the customer is happy with, it’s going to require our full effort.
It’s never easy to say no to a job, especially in these economic times. But if you stick to your guns you’ll get 1/3 to 1/2 of those jobs, and when you do a kick-ass job, they’ll tell their friends and associates the whole story, making it even easier to convince those people that they want you to put your full effort into that job.
Yesterday, as Colin from Market Street Eats and I were discussing owning the sales process (see yesterday’s post), we were putting up a new poster for Social Media FTW, the upcoming social media conference we’re putting on up here in Maine.
Colin taped up the poster on the back of the Dasani cooler that faces people as they walk in and when they’re sitting down. While doing this we were patting each other on the back for being able to see opportunities that other people miss (again, see yesterday’s post.) After five to ten minutes of this activity, and after the poster had been in place for a few minutes I got ready to go. It was only then that I looked at the entire back of the Dasani cooler:
Yes, it appears that there was already a poster for Social Media FTW on the back of the cooler, and neither Colin nor I had seen it.
1st Lesson Learned: Put your marketing and advertising where people will see it. We understand why giant conglomerates spend all that money to get shelf space at eye level. We stood in front of the poster for over five minutes, STARING at the back of that cooler, and neither of us saw the poster at knee level.
2nd Lesson Learned: Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back.
I just had a great interaction at one of my favorite lunch places–Market Street Eats–with proprietor Colin Rankin. (So great, in fact, that I’m putting off paying work with a big deadline because I feel inspired to blog right now.) I always have a great talk with Colin, and it’s often about the pleasures and perils of running your own business. In fact, I got two, maybe three blog posts (the others to follow) out of that one interaction.
I went in to ask him if I could put up a poster for Social Media FTW, a social media conference we’re putting on in Maine on 9/22. While we were putting it up a pretty blond woman walked in. (The fact that she’s pretty and blond have nothing to do with this, but I did notice it and I’m trying to paint you a picture here.) You could sense that this was her first time here, and being somewhere between lunch and dinner, it was pretty quiet. In other words, there was no line or other indications of how the ordering process might work.
She walked up to the counter and one of the new wait staff greeted her warmly and asked if she wanted to see a menu. Colin seemed unimpressed. I wondered why, after all, it was a friendly greeting. “I told those guys to go around the counter, show new customers the big board (where the wrap descriptions are), make some recommendations, hand her a take out menu, and ask questions. They think it’s crazy to spend that much time for a $7 wrap.”
“Ah,” I replied, “but it’s not a $7 wrap. It’s $7, once a week, 52 times a year for 10 years. Plus, she might tell her friends, too.”
“Yes, but you look at it that way because you own your own company,” Colin replied.
Colin went on to tell me about one of his first jobs, selling men’s suits. “‘Never let the customer get ahead of you in a sale,’ my boss would tell me. ‘The customer doesn’t know as much as you do, he doesn’t work here. Once he gets ahead of you in the sales process everything falls apart.‘”
We talked more about how at flyte we try not to just email clients their wireframes or designs, but rather walk them through what they’re looking at, explaining the flow, why we made the choices we did, and how this helps them with their goals. If we just post the wireframes then we’re letting the customer get ahead of us; we’re not owning the sales process. (Some people might argue that this isn’t part of the sales process, but I feel you’re always selling, whether in business or in personal interactions.)
If you run your own business, or if your on the sales team (and we’re all on the sales team, BTW), you’re sure to run into a wide variety of customers. Some will know exactly what they want, some will only think they know what they want, and some will have no idea at all and look to you to help them out. The first group is rare; it’s more likely your customer thinks they’re in the first group but are actually in the second group.
If you sense that they are in the first group you can feel free to just take their order and be done. If they’re in one of the other groups, however, you’re going to need to put the focus not on your solution, but on their problems. Their problem could be anything from needing a web site that will generate leads to navigating a wide variety of sandwich choices in a new restaurant. Once you know their problems, and their goals, then you can help them find the solution that will work for them.
I don’t feel Colin was really upset with his staff, but he feels that whatever you learn selling wraps you can take with you anywhere, and I agree.
BTW, Market Street Eats rocks, the wait staff is spectacular, and if you’re anywhere near Portland, Maine, you should stop in there for a wrap. I recommend the Red Rooster, and when they ask if you’d like pickles, just say “yes.”
Although the leaves aren’t changing yet, they will be soon (sniff!) and that means that classes are getting back in session.
This year I’ll be teaching not one but two classes at the University of Southern Maine:
Web Marketing for Small Business
In this 4 week course you’ll learn how to build an effective web presence for your small business or non-profit. You’ll learn about search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, blogging, social media, e-commerce, traffic reports, and how to build a web site that generates leads and makes sales. (Please be aware, though: this is NOT an HTML course. You’re not learning how to build a web site, but rather how to make a web site that will build your business.)
4 Thursdays, September 30-October 28, 7-9 p.m.
$215 (8 contact hours/ 0.8 CEUs)
Abromson Center, 88 Bedford Street, USM Portland campus
I’m also teaching a brand new course this fall as well:
Social Media Marketing for Businesses (and the People That Run Them)
Sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are certainly popular, but should they be important parts of your marketing strategy? In this two-class course, you’ll learn how these and other popular social media sites can increase the online visibility of your business, and put you in contact with new audiences.
You’ll learn how to setup and optimize profiles on the most popular, influential sites, how to connect with people in the social media sphere, and how to measure your success. You’ll learn the do’s and don’ts of social media, how to build an audience, and how to listen to what people are saying about you and your business.
We’ll talk about social networking, blogging, online video and all the tools your company needs to master this new arena of marketing.
2 Wednesdays, November 10 and 17, 7-9 p.m.
$115 (4 contact hours/ 0.4 CEUs)
USM Library Computer Lab
Hope to see you there!
Rich Brooks
You Can Call Me “Teach”
Photo credit: Lee Nachtigal
Yesterday’s blog post on The Power of Positive Language got a few official and unofficial retweets, and generated some comments on Twitter. It reminded me of a couple of especially difficult emails that I’ve had to send over the years. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide if a phone call or an email is the best way to hash out a disagreement. An email seems distant–maybe even cowardly–but at the same time it allows you to get all of your points across.
Of course, that begs the question: do you want to get all your points across? Doesn’t Steven Covey teach us to Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood? If you send out an email detailing how right you are and how wrong the other person is, you’ve pretty much locked in the adversarial positions for the both of you. At that point there’s no chance of a win-win outcome.
Still, if you’ve got no other options than to send out a difficult email (and you know what I’m talking about), take these steps before hitting send:
Hopefully these emails will be few and far between, and you’ll be able to nip any problems in the bud, avoiding difficult emails and conversations. (Don’t difficult conversations get more difficult the longer they fester?)
About eight plus years ago I got a piece of unsolicited child-rearing advice: always use positive language when talking to children. Don’t say, “stop jumping on the couch!” Instead, say “couches are for sitting.” Now, I’d like to say that I’ve taken that to heart, but when you see footprints all over the couches and cushions and throw pills all over the floor it’s hard not to yell. (Sorry, kids!)
But forget parenting: it’s actually in business where we all need to put positive language to work. I find myself rewriting emails all the time–especially difficult emails–to improve the overall vibe of the message I’m trying to convey.
To some people this may not seem like a big deal, but in my experience (and sadly, I’m getting more experience every day) it changes the entire tenor of a conversation.
Yeah, sorry about the pun. The original title of “The Visa Business Network Launches Today and Features the Flyte Blog in It’s Library Section” didn’t seem as crisp.
Today the Visa Business Network officially relaunched. As the press release states, VBN is an
online community that helps small business owners manage their businesses more efficiently, connect with and gain insight from peers, and ultimately grow their business. Now, small business owners can easily interact with peers in a collaborative way allowing them to get personalized help on goals ranging from growing their customer base to managing their business.
There are currently over 100,000 VBN members, and the new site features business toolkits, mentor programs, a Q&A forum, content ranking and more.
So, besides flyte’s love of everything small business-y, why are we talking about VBN? Well, our humble little flyte blog is featured in the VBN Library!
Apparently my note about putting a link on the home page hasn’t been acted upon yet, but you can check out the flyte blog feed here.
If you’re looking for additional help in growing your business you should check out the new revamped Visa Business Network.
Dear Rich,
I had my web site developed by another company (sorry!) and recently some of the programming stopped working. A contact form and a tool that allowed us to update some of the web site ourselves returned errors. The web developer said it was due to a PHP upgrade (?) at the hosting company and charged me for fixing what used to work. I feel it’s the web developer’s responsibility and don’t feel I should pay for it. What do you think?
–Disputing in Damariscotta
Dear Disputing,
There’s no simple answer to this, as I don’t know how long ago the programming was completed, or whether there was a contract that guaranteed the work for a set period of time.
I will say this, though: programming has a life cycle; it doesn’t last forever.
Just like when you upgrade your computer you might find that some of the software no longer functions as it used to, programming on web sites works the same way. Hosting companies need to upgrade their software to improve security and scalability. When they do that, and how often, isn’t at the discretion of your friendly neighborhood web developer.
Even when a server upgrade isn’t to blame, programming needs to be regularly updated and maintained. As programming is around longer, it becomes a target for hackers and spammers. The upkeep and upgrades take time and resources to maintain.
My recommendation to you (going forward) is to ask your web developer how long she will guarantee the programming to work and whether she offers some type of extended warranty. Knowing that up front should protect you from any unexpected surprises.
Rich Brooks
Programming Life Coach
Photo Credit: MelvinSchlubman
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