Here at Meet 19 we like to promote the idea of paying it forward. We try to offer freebies, in the knowledge that this is quite a common business practice and a great way to get people to see first hand what you do in your business or community enterprise. How can we stop this being counter-productive? Ultimately it works as astute marketing.
We even did a post recently on the perfect freebie handout. Check it out here. And if you are clear about your business focus it will attract clients who are inspired by your confidence. However, we do meet those who aren't so sure about giving things away. There are always those odd people unfortunately in any network community who don't get the concept of long-term business relationships and are purely after quick bargains or are sussing out a revenue stream for themselves by what you reveal to them. In this excellent article I found from Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad organisation: The 6 Types of Freeloading Clients to Avoid from the writing team behindToxic Client, not only identifies these fascinating stereotypes but also, and more importantly provides the solutions for dealing with them. As a reference key I've shorthanded the situations and solutions below as 'How and when you can show your boundaries to clients' (and added some more), but it might be an idea to bookmark this link anyway to save you the frustration of feeling you're wasting your valuable time, money and energy with clients who don't know the score. How and when you can show your boundaries to clients... 1. Are you giving away too much free advice and time? Set a limit by establishing a contract or payment time to move forward. When? Before the work starts or when you realise you're compromising your business. 2. Been asked to give sample or speculative work? Have a portfolio ready to hand in hard copy, mail-ready PDF or on your website. When? Get it done as soon as possible and make a practice of collecting work examples and testimonials. 3. Is the project quietly doubling up in size from the agreed contract? Have it stated in your contracts clearly all charges related to time or item: Include a separate time/item pricing for undisclosed additional work you may discover during the project. When? Before the work begins preferably, but probably right about the time you've updated your work schedule and projected deadline – after experiencing the preliminary workload (amount) and workflow (efficiency). 4. What if the client won't commit and keeps revising the work or deadline? This one is about preparation and timing. Before the job: Have an industry-standard amendment limit whilehighlight your experience and testimonials. Upon revision request: Send an invoice based on time and work done with a date for payment (4 weeks is the usual limit), then politely agree to the work to be done and subsequent workload and avail them of the remaining time/item price schedule. 5. Are they over-bargaining to get you cheaper? Explain all your value points and compare them to cheaper options. Provide examples of other happy clients who paid the going rate and more. When? All the time, in a polite and friendly way, as part of your ongoing dialogue. 6. The client suddenly having making excuses just after you've sent the invoice. Stand your ground. Refer to the contract and interest rate upon missed payment. Ask around and don't hesitate to get legal if the time arises. When? Keeping personal affairs away from business should be a matter of course for everybody all the time. Extras 7. Is your work being disputed? Take in a third party associate in the same sector to verify your contract, practices and work done with the client and ask them to have a witness present as well. Keep it friendly and professional. When? Same day or as soon as possible. Nip it in the bud with an exemplary response to feedback. 8. Can the client not afford you (just yet)? Give them half an hour or an hour of free consultation and send them a report. Ask them for a testimonial you can use on your website. When? Before the time they remember you were there for them and they call you again when they're ready to to do real business. 9. Does the client want to control the universe? Politely, yet firmly remind your client that you would never dare to come in and start doing their business, better still come up with an example of someone else doing it. However, go for the compromise if you feel comfortable doing as requested. Try not to if it goes against industry practice. When? Ongoing good diplomacy.
0 Comments
A friend recently asked me to teach them Hootsuite, the multi-platform social media marketing system (it helps you plan tweets for Twitter, basically). What I revealed to them was something far more valuable... The thing is, with an ever-widening selection of fantastic programs and systems it really is a question of opening up a can of worms with any of them. They have become worlds within themselves looking to expand and gobble up ways to 'improve', interact, work on different platforms and operating systems and generally monetise it's name and related products and services. Whooh. And relax.
Even when you use them regularly, you realise how much more there is to learn and the experience you would need to utilise them well. And by experience I mean the work put into a chosen profession over years. This is not to stop anyone, but it is to reveal that then teaching these things is a full-time job in itself, not the least because you know there will be a barrage of questions about every tool, that will in turn reveal twenty more. I had to decline, as I'm far too busy as it is anyway, and I didn't want to make false promises. Mainly questions about 'enabling programs' relate to 'what can be done with this'? And this still only leads us back to experience.It's as if the user wants the shortcut or the 1,000 hours upfront and understood.There are no shortcuts. You have to put the work in to learn, then the work in to know from experience. Another more techy person than me - they do exist - looked at me with my questions when I approached them and they said deadpan: "Read the manual". They had put the work in, was I prepared to? As I recently pointed out in my talk on Resources, there will always be an explanatory book out there that reads well or that speaks to you, so it gets easier. The key factor with learning a multi-platform suite is the constant worry that you are only working towards finding out how to deliver an impersonal message. You don't want to be a robot spamming everyone. And the best social media practice is like the best learning, it comes seemingly without struggle and frustration, where genius is naturally born from enjoying being tenacious. Again, it get's easier. Because the best general advice you will read for any business or enterprise is to remain tenacious. Giving up is giving up. Not knowing. Keeping going is the key. Keeping going is the road to knowing. Such is the way with social media platforms, because all they are are reception rooms for your brand, an extension of you in real time, 24/7, one on one. If you are tenacious with your ventures, then expanding that or incorporating that as part of what you do is not a struggle, it's actually what you do. My best advice is to teach yourself, if you've been using computers this last decade, then you know enough to cross-pollinate your learning. Ctrl+S means Save, doesn't it? Yes, well that pretty much works with most creative programs for a start. And what about experience, well haven't you had other ones that reveal their usefulness in the work in front of you. Keep going, you already know. So a link for self-teaching? Let's begin with Hootsuite Academy. Oh,and here's the 135 more self-education courses as promised in the title. 22/11/2016 0 Comments Santa's Mad Dash is upon us again!Actions speak louder than words. Get those running shoes ready for action! Or watch others do all the hard work...
For tickets just head over to the seagulls tickets website or click on the Gully flyer above. 20/11/2016 0 Comments When it's all a matter of trustWhat is it about a situation or a person that makes you feel at ease, or uncomfortable? And how much about it is actually coming from you? This image is a screenshot from a video titled "kiss me now, meet me later" by Jordan Oram. Watch the video on youtube. It’s an interesting question, in a private setting as well as in the accountable world of business. For varying reasons, we often feel isolated from those around us these days: be it a competition situation, the practical setup at the workplace, a lack of ability to ask the questions we really need to ask, etc.
Isolation and closeness are two ends of the same stick, and they are connected by our ability to communicate. Do you actually voice your personal opinions, especially when it is based on a gut feeling rather than empirical evidence, in words or actions? Or do you usually hold back, to avoid confusion, confrontation or a potentially awkward social situation? Be aware that the way we engage with the world around us informs our view of said world and all that is in it, including the people we communicate with. Our level of openness in communication is based on the level of trust we share with that particular person, but often we find ourselves in a position where that trust has not been earned yet, and we have to go out on a limb and extend trust notwithstanding. It is part of doing business, and those of us who run businesses are very much aware of taking this particular flavour of risk on a regular basis. We have learned that we have to be open towards potential customers, our existing customers and even (sometimes) our competition, in order to keep our business afloat. In personal life, however, we tend to be far less adventurous when it comes to extending trust to strangers. How far do your trust the person sitting at the next table in a café to look out for your stuff while you nip off to the loo? How comfortable are you sharing personal stories with friends, or colleagues at work, or strangers on a train? Do you get a feeling of discomfort when you are sitting on a train next to someone you feel threatened by in some way? Of course, full-on trusting everyone may not be the way forward. That might just make you an easy target for all kinds of mischief. But wouldn’t it be brilliant if you could defuse some of the discomfort in social situation by keeping the “alarm” level to a minimum and start communicating from a place of calm rather than from a place of internalised panic? Of course, becoming a “master of cool” is a question of exercise and experience, but in my personal opinion almost everyone is able to get a level of trust going.
|