I'm Back

Boy oh Boy was that a really bad few days. I'm not completely over this cold (that ended up going into my chest) but I'm feeling good enough to start doing some work again.

This goes out to web designers, developers, and anyone who is in business for themselves. This is some of the best advice I have ever gotten. It sounds crude, but it's a fact that needs to be paid attention to:

You have two ears and one mouth, and you should use them proportionately.

Listen to your customers needs. If you are too busy telling your potential client about how great your services are, you may miss something that they really need, and that you can provide! You already know how great your product or service is, and there will be time to let your potential customer know EVERYTHING you can do for them, the important thing to remember is, they may have an immediate need and if you are too busy talking about your own product or service, you may end up missing that.

Basically, listen to the customers needs, and just let the customer know how you can help them "fill a gap" in their needs. Once you "fill that gap" then you can go into more detail about what else you can do for them.

Joseph Needham from Pro Canvasser gave me that advice quite a while ago, and it has served me well. I know it sounds really crude when you are just reading that statement, but it's so true. Chances are, your potential client is hiring you for some technical knowledge that you have, or for a product that they can purchase anywhere, or maybe they can't get it anywhere else, if the that's the case, you probably don't have much to lose, but I know that if you talk to your customers more than you listen to them, you will lose out on sales. The reason that you will lose out on sales is because you won't be listening and you won't hear THEIR need. They already know what YOU need, and they probably don't care how they get that need fulfilled, just as long as that need gets taken care of.

An example of this is, I can go on and on about the technical details of how and why I do what I do for a website, and how it will benefit you, "I can place proper keywords and make sure you have enough links on your site, and let's not forget about the title of the page or the description of the page, and then there's the text itself, then you have to submit the site to search engines, and you should use as little code on the page as possible...."

So where did I lose you? Was it at keywords, or maybe you made it as far as when I was talking about the title. The point is, if you knew about all of this stuff anyway, and understood it all, then maybe you don't need to hire someone like me, maybe you need to become my competition!

The bottom line is, listen to the potential client for the need, then explain that you either can or can't fill that need. The potential client doesn't care how you do it.

You don't have to be afraid of saying "I don't know" or "I'm not sure if I can do THAT or not" either, here's why: I can build websites, but I can't build a house! If someone were to ask if I was into building things just because they know I build websites, I don't have to be afraid to say "No, I only build websites, I don't build houses" and then it's always good to follow that up with "I can put you in contact with someone who does know how to build houses though, would you like me to do that?"

Not only have I really built some trust with this potential client, but if it all works out, that client now thinks that I'm the "best thing since sliced bread!" And who do you think will send someone my way if they hear about someone needing a website? Not only that, but the person that I refer this client to, will also think I'm "the best thing since sliced bread" so it's actually 2 different people that now think the world of me, just because I was listening, I heard a need, and even though I couldn't fill that need, I put that potential client in contact with someone who could fill that need for them.

It's like saying "I don't know." Nobody likes to hear that, but if you follow that same sentence up with "but I can find out for you." That person that you are talking to will have a lot more respect and trust for you because 1. you were honest in saying that you didn't know something (nobody likes a "know it all") 2. This is the important part, you said, I don't know, but I'll find out.
The other key thing that I didn't mention here is that, if you say you will find out, DO JUST THAT, find out and get back with that person, otherwise, all that respect and trust you built up with that one sentence, just got jerked right out from under your feet, and you may not even understand why in the end.

Again, listen for the need, and let the client know that you can or cannot fill that need. Sometimes that client may not even be aware that they have a need, until you create one for them, but that's for another posting later on...

Till next time