Subscribe via RSS Feed
One of the things my clients struggle with is dealing with their own customers when it comes to those tough calls. Asking for payment is the most “popular”, but there are of course many awkward moments in any client-provider relationship.
Many of these can be avoided by being specific.
The first place I see people not being specific enough is in their marketing.
Two of the bloggers I follow are looking for work, and neither have communicated to their audience what type of work they are looking for or what specifically they could do.
One is a MySQL database developer/administrator in Vancouver, and the other does Blog writing, XHTML and SEO … but I only know this because I am the kind of person who notices these kinds of things, and even then we are no wiser about specific service offerings.
Be specific about the kind of work you can do, would like to do, what you would expect to be paid (unless you are happier to negotiate), and what benefit your work would deliver. This is no time to be shy.
- What have you got to sell,
- what are the benefits
- and what action should we take?
Both these bloggers, while in different markets, have skills that could be packaged into services, for example a database or SEO health check? Monthly maintenance retainers? Hourly consulting?
You will find that while you are looking for long contracts, often people like to test the waters with low-risk and short term stuff, so offer “happy meals” then when they love your work, then up-sell to the banquet.
Of course that brings up the tough call of “selling” …
Sales
In sales they always tell you that in order to get a clients business you have to ask for the sale. We are not always comfortable doing that, we are not always born sales people. Isn’t asking for the business “pushy”?
Actually, it’s not, providing you get to the point naturally. After all, the discussion up to that point is about finding how well matched your service is with the clients current needs and challenges. The client isn’t stupid, they know what the deal is.
There are three outcomes we naturally arrive at:
- Yes
- No
- Delay
The third is expressed in many ways:
- I need to talk to …
- I’ll let you know …
- Let me think about it …
As Mark Silver says, the way to deal with this is to get specific, what Mark calls a “Bridge”.
- Create a next step
- Ask for when you should call
- Set a meeting
You need to agree on an unambiguous action point on a certain day and time. If you leave with any uncertainty, more than likely you have lost that opportunity, or at the very least diminished your chances.
If they do not commit then they are likely saying “no”, without actually coming out and saying it. You can either work on creating a greater desire and perceived value or chalk it up to one that got away.
Projects
So what if they do say “yes”?
Then you need to be specific again.
What exactly are you going to deliver, by when and for how much.
If you are not specific then your client is uncertain about the value and delivery, and you are uncertain about what your scope is. This combination leads to a lot of tough calls and can be avoided by creating a detailed project plan, scope document, specification, or minuting your meetings.
We all have clients who scope-creep, and sometimes we are happy to let them because we are having fun, they pay well, or because a little slippage won’t hurt. But if we do not have any way to manage the situation it can get well out of hand, and people are more likely to get upset about something taken away than something they never had. So head it off before it becomes a problem.
Summary
Be specific with your clients, your vendors, your colleagues, and in your sales materials and you will avoid much of the unpleasantness involved in services, especially those communicated online. If possible, get your client to repeat back and always double check anything you are told, then get sign off, preferably in writing. It might seem difficult, but it is much more difficult later when you all remember the conversation going a different way!
