Simple ways to kill a business —and a fix.
Those are actually the little things that go unnoticed —until they don’t. Not taking responsibility for what’s going on. Misleading with promises that will not happen. Over promising. Under promising and over delivering. Ghosting your clients. Ignoring them when they know you’re there. Working (constantly) for free. Focusing on revenue and sales. Inaction. The list can go on and on and on. You get the gist of it. The fix? Caring for your customers.
Too good to be true?
If your prospects think that what you offer is too good to be true in comparison the competition, raise your price 3X…. or 5X. Only then they will seriously consider buying from you. Too good to be true: too risky (there’s a catch). Too good to be true + high price: makes sense, it’s a lower risk. Same offering, different contexts.
The benefit of the doubt
Give your prospects and customers the benefit of the doubt. This doesn’t mean though, that you don’t call them out. It means that you take that without intention. And you be the adult in the room and ask: “Hey, it seems like [… what you think …]. Can we talk this over?” And you’ll go in with clarity. 🙂
The Night Guy
Once again, Genevieve Hayes came up with a follow up to yesterday’s message: The Elephant. “I think Jerry Seinfeld expressed this one best:” This is what got me to stop passing my problems forward and making them the problems of “future me”. Mic drop, Genevieve.
The elephant
There are situations that can be VERY stressful —within your business, with your prospects, with your clients. Kicking them down the road to not deal with them feels tempting, and you might even feel like they’re avoidable. They’re not. Sometimes they’re an elephant stomping and charging your way. Because you put your hands in front of your face won’t make them disappear —and certainly won’t stop them. Make the decision. Take the decision. You already know what to do. And it’s a simple…
Making up stories
A discussion with Dr. Genevieve Hayes —data science expert and long-time friend-of-the-list— about context inspired this daily. We (humans) LOVE making up stories. When we don’t have a reference point, our imagination flies. Give that reference point to your customers. So that you lead where their imagination can go wild. 🙂
Market prices
What would push you to know what the prices in the market are? And once you find out, what’s next?
It’s too expensive
Charles – “If I spend too little time to fix some error / bug, I can’t charge 2000 euros. It’s too expensive.” Joe – So would you rather spend MORE time to appear “busy” (and lie to your customer) than having them working again as fast as they can? Charles – … 😶 There’s this misconception that more effort = better results. That more time = better work. That more = better. And if you don’t comply with those conditions, you can’t charge “big” money. That it’s not fair. Be open to this idea:…
“Power (and context) abhors a vacuum.”
When there’s a void in power, something or someone will step in and take over. It’s the same with context. If you don’t set the context about your offering, your price, or your position, your prospect will do it for you. If not your competitors. Frame the context. Lead the conversation. You’ll have more power. And you’ll better-serve.
“We need to give them a win”
“We just raise up the price 30% and then go and give them (the customer) a 30% off. That way they’ll go to their boss saying they got a deal. And they’ll buy” Their closing rate: 40% Reality? A product in the market that’s underpriced —and living in a discount culture. Money left on the table? A couple million euros per year. Here’s the thing: Inflating your prices to give a discount means a couple of things: You’re not talking to the ones who call the shots. You’re getting ready to take more…
