Only a client that is actually worried wants to hire an expert, the rest want to hire easily replaceable extra hands, and that’s not you. Unfortunately, the things they don’t know about your field may hide true problems, leaving them overconfident.
We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem. Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy It may have happened to you, or to a colleague that you know personally, and it’s still not clear HOW. After years of Read more…
“Clowns to the left of meJokers to the rightHere I am stuck in the middle with you” Gerry Rafferty / Joe Egan, Stealer’s Wheel (band) Like it or not, your service is usually seen as a part of the context, a puzzle piece, a link of chain that leads to Read more…
I know next to nothing about cars, but I can confidently spot the difference between a washed car and a dirty one. That is also true for spotting a well-made sandwich, cocktail, or any other result of a low-variance service. The trouble begins when I also think I can do Read more…
Half a decade ago, I was happy to work on a project that seemed like it had potential: We were targeting big global corporations with a highly specialized piece of software. Approaching big global corporations is slow and costly, so the idea was to approach IT consultants who already work with Read more…
By the time we get around to dealing with problems that require a professional, most things are already urgent and everything is more complicated than we initially thought it was. This is just as true for you, me, or any potential clients you know. In these overwhelm-inducing conditions, it’s no wonder that people Read more…
With the information age came the massive expansion of service availability. These days, people in far-flung corners of the world with living costs way below yours can compete without ever crossing any borders. I recently had to disappoint a friend who shared his business idea with me, because he was planning on producing something Read more…
What happens if you need clients to understand something in order for you to do your job properly, but at the same time you have a clear ulterior motive for saying it? Powering through the cringe and saying it anyway with a fake smile on is exactly what people don’t like salespeople, so don’t do that. Read more…
Let’s state the obvious: Not all clients have the success of their project as their first priority.** There are many good reasons for clients not caring about the actual outcome of a project.– they think the problem is overblown,– they secretly think it has to fail whatever they do– they are burned out– they Read more…
Exclusive sounds good, right? We usually understand it as “reserved”, but exclusion also literally means not admitting, or sidelining anything that is not our focus. When you target your pricing toward communicating a clear message to a particular audience, you are at the same time choosing to skip considering other people’s opinions of that same pricing. Read more…
When viewed purely in the context of sales, price is just a barrier, a challenge, a frustration that the buyers are either prepared to tolerate, or they aren’t. But in the context of strategy, a price can do so much more. A price can: signal a friendly disposition convey a high degree of confidence, and therefore infer competence be intended Read more…