Stop undervaluing hard workers

I can’t stress this enough.

Well, maybe like this..

The problem with most freelancers, I am starting to find out, is that people undermine their hard work way too much. I was cruising the Facebook newsfeed today when I came across an individual that was asking for some help with creating and hosting a website. They even offered to pay for the help. Now, maybe I’m just still too new at this whole freelancer gig, and maybe I’m looking for the wrong kind of clientele, but to me that was a pretty good indicator that this person was serious about getting an online presence started. However, judging by the person making the inquiry, and the audience that I knew would be shortly following behind, I was a little skeptical..

So I, as any good freelancer would and should do, I put my proverbial hat in the ring and offered my help. A friend of mine, whom I have done work for and he has been a very satisfied customer of mine for years now, also endorsed my work and my services as a whole.

I felt like I was at least in the consideration for the opportunity, at least at that point.

Now, let me be clear here, I am very confident that I charge well under what my work is worth. For me, it’s more about the ability to help others than to make a fortune, though I do appreciate being compensated for my work just like anyone else does. I have began to take steps which will require me to command a greater compensation rate for the work I do, but that’s another story.

Back to the issue at hand though. I’m reading some of the subsequent comments on this individual’s request for assistance, and in chimes the three most hated words for any freelancer out there:

“Make. It. Yourself.”

Instantly, I knew this would be a lost cause. And also instantly, I gained a valuable bit of experience. First, I learned to make sure that my own personal criteria for prospective clientele is up to snuff (I can’t keep working for people who don’t have at least a basic understanding of marketing and the power of the digital world). I also learned a lesson in the general level of respect for freelance work around here, at least in the lower levels of marketing understanding.

I don’t know what this person did for a living, but Ms. “Do it yourself” obviously didn’t have any understanding of website design, or of the value of the work we digital marketers do. That, or she’s been taken by one of the “freelancers” on the dark side of the game, who just seek to take people’s money and return crap work. But, let’s make this a different conversation for a moment, you know, for perspective.

Let’s say you’re a barber, and you see some people asking around for where to go to get a new haircut. You put your name out there, and then someone chimes in with “…just do it yourself and save some money…” Wouldn’t you be upset about that? Also, how much sense does that make?

Meanwhile, instead of paying a little extra for a well made site that you could have made edits to quickly and easily, as well had solid SEO built into it (including solid meta and alt tags), the individual decided to invest in their company by spending only a small amount of money for a site that he’ll have virtually ZERO control over past a very, very top-level access.

Frustrating? You betcha. Part of a bigger issue of people placing no value in the work of others? Absolutely. Something I will lose sleep over? Definitely not.

I have 3 other clients already lined up this week alone.

And they’re all paying customers.

Customers who understand my importance for their goals.

The point here is folks, if you need a good haircut, go to a barber. If you need help with that ticket or DUI you just got, go get a good lawyer. If you need help getting in shape because you can’t do it alone, find a good personal trainer. You would pay for these services without batting an eye, so don’t cheap out on a website or anything marketing related; if, in fact, you are serious about your goals as a business or entity, or anything really. And don’t take expensive advice from cheap people. Just because someone has an idea, that doesn’t mean it’s a good one.

However, if you just want some weak site that will likely end up costing you more in the long run, hey, I have some ocean front property in Arizona I’d like to sell you too. I promise you’ll get a real steal on the deal.

But I digress..

Good luck with that site, sir. I just checked the source code out. It should be a real treat to edit by yourself.

Maybe YouTube can help..

Never forget what it’s like to be hungry. Keeping the edge while searching.

While on this job search of mine, I have come across myriad positions offered for salesmen. They sometimes position the job as an “account executive”, but when you read through the description and the requirements for the position, it becomes obvious what the employer is searching for. My knee-jerk reaction to these postings has gone from “why not just tell the truth about what you’re looking for, guys?”, to simply “why?” Why is it that people, so desperately looking for qualified salespeople, choose to be so indirect about their need?

If I had to guess, I’d wager that the reason for this is because of a very simple truth in business. No one, I don’t care who it is, likes salespeople. I suppose that the over-arching truth to that is that no one likes the sleazy sales guy. I know most of us have dealt with this guy at least once in our lives, but I’ll give a few of the sleazy sales guy’s greatest hits.

He won’t listen to your needs.

If he does listen, it’s because he has a set of sales lyrics that he’s recited 1000 times before and he’s just waiting for his turn to talk.

He most likely won’t be concerned about making the right recommendation, because that means he may have to adjust his expected commissions to propose the right program for the client.

The list goes on, and I’m sure I forgot some of the most frequent complaints of the “sales guy”. Unfortunately, consultants get thrown into the same category as salespeople, and no matter their plans, recommendations, or proposals; they are treated the same way, if not worse, than the salespeople. So, it’s not surprising, when you stack it all up, that companies must position their sales opportunities as something more palatable. This could also explain why there are so few truly good salespeople out there.

One thing that I think everyone who is in sales has got to have, regardless if you’re selling screwdrivers or SEO, is hunger. They have to be hungry. They have to stay hungry. They have to have the right kind of hunger though. That right kind of hunger, in my opinion, is what will perpetuate an employee from being on the team for a short time and being with the team indefinitely.

So what is “the right kind of hunger”? Of course, this is only my opinion on the matter, and could be completely different from your definition, but I would like to think that mine is a reasonably good definition.

In my opinion it is the hunger that you feel when you are faced with a situation, personally or professionally, that forces you to adapt. It’s the hunger that keeps you pushing forward, despite the chagrin and dissuading of others. It’s the hunger that makes you uncomfortable. All of these things make up that kind of hunger that keeps a sales professional moving. Keeps them getting up before everyone else. Keeps them upbeat and energetic, even after 100 straight “no’s”.

It’s the hunger that kept a young single dad fighting to get out of his current station in life. Living in a leaky basement with a 6 month old little boy. Hearing gunshots at night. Driving over an hour to work every day to a job that he hated just so that little boy would have everything he needed. Continuing to push himself to learn the best practices of marketing, stay on top of current trends, continue to refine his process, and never give up.

Fast forward 4 years, and I’m back in a similar situation, minus the living conditions. And now, more than ever, that hunger is back. Positions and opportunities that I would have normally turned down are now back on the table. Not because I have no other options, but because out of a necessity to provide for my son and I. My processes continue to refine, my knowledge  base continues to grow, and I continue to fight for what I want, despite the words of others who continue to tell me no.

I also maintain what is written in the book “Good to Great” as the Stockdale Paradox. To paraphrase, the Stockdale Paradox is the ability to look at and accept the most dire of situations, and maintain an unwavering belief that you CAN and WILL prevail. Every sales professional needs that as well. Let’s be honest, it’s not easy to look at the market day in and day out, know that there will be many many more people saying no than yes, and yet still remain unabashedly optimistic. However, that is what I believe to be the most important for a sales professional to have. It’s that attitude that wakes the individual up earlier, with conviction, and excited for the opportunity to turn those no’s into yes’s.

Do you have a hungry sales staff? Are you losing your hunger yourself? If you are losing it, just keep in mind that there is someone like me who is still looking for the position you now enjoy. And, while I appreciate your situation and we probably have a lot in common with each other, and maybe our lives have even been somewhat comparable, I don’t have any problem taking an open opportunity for me to make my life and the life of my son better.

Because I’m not hungry anymore. I was hungry in October when I first lost my job. I was hungry in December when Christmas came around and I wasn’t able to get my son the presents that I was planning to get him. I was hungry when I was paying my bills ahead, in anticipation of a slow job market. I was hungry then. Now, I’m starving.

Until next time; keep ambition in your heart, logic in your mind, and allow yourself to continue the pursuit.

For love of the game, or love of the paycheck. Which side are you on?

I was lucky enough to meet with two of my former bosses in the last month. My first meeting was with Shannon from Catalyst Marketing Design, an advertising agency downtown here in Fort Wayne. Shannon is an amazing woman and a terrific leader. It was such a pleasure working for the Catalyst Team, and Shannon was an especially cool manager to work for. She told me from the beginning that she was a “velvet hammer”, which pretty aptly sums up her leadership style. Allow your freedom, but knows how to come down when things get out of focus. She gave me some great advice (as usual), and suggested a few things that I try to stay involved and stay busy. It was a real treat to be able to meet with her, and although it didn’t lead to a job possibility, I was able to communicate to her my interest in rejoining the team, should that opportunity ever arise.

Richard was my most recent meeting. Like Shannon, I had the pleasure of working under his leadership at Catalyst Marketing Design. Also, like Shannon, I considered him a great leader in his particular area of expertise, branding. As one of a select few of certified Brand Strategists, he was able to talk to me about things which other businesspeople may not have quite the same amount of expertise on. Since he and Catalyst went their separate ways a few years back, Richard has since began his own brand consulting agency. If you are a business owner looking for an incredible brand strategist who uses a great brand assessment, discovery, activation, and monitoring process, then they could potentially be a great fit for you! However, it wasn’t his current agency that was the most impactful portion of our conversation. It was one question.

“When were you faced with a situation where you had to decide between a love for your job and the process, and a love for your paycheck?”

That hit me like a ton of bricks really. I have been very adamant in my stance against serving your back pocket more than your clients, but there’s rarely a good time to really look back at those instances. Richard urged me to really look at those situations, and think about how important that decision can be. So, I’d like to share a case study with you, in hopes that, if any of you out there have ever been in a similar situation; you can have some reassurance that you are not alone in the struggle.

Client X had a problem. They were losing client share due to a number of factors. Proximity of their offices in relation to where the demand was. A poorly put together SEO/SEM strategy (I suppose you could really call it “no strategy”, really) had been hurting their organic and paid results, and in the area which they were targeting, it was especially damaging due to traffic. Their brand message was outdated, in other words, what they were saying to their customers about what they did was not aligned with their improved capabilities. Finally, there was a budget issue they were faced with. They had invested a great deal of money in some new equipment that was going to really help streamline their processes.

I suppose there are many people out there who would look at the situation and immediately go into “marketing is an investment, and you get out what you put in” style of sales pitch. You know the one, where you promise to build a robust program that will deliver the desired clients to create the ROI somewhere around 205%, or something like that. Of course, what we aren’t telling our client is that we’re asking them to increase their marketing budget by almost 60%, which will draw other areas of the budget into a lean state. But, I get it, the idea here is that because of their improved organic, paid, and branding positions, their increased presence will get a bigger slice of the 7,500 buying-decision making crowd for their specific vertical. Demographic stat “N”, ROI increase percentage “T”, buzzword, jargon, tech-speak. Before you know it, the client has too much information to really know what to with, but they are seeing a massive return potential, and they buy.

The unfortunate truth in this, is that the organic improvements wouldn’t be fully realized for 6-9 months, the branding message required dropping information that the company has been keeping in their motto since they opened in 19-whatever, and the budget for the paid search was inflated due to a national competitor dumping money into the best broad match terms, making the allocation of the budget nearly obsolete if you didn’t try to compete with the big boys. I knew this, and I had a very pragmatic decision to make.

Do I go for the big sale? Or do I build the client’s trust? Go for the big sale, and you risk losing that most precious commodity of a salesman, trust. When the organic results have gone on into month 3 without any real improvement, when the broad matches still put the company on the lower half of the paid results, when the branding message goes against what the owner had in mind (because you removed the words he carved into the first stones of the building he built), that client will roll over on you in a heartbeat. “What am I paying for?” “What kind of refund are you going to give me?” and the most dreaded four words in a salesman’s existence, “I WANT TO CANCEL.” can be counted on if the big sale is your gain and you can’t deliver. In larger markets, that’s not as much of a risk to those willing to take it. In smaller markets, like the one I live in, it’s a big gamble.

Build the client’s trust, and you may not survive long enough in the company to see their ultimate potential realized. When you’re job is less like a consultant, and more like a peddler, there isn’t much time to build relationships with your clients. You’re not able to take them through a full discovery process. You’re not able to dedicate the kind of time required to make a business owner feel comfortable enough with you to hand over a 5-figure budget increase. They don’t know you, unless you’re lucky enough to have a prior relationship to the business owner before you arrive at his door as the marketing consultant. They have heard all of your lingo, jargon, and tech-speak before; most often times by someone within your own company. Their guard is already high enough as it is. Why add to that by coming at them with an unreasonable increase because of corporate expectation?

I can hear a lot of my friends now, looking at that question, and answering plainly and quickly “Because you want to keep your job.”, and that’s understandable to a degree. One should definitely strive for job security, but, at what cost? It’s not a popular stance to take, and frankly one that makes me look less desirable to sales-dependent positions. However, I firmly believe that, given 15 clients with high buy-in to the plan and process, high trust in your recommendations, and high desire to truly stick with the plan; over the long haul, the marketing consultant who controls that client roster will be more successful than his salesman counterpart who controls 35 clients and only dedicates 1-2 days per year to servicing the clients.

Coming back to my case study, I decided against going for the love of the paycheck, and informed them that their best strategy was to build from the ground up. I scaled back the proposed budgets in congruency to the market size. I chose to focus the paid search terms away from the broad match and put more emphasis on exact match, because of the longevity of the brand. I also recommended less aggressive brand message changes, also in light of the longevity of the brand. Instead, I focused the copy of the website to the improved equipment and how it positioned them as the efficient choice among the competition.

The client agreed to my proposed budget. The company did not. However, I gained something that the company couldn’t put on a compensation report. I gained the client’s trust. They saw that I was dedicated to the client’s goals and overall success. They understood that I was more concerned with the success of their plans, than the thickness of my wallet. They believed in my approach and process, and time and time again would thank me for not being “one of those other guys”. That is a very satisfying feeling, to know that what you’ve done not only accomplishes all that the client has requested, but that they will ultimately come back for more when they have seen the results I could provide.

For a bit more on this subject, I have posted this video which will help you understand why it’s preferred to be a consultant, not a salesman.

Has this scenario come up for you? Have you been forced with this decision? What did you do? More importantly, do you agree with, or disagree with my decision? We as consultants are called to be there for our clients in order to provide the best plan, but we are often faced with a tough decision: for the love of the game, or love of the paycheck. Which side are you on?

Until next time; keep ambition in your heart, logic in your mind, and allow yourself to continue the pursuit.

It’s time to get started..

Greetings to all my readers out there. This one is short and sweet, or as short as I can make it anyway. Today marks a very big day for me. I get to cross something off my pre-30 bucket list today. I’m going to be attending the UNC/IU basketball game tonight! Yes, I know that I put UNC ahead of IU, and alphabetically that doesn’t work, but it’s because I am a huge UNC fan. I can’t be more grateful for the chance to get to go to this game either, it truly means the world to me! Today’s trip is the perfect foil to yesterday’s setback. I had put my name in the hat for an opportunity to pursue a new career path in an ad agency, but wasn’t selected for it. I noticed a very big change in my demeanor yesterday after I found out that it wasn’t meant to be, and here’s how.

The usual reaction had been to get upset, angry with the people who didn’t choose me. “I can’t believe they didn’t notice me.” “Who do they think they are?” These kinds of projecting and displacing comments used to fill my head and my mouth upon a rejection. This time though, it was different. I took an introspective approach to it, tried to figure out what it was that dissuaded them from looking at me more. And here’s what I think I have come up with, at least from my point of view.

 

On paper…I don’t look like much.

I think that if people are just giving my resume the eyeball test, it won’t match up against a lot of people out there, and that’s a problem. However, it’s not a problem that can’t be fixed. I just need to get more experience, right? But how? There’s the rub. Is it more schooling? Is it in more community involvement and networking? Is it in just waiting for the lightning bolt to come down and bless me with super powers? Well..the last one would be kind of cool, but not very practical. Looking at this pragmatically, I think I just need to be more engaged in things going on around me that are going to matter. Like I read in Mr. Juliano’s blog today, I also need to stop stepping in shit. Getting caught up in things that won’t help me, getting into arguments that no one can win. My grandpa always told me “When two people are arguing, it’s hard for people to see who’s the bigger fool from a distance.” I think that holds more weight than I cared to admit for a long time. Merely expelling rhetoric to make myself seem more credible just seems stupid.

I need to have more relevant information on what it is I want to become.

Just saying, “Hey, I’m Chris Myers, I have an IQ in the 160’s and I wanna learn what you do.” doesn’t really work I’ve found. Mostly because no one cares, and well…they shouldn’t. There needs to be more content to my life. Not just, hey I worked here and I did this. Case studies, references, writing samples. I feel like these are some of the things that I left off my resume in the past that could really help out going forward. The intangibles will take care of themselves. The problem is that they are just that, intangible, until I can show people that my tangible work warrants an investigation into my intangible traits.

 

So, here I am. Back at square one, but not feeling like I have lost. I still have my health. I can still dunk. I am still making great new friends. So, the dream had to be put on hold until I’m ready for it. Until the dream is ready for me. It’s like my friend told me the other day, “Chris, I don’t think you’re ready for that yet. Not because you couldn’t do it, but because you haven’t been through enough yet.” I have a lot of work to do. It’s time to get started.

Stay hungry and do everything you can to change the can’ts in your world into dids. I know I will be..what about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Confession #9 (My 2nd Reply)

Welcome back, Clickhoppers. I trust that your weekends have been filled with good times and now FOOTBALL! Most of you are either at the bar watching the games, hanging out at a friend’s house enjoying the games, or maybe you’re just out and about downtown today (it sure looked like Clickhoppers were in the area); but as for me, I am in the office today mapping out a game plan for the next week’s rounds. As I wrote in a recent status update, I am tired of being patient for my turn to have things work out, so I am just making them happen now. I had posted a teaser of what my latest confession was going to be about the other day, so I think I am just going to cut straight to it.

Confession #9 – The time of being patient and accommodating is over.

I am not going to set out to allow myself to be content with just giving it my best effort and sighing if it doesn’t work out. I encourage all of you out there to do the same. The time for our generation of future leaders and influential people is now. Some of you out there are a lot like me, you have been beaten down by life’s disappointments and setbacks, and you think it’s hard to keep going on when there seems to be no reinforcement for your behavior. KEEP PUSHING! Take every endeavor you involve yourselves in as close to completion as you possibly can, and leave nothing behind. Make them throw you out of this life kicking and screaming, clawing for just one more opportunity to make things better. Don’t ever allow someone to talk to you like you’re inferior, inadequate, or unworthy of the distinction or recognition that you deserve. Sure this may be easier said than done sometimes, especially when people all around you are telling you to just take things in stride, let things happen as they are supposed to, and “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be” (most hated response ever by yours truly).

Now, I’m not sub-blogging about some girl who turned me down, or about some sad story that happened to me that has me reeling. I just think that it’s high time that excuses are no longer an acceptable part of my life and my process, and if you are getting that feeling like you’re in the same boat, then I urge you to make the same stand. You have talents that no one else can duplicate. You have a unique selling proposition to an employer. You have a special way to touch lives and improve them as well. Just because someone told you no once doesn’t mean that you should just hang up your spurs and give up. Some people will always try to tell you that what you have done is worthless. It’s usually those people who either have no idea what they’re talking about, or want what you have. The trick is figuring out which profile they fit and how to respond to them. Here…let me show you an example.

What you see here is a piece of “fan mail” that I had received from what is revealed via the caption of this photo, a disgruntled business owner. I am concealing the identity of most of the username and the name of the company that I was trying to work with, because I am not going to get to that level, but I wanted to at least let you all out there see some of what I run up against in my dealings with potential Clickhop clients.

This particular client had a real “glove-in-hand” opportunity for a marketing campaign that was going to run not only on the air, but also use our website to help drive internet sales for them. The concept for the campaign was completely aligned with not only what they do now in terms of marketing, but also in the relationship between the concept and the actual company name. Seriously Clickhoppers, this was what our GM would refer to as “Round peg, round hole”. But this proposal (and I should make mention that this was just that, a proposal…NOT a finalized offer…trust me, that is relevant information to make note of) was basically posted on social media sights for others to mock and for egos to be inflated. As it turns out, there were not only rival radio DJs (well, former ones anyway), but even individuals who have been taken around our station as guests who were participating in this mockery. Well…allow me, if I may, to put a fully functioning (and apparently far more apt and astute than the person who thought it best to take this photo) brain to work on this image and let’s see what is really being said here, starting with..

Campaign length

This particular campaign was going to run from mid-late September (honestly, it could have gotten up and running in less than a full business week, if we’re being completely frank here) to the start of the holiday season. Twelve weeks. Keep that number in mind as we continue on here. This is salient to the explanation because it will ultimately show you how much value was wrapped up in this package. Moving on to the next point..

Total on-air commercials

For this campaign, a 12 week schedule, the total number of on-air commercials (again, keep this in mind) was 372. So, when we do some simple math here and divide 372 total commercials by the length of the schedule, we will get the average number of commercials run each week. Don’t worry, I’ll be sparing you these calculations throughout this and will just give you the answers, that shakes out to 31 commercials per week. Now, that may not seem like much, only about 4 and some change per day, right? Well, consider that Clickhop does not play commercials on the weekend, and you’re looking at more than 6 per day, which anyone who has experience in this industry, makes for a good frequency. And hey, speaking of..

Frequency for commercials

This number is basically the amount of times that the commercial will be heard by a given audience. In this case, as you can see by the photo, the commercial will have been heard by our audience a total of 34 times over the course of the campaign. Again, may not seem much at first glance, but let’s do a bit of thinking about this. Since this particular company’s target audience would most likely be between the ages of 18-34 and more than likely male, our station will reach somewhere around 8,200 people (just within this age range and gender of audience, mind you). That’s a weekly number, and also an average which doesn’t account for unique listeners (at least that’s what my understanding is, if you know differently, please correct me because I want to be as accurate as I possibly can). So, 8,200 people will hear the commercials 34 times over 12 weeks. That’s pretty damn good coverage if you ask me, unless I don’t know what I’m talking about (which I would like to think I do).

What does this mean for the client? It means that of those thousands of people who are going to hear their message, only a small percentage of people would need to be moved to buying from them for them to justify their advertising. Let’s say that they get only 10% of the people who hear the ad to come in and buy something. And let’s say that their average sale is only $20…TWENTY DOLLARS…that means that 820 people will come in and buy $20 worth of whatever it is that this client is selling. Let’s do some math again, shall we? 820 x $20 = $16,240. This brings me to my next point..

The Digital Aspect

As most of you Clickhoppers know, our station is uniquely strong in relation to digital/website advertising. By the numbers, our station brings in 15,000 unique users to the website EVERY WEEK! While this may not seem like a very large number, let’s stretch that average out over a 12 week campaign..

15,000 unique users per week x 4 weeks = 60,000 unique users going to Clickhop.com every month

60,000 unique users per month x 3 months (or 12 weeks, if you weren’t sure what 12 weeks adds up to on a calendar) = 180,000 unique users

What does this have to do with this client? Well I’m about to tell you that..

This particular package involved a digital element to run alongside the on-air campaign, which would attract users to their company website, and could help drive internet sales. So let’s use the above “10%” example for this new number..

Over the 12 weeks, we’re exposing 180,000 people (remember, these are just the unique users, not the ones who go there faithfully already) to the client…10% of them actually buy something..

10% of 180,000 is…. 18,000 (sorry, didn’t want to wait for you to get the pad and paper out)

18,000 people buy (as a hypothetical average) $20 worth of stuff…creating $360,000 worth of revenue for the client. Now comes the really fun part..

What it would have cost the client

$3,720

The potential to make all that money from our campaign, and I think I was using pretty damn conservative numbers there with the percentage of response and the average sale, and I see this picture on social media with comments about..get this..not only that I should have been told to “fuck off” by the owner, but also about how I was dressed when I was presenting this proposal.

Those Clickhoppers out there that know me, know that I dress reasonably well. Yes, sometimes I over-dress. But I would rather that be my perception rather than under-dressed. I take this job very seriously, and my outfits reflect that. So what?

The part that really gets me is something that J-Hall and I were talking about the other day. It’s not only completely unprofessional and a poor way to represent yourself as the owner of a company, but it’s rather ridiculous to be friendly with one person and then be exceptionally rude when approached by someone that person referred to you. Just a poor way to represent yourself in general if you ask me. But am I the only person who feels that way??

There is a moral to this story. And that is that I have decided to do my job to the best of my abilities in order to bring that kind of success to another client who gets and understands not only simple math, but also what an effective marketing campaign can do for a business, when adopted and accepted the way it was intended to be. I strongly urge you Clickhoppers out there who are going through a situation in which someone is grossly under-educated on what you’re trying to provide them, whether it be like this situation or just offering genuine advice that you have experience on, to not get too hung up on them passing you by. That has taken me some time to figure out…but it gives you a unique opportunity. The opportunity to be right there when they finally realize what listening to you could have done for them. It will be up to you to decide how you react when that moment happens. Until then, and until the next confession, stay hungry and do everything that you can to change the can’ts in your world into dids.