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Outsourcing & Humor for Just $5

July 12, 2010 2 Comments

Monday’s Mental Minute

Hope everyone in the U.S. had a good holiday last Monday–sometimes there’s no better stress relief than a day off!

Today’s MMM resource does double duty–it gives you a place to outsource small admin or marketing tasks inexpensively and it’s sure to make you laugh!

Fiverr is a site where people list what they’re willing to do for–you guessed it!–five dollars. The more helpful offers run the gamut from virtual assistance to making audio recordings to creating an iPhone app for your website…pretty much anything you can imagine needing done.

Although, like anything, going the bottom-of-the-barrel price route means you may get what you pay for.  But then again, if you’re unhappy, you’re only out $5!

In categories such as Fun & Bizarre or Silly Stuff, you’ll also find quite a few offers  from some of the more creative community members–such as the one below…

Hey, you never know when that might come in handy, right?!

At any rate, whether you have a small project to get off your plate or just need a stress-reducing laugh, Fiverr is a fun site to check!

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Are You a Taco Stand?

August 5, 2009 1 Comment

Someone shared a hysterical video on Twitter recently about negotiating fees with clients. The facial expressions alone are priceless.

But the words and sentiment behind the comedy–frighteningly familiar!

Here it is if you haven’t seen it–then keep reading to see how you can avoid situations like this in the future!

I’ve written a whole series on pricing strategies for small businesses to help avoid situations like these.

But when you’re faced with a ridiculous request to reduce your fee, the best strategy is to follow Nancy Reagan’s advice and “Just say no…”

  • No, you are not a taco stand
  • No, you’re not interested in any “opportunity” where they pay you a fraction of your fee and and “make it up to you” later
  • No, you won’t work for free until they decide if they like the results

I could share some doozies about the crazy proposals I’ve heard over 5+ years of being in business, but suffice to say they all shared one common theme…the only “opportunity” was for the prospect to get something for nearly nothing.

Good Copy Can Help You Avoid Negotiating Fees

But you can prevent inane conversations like these by learning how to maximize the perception of the value you provide…and communicate it in everything you do. Here are a few ways to do that…

Dare to be different. In our corporate white-washed world, personality can be a BIG differentiator because after all, people buy from people and not companies.

Dan Kennedy is a great example–whether you like him or not, his tough-love “tell it like it is” style attracts legions of members to “Planet Dan” who buy nearly everything he puts out. That kind of loyalty doesn’t come from merely delivering good products and services.

Specialize in a market. It’s simple, if you specialize in web sites for lawyers, it’s silly for any lawyer NOT to choose you–because you already have a good sense of what they’ll need as well as what works and doesn’t work for their market. That will save them both time and money, plus make the chore (in their eyes) of getting a new website much easier.

Compare apples to grapefruit. What could it cost them to get the same type of results? For example, you could point out that your teleseminar series is a fraction of the cost of a live workshop or working with you one-on-one. You can also compare your fees to what the gurus’ charge to do the same thing.

Either way, there’s certainly something more expensive you can use as a benchmark to highlight how reasonable the price tag is for the value they’re getting.

Inundate them with proof. What you say you can do for them is MUCH more believable when other people are saying it for you as well. That’s why testimonials and case studies are such powerful persuaders. Because the more confident prospects feel that they’ll get great results, the less prickly they are about.

Highlight your personal experience. If you’re a restaurant owner trying to drum up more business, who would you trust more–the consultant who’s been in the greasy trenches of owning a restaurant before or someone who hasn’t?

If you have experience in your market, be sure to tell your story on every marketing piece, every teleseminar, every everything you do–even if you think they’ve heard it before (you’d be surprised how quickly people forget)–because it tremendously ups the appeal and value of working with you.

Connect the dots for them. Most websites barely scratch the surface when it comes to talking about the benefits clients will receive. Don’t assume they’ll make the connection on their own–I can promise you they won’t!

Whenever you talk about what you offer or what they’ll get, keep mentally adding “which means that” to the end of the sentence until you get to the essence of how it will ultimately improve their life or business. Because those ultimate benefits are what they’re really hoping to achieve…and are very willing to pay for.

Taking the time now to brainstorm about the full value of what you provide and how to weave it throughout everything you do will go a long way in keeping prospects from negotiating fees and mistaking you for a  taco stand later.

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When They Want Something for Nothing & Filet for Free

July 14, 2009 7 Comments

If you’ve ever gotten push-back from prospects about your prices, you’re going to LOVE this video.

There are too many good lines for me to pick a favorite.

But seriously, it underscores how important it is to effectively communicate the value of what you do so you can avoid these types of situations!

By the way, if you like this you may like the follow-up post Are You a Taco Stand? which has the video plus some thoughts on how not to be, well, a taco stand!

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Marketing with Humor Effectively

May 26, 2009 4 Comments

Humor is a great way to make a message memorable–if it’s used wisely.

Often the humor eclipses the message instead of underscoring it. Sprint Nextel’s new “Wedding” commercial is a great example of doing it right.

There are actually a few others in the series but this has to be my favorite–I can’t decide whether the grumbling rain guy or the stunt groom is the best part. But throughout the ad it shows you HOW their technology can make life easier. (And I’m not even a Sprint fan!)

A few years back my favorite commercial was a cute little toddler zipping all around the house in his walker. It was hysterical but no one ever remembered it was for Stainmaster carpet.

While you may not be ready to shoot your own prime-time commercial, it’s still good to remember when you’re creating either videos or copy that funny for the sake of funny won’t do the trick.

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A Wry Look at the Year in Marketing

December 3, 2008 Leave a Comment

This is just too funny–a great year-end look at the year in business and marketing from curmudgeonly Herschell Gordon Lewis…

Twas the night before Christmas, a time for no joys
Because Santa could not afford presents and toys.
Why not? Well, like most of us, it’s a tough time,
And his North Polar mortgage was really sub-prime.
Worse, his deadly stockholding, like so many others,
Was a lousy investment in sad Lehman Brothers.
And he’d wanted some bright wooden trim for his sleigh,
But the idea went down with the fall of Bombay.
He hoped both sleigh and reindeer would not lose endurance,
Because AIG had covered all their insurance.
Ah, he thought, I’ll at least get a quality yield
From gift packages from that great store, Marshall Field.
Nope, another great notion that’s now pushing daisies
Because Marshall Field now is a blue-collar Macy’s.
Hmm, some books would be nice for my favorite elf.
Too bad: Borders is selling not books but itself.
Why not go for top fashions, a perfect gift turn-on?
Uhhh, who’s today’s owner of Lillian Vernon?
Maybe sharp electronics, a wonderful notion.
Not from The Sharper Image, stopped dead in mid-motion.
From these oh-so-bleak bits you’d be bound to detect
That we marketers suffer from sub-prime effect.
Yeah, if negative numbers are any true sign,
The days of wild growth are in savage decline.
But even in these days, the toughest of times,
Some smarties reap in lots of nickels and dimes….

Read all of it over at Direct magazine’s website.

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Spanking Good Sales with Humor

April 3, 2008 Leave a Comment

If someone asked me to name my business idol it would have to be Sara Blakely of Spanx. One inspiration has become a $250 billion business that has turned the women’s undergarment world on its head and revolutionized a dishwater dull product category with personality and spunk. Once something no one discussed, now celebrities give thanks to their Spanx on the red carpet.

So I had to Tivo The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch the other night when I heard he would be interviewing her. She had a lot of good tips, but the most important one was to show a little vulnerability and humor during the sales process. She recalled the story from her office copier salesperson days of going to work one day with one navy and one black shoe on. But instead of hiding her feet under a desk all day, she decided to go cold call and had her best day ever. Turns out–being able to laugh about it with the gatekeeping receptionists and office managers disarmed their usual defenses and made her memorable.

So when she was first trying to convince store buyers to carry Spanx, she would surprise them by pulling out a picture of her butt to show them the difference the product made. And the rest, as they say, is history.

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