Mar 30 2009
How to say YES to your clients
You’re at a networking group and people are doing their 60 second elevator speeches. Laurie begins by saying, “Hi, I’m Laurie and I ‘m a graphic artist and I can design your marketing materials.
A few minutes later Jennifer introduces herself and says, “Hi I’m Jennifer and I own ABC graphic arts and we provide for all of your marketing needs”.
What’s the biggest difference you notice between these two speeches? One person is a graphic artist and the other owns a graphic arts business. How does it feel different when someone says “I,” as opposed to “we”? It feels like Laurie does everything herself whereas it sounds like Jennifer has a staff and a team.
Laurie is likely to accept jobs based on what she can do herself; her skill level and her time. Jennifer may not even be an artist herself. Maybe she is a manager and hires people to do all the work. Who is likely to say yes more often? Jennifer will, because she’ll find someone who knows how to do the job even if she can’t herself.
I order to move from self-employment to business you need to let go of the idea that you do everything yourself. You can hire someone, contract with someone or develop an allaince with somone, but whatever your choice, say yes whenever you can and then find a way to meet the needs of your clients.
I have found it empowering to know that I can say yes to a job that goes beyond my skill set. I view it as a chance to learn more. With my network of resources I can hire out those thing. Once the subcontracted job is completed I get to study the result and learn. Furthermore, I can say yes to a job I might have had to say no too if I only worked alone
Jocelyn – YES that is exactly the point. I look forward to subcontracting web coding and SEO to you and you can hire me help your clients figure out what their business actually is and how they need to market it.