Relationship vs Expertise
There is one reason people hire a company to do a specific job. Whether it be PR, marketing, sales, distribution or management, the number one reason people outsource is, they don’t feel they can do the job themselves. Pure and simple.
Therefore, when marketing your business, sure go ahead and emphasis your expertise but put into practice your relationship skills.
A prospective customer cannot decipher if you are great at what you do or not. If they could, they would do the job themselves.
What they can gauge is your commitment to the project, your dedication to your craft and your professionalism, these they can tell by your communication or lack there of.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t know if my tax man is seeking every loop hole possible to gain the full tax return I am entitled to. If I did, I’d be an accountant.
What I do know is that every year he provides a great service, returns my calls, knows my business and always gets me a great tax return for a minimal price.
In business your expertise is assumed. Nobody questions whether you are good at what you do or not; just by being in business is proof enough.
So if you’re not selling expertise what are you selling? A relationship, a steady foundation where your customer can get on doing the things they are good at in order to pay your bills.
Building trust by keeping your client updated, maintaining communication even when things aren’t going well and most importantly returning phone calls, these are the things that separate you from the rest.
Anyone can get a degree not everyone can keep a customer.
One Comment
William Quisenberry
November 7th, 2006 at 10:05 am
You make a really good point. If you were to interview most executives and ask them what their number one problem is with their own employees and also vendors/contractors, most would say no communication or the lack there of. Communication goes a very long way in business, great article.
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