I’ve always worked on the premise that my colleagues and I
work as extensions to our clients’ own teams, as if they have a PR and
marketing department without all the on-costs and employment issues. In the
main, this has worked extremely well because there are so many benefits for the
client.
There are, of course, some exceptions to the rule. Well,
there would be, wouldn’t there?! These take the form of some strange
misconceptions that some people have of what working with consultants is all
about. I’ll give you some examples of some of the questions or comments I receive
…
Will you halve your fee and work for [peanuts]?
Er, no. Would you?
It still amazes me that people expect others to carry the
burden of their bad planning, lack of forethought, or queasy management. If
you’re setting up a serious business then you need a proper business plan to
ensure you know where you’re going and you need a realistic budget to get you
there, not least of which to let people know your business is there as well as
encourage them to buy from you. You’ll need enough resources so you’re not
working 24/7, and an exit strategy in case it all goes horribly wrong.
By the way, it’s perfectly ok to have a kitchen table
business and know you want to keep going as a micro-business. If your income
pays the bills and you have no desire to scale up, that’s absolutely fine. Whatever
works for you.
But please don’t assume you can ask other small businesses
(or even larger ones) to work for peanuts because you want the service,
expertise, experience and professionalism but don’t want to or can’t pay for
it. That’s just not fair, and actually it’s quite insulting. And yet some do.
Well, you know what you get if you pay peanuts! Think honestly about how you’d
feel if it was someone expecting you to do the same.
I’m paying you but I won’t listen to you
Then you’re wasting your money. When we ask our clients for
something, there’s a good reason. When we suggest a different way of doing
something, explain to us why it won’t work rather than dismiss it out of hand.
We’ll likely have tried it successfully somewhere else or know a business where
it’s worked well, hence the suggestion.
If you think you know better than us then again, you’re
wasting your money. You’ve chosen to employ consultants, why not focus on
running your business and let us take on the job for which you asked. After
all, you’re the expert in your business, not us. Let us work with you to help
you make more money, be more successful, get better known, or whatever your objective is.
Social media is free so why am I paying for it?
You’re paying for our expertise and experience in PR-led
messaging and communications. There’s not only the time spent creating messages
and supporting graphics, inputting and scheduling, we build up your
follower/fan base, create and join in conversations on your behalf, respond to
inbound messages, and manage your reputation this way too. We work to your
business plan objectives, goals and targets. We don’t spend oodles of time
creating massive reports at the end of the month when you can check your insights
for free yourself, but we are continually monitoring what’s happening online
for you.
I don’t have time to send you stuff, can’t you do it yourself?
Well no, we’re not mind-readers. You know what’s going on in
your business, in your teams, with your clients/customers, and in your
industry. We rely on your commitment to the partnership to give us ample input
so we can, in return, help you.
On the other hand
These are just a sample of the comments I hear from
potential clients. It’s not all like that, of course. We have had and currently
have some wonderfully switched-on ones.
They’re the clients who say:
- What do you need from me?
- I’ve created a really tight brief so you know exactly what we need
- We couldn’t have done it without you
- Our sales are up 40% on this time last year – thank you!
- Wherever we go, people recognise our company name and brand
- We’ve recommended you to our own clients
That’s what we like to hear!
If you’d like to be one of the select band that make up the
Chimera Communications client base, get in touch with me now - jill@chimeracomms.co.uk
