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GREAT Clients
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[Ron Lindeboom] “That is one of the reasons that over the years, Kathlyn and I have continued working with some of the companies that we believed in that were in dire straits and we had to carry them for a while. Most all of them — oh, there were rare exceptions — stayed with us once they recovered and once again had money to spend.”
Interesting that this subject came up now. Just yesterday I got a call from a client that I produced a promotional video for last year. They are a start-up and I knew at the time that they were spending the last of their money to pay me. Nevertheless, they paid me well and I made a great video for them. Since then, they have been working on procuring some government contracts. In our conversation yesterday, they again expressed appreciation for my video work, which has been their best sales tool. But, they were afraid that their hastily created website had the potential for leaving a bad impression. I offered to spend a few hours upgrading their website –on deferred payment. They can pay me when they get the next contract. If they don’t get a contract, they don’t owe me.
Today my client got a call from a company who had a potential job for them next week in Texas. Cringing inside, he gave them the URL so they could check out the website. He had to bite his tongue to keep himself from making excuses for the shoddy website. After he got off the phone with the prospect, he went to look at his website, hoping to convince himself that it really wasn’t that bad. Lo and behold, it had been transformed! He didn’t know it, but last night after our conversation, I stayed up until after 3am tweaking their website. I added in some nice graphical elements that I had used in their video, fixed about 20 misspelled words and even rewrote some of the copy. It won’t win any web design awards, but it is much improved. He was very happy.
It made me feel great! And when the contracts come in for them, guess who they will be calling for more video work!
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style! -
Yes! Above and beyond expectations! That’s what we’re all in this for, I think, at the end of the day. Excellent story!
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http://www.patrickortman.com
Web and Video Design -
Yes, human beings need to trust their “spiritual instincts” more. MOST (not all) times over the years, the ones that I thought were trustworthy, were just that. Oh there have been some nasty exceptions but I’d rather not let the idiots color my worldview to the point that I no longer trust people.
One of my earliest accounts was a bottled water company for whom I did all their TV ads, print, brochures, design work, etc., etc.
I took them over when their old agency couldn’t think of a successful way to address a “marketing black eye” that the company had gotten by (what the newspapers reported as) some contaminated water being delivered to a college. The old agency said “Ignore it and it will go away.”
Their business dropped and dropped because no one trusted them. The competition’s drivers were having no trouble converting the company’s customers to their customers instead.
Things weren’t blowing over.
I told the company’s president: “Let’s put a face on the company by addressing the matter, remind them of the many years you have been around, and let’s address the fact that the issue was traced back to a janitor at the school (who worked for them) who would finish cleaning restrooms, classes, etc., and without washing his hands would refill the empty dispensers.” He would reach down and grab the bottles by the mouth and lift the bottle to the stand and as he turned it to mount on the stand, one of the investigators that the company hired had photos of the man with his hands on the mouth and water running through his fingers. (A picture truly is worth a thousand words — and sometimes many many thousands of dollars, too.)
I ended it all by telling him that he’d have to apologize, no one else could do it and while recognizing that the issue was not directly due to their company, he’d have to “own it” and talk about educating customers in schools, offices, etc., about the need for safe handling of bottled water.
He liked it and did it.
I kept that company as an account for many many years, through thick and thin. I always got paid even when it was tough times and they were not doing well. We respected one another and they were one of the best accounts that I ever had. Sometimes when things were tight, I’d let them slide and they always made things right for me in the end.
Thankfully, grinders only make up the bottom 15% of the market — that leaves an 85% chance that the person you are looking at will not cheat you.
Put yourself in their shoes and sell them the keenest thought you can muster that serves and addresses their need — if you get the chance to pitch it. Otherwise, be “Dumbo” and have the biggest ears you can muster as you serve them.
Those are a couple of lessons that I have learned over the years when dealing in these kinds of “rough waters” that have been discussed in the last few threads.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
CEO, CreativeCOW.netCreativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
Graveyards are full of people the world couldn’t do without.
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What does a cool client have to do with a pay raise folks should get when the move up the staffing ladder?
Not following ya.
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