The “no talent” competition

[Nick Griffin]

As I stated at the outset:
[Nick Griffin] “Will being able to actually SHOW the differences mean anything to our delaying prospect? I have my doubts, but figured I’d throw it out to the group for consideration.”

I’m heavily leaning toward Herb and Chris’s direction. So to offer up advice to myself: Don’t bother with the “How NOT To” and find better ways to get the point across. Sure it would feel good (for a few minutes) to show just how bad amateur video can look, but not likely to win in the end. It’s more confrontational in a sales environment where being supportive and nurturing almost always works better. Additionally I have had situations in the past where clients attempted to do stuff on the cheap and then crashed and burned. They come back when they know you’re there to help and go elsewhere if they feel that they’ve lost an argument.

Thanks, guys!

[Ron Lindeboom]

Personally, I am a bit more testosterone-fueled and think that an article that addressed the guy’s advice to his listeners, as compared to his own use of scripted, well-lit and edited videos to promote himself, would be well served.

;o)

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Brendan Coots]

I think this further highlights the discussion downstream about the impact low-cost providers will have on our industry. As I mentioned in that thread, the “quality” debate appears to be a losing battle, long term, because it will only get harder and harder to make a firm case that quality has impact where it counts – our client’s ROI.

I was particularly struck by the line “you need to educate your customer base to appreciate the value of your quality added to the product.” This implies that the problem is merely lack of customer education, but what argument could one use to make this case, especially if the benefit is so non-obvious to them that it requires explanation? What, specifically DOES quality add to the equation? Can any of us put a dollar value, in terms of ROI, on quality level? In your specific situation (customer testimonials), does quality of production have any impact on the message being delivered, or the audience’s reception of that message? One could quite convincingly argue that a homebrew presentation has much more authenticity than a professional production, and therefore might carry MORE weight with customers in this application. While it hurts to accept because our financial well being is in the crosshairs, Gitomer and others are probably right, and this particular application of video production is only the tip of the iceberg.

For the record, I am NOT saying that quality doesn’t matter. My position is that it no longer seems to be an obvious and quantifiable benefit of higher-cost production (YouTube etc. has changed all of that) in and of itself. Unless you want to have to constantly “educate” each and every customer as to why they should pay you more, using increasingly thin reasoning to support that argument, another path is required.

The only way to avoid being forced to compete with low-cost providers is to offer services who’s value is obvious, compelling and out of reach of the lower-tier production houses. If you offer a quality product, it needs to be aimed specifically at industries, companies, audiences and applications where your quality truly does make a difference. Corporate/industrials/testimonials are all very likely to be the first to go in my opinion.

Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com

[Todd Terry]

[Chris Blair] “But we still preach that clients are hiring us for our knowledge, our expertise, our efficiency on planning an executing shoots, and our abilities to tell stories and communicate.”

Yup.

My biz partner (who is our GM) makes this analogy to our clients and potential ones, and I think it’s a good one in this day of throwaway cameras and cheap editing software….

Go around to people’s houses… friends, family, whomever… and you’ll notice that a lot of people have pianos in the living room. A lot of them.

But there are very few concert pianists.

My personal variation to that is that anyone can buy the piano wrench, but not many people can tune one.

Here we just strive to play the piano as best we can. If a client is happy with hearing a first-year student bang out four bars of “Frère Jacques” on the keyboard over and over… there’s not much changing his mind.

We try to stick with clients whom appreciate the concert.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Larry Melton]

Hey Nick,

It’s nice to know that even the guys I depend on for advice struggle with this stuff sometimes :).

We have always taken the approach that “the quality of your video is an indication of the quality of your product”. The perfect example of that is the national car spot for the auto companies vs. the local spots for the used car lots. I’m sure you can come up with dozens more as ammunition.

I’m not up on what sales experts are preaching these days, but I’m pretty sure they’re not telling salespeople to wear ripped jeans, drive crappy, dirty cars full of fast-food wrappers, or forget to shave for several days. (Proving that I am not fit for sales).

But the point is that ALL of this stuff, video included, make up the image that’s created by the sales person. The way a potential customer experiences that image – what it feels like, looks like, smells like – is how he sees the product that’s being sold.

Think about how many situations you’ve been in where one little negative thing, even in the midst of strong positives, swayed your opinion. If you can get your client thinking that way, he might see that it’s unlikely that a crappy video will convince anyone to buy, but it could convince someone not to.

Happy Holidays Nick!

Larry Melton
1041 East

Larry Melton
Triangle Productions Inc

[Nick Griffin]

Thanks, Larry. Always good to hear from you.

The “struggle” is an emotional one of being ticked off that someone would think that homemade accomplishes the same objective as professional, but the conflicting thoughts is why I posted this in the first place. And I think I’ve realized all along that showing the differences between the two videos is likely to just alienate the prospect or, equally worse, teach them ways to improve their home brew.

Brendan has it right, though. The whole thing has to come from the perspective of what do THEY value — what’s their ROI. If they can be convinced that a professional image and sound has a positive impact on their business then they buy. If not, they don’t.

All in all, good thread guys. Thanx!

[Richard Herd]

You’re shooting on spec. Just sayin’ :_)

[Greg Ball]

Hey Mark,

Put in on my tab … LOL. Since I just received a speeding ticket within the last hour, I’ve paid enough fines for the time being. Happy Holidays.

[Mike Cohen]

[Nick Griffin] “If they can be convinced that a professional image and sound has a positive impact on their business then they buy. If not, they don’t.”

I think that summarizes many of the recent threads Nick.

There is a market for all levels of production quality. A local car dealer ad shot on a Red Camera will still be a $200 local car dealer ad, it will just look really really bad, instead of just simply bad. In other words, someone accustomed to the $200 local ad is never going to be the customer for higher-end productions.

This is why we all need to be salespeople – to find the prospects and convince them [Nick Griffin] “that a professional image and sound has a positive impact on their business then they buy. If not, they don’t.”

Mike Cohen

[Mark Landman]

…and putting a scalpel in your hand doesn’t make you a surgeon.

Mark Landman
PM Productions
Champaign, IL