Sound good? Don't fall for it. The 'professionals' who tell you they'll do whatever you want will be the deathknell of your business. I call these folks "order takers" & you should run as far away as fast as possible as soon as you can with the ultimate goal of finding business partners/suppliers who will coach/advise you on the right things to do & share their expertise with you to help you reach your business goals.
Here are just a few examples:
1. I had a meeting the other day & was reviewing the client's website. It was not tagged in any way, had no SEO as part of its construction, & when I ran the stats, the SEO score was 0%. Huh? Turns out that the client never asked for tagging or any SEO. So the "web designer" didn't do it. Are you kidding me? That's like getting your clothes dry cleaned but they didn't put it on hangers beacause you didn't specifically ask for them. So now, they have a site that looks pretty but isn't functioning at all. Worse yet, they've lost time & money achieving their goals.
2. The other day I called a few list brokers to get pricing for a list on behalf of a client. I spoke with 3 different companies. All are relatively well known & reputable in the industry. 2 of them simply ran counts for me without asking any questions of how the list was to be used & what the ultimate goal was. So, sure enough the next day I received excel spreadsheets with counts popped into cells. No background info offered at all (when was the last time the list was updated? what is the source of the list?). The 3rd company however, picked up the phone to call me to discuss "the campaign" in its totality & gave me some great advice. She ran counts & even gave me alternate counts for other list uses. Guess who I chose to do business with? And, the kicker? Her list was the most expensive. Lesson here? Price doesn't always drive buying decisions.
3. In yet another meeting with a client & their supplier, the supplier came to the meeting & not once during the entire hour did she take out a pen, offer up any solutions or advice. She just sat there on the couch with her briefcase closed beside her (& her mind just as closed) looking at her watch periodically. Saying "I'll do whatever you want" every few minutes. Well, OK but we're looking to YOU as the expert in your field to tell us what we SHOULD be doing to get the results we desire. If we have to tell you how to do your business, then we don't really need you, do we? No wonder I was asked by my client to help them vet other suppliers so this one can be replaced.
4. A client mentioned that he'd read something about a new service that a company he'd been doing business with was now offering. I hadn't heard about this so I called the supplier who initially set up the project to ask if this is something we should be doing. "Oh, yes" he said. Well, OK. But shouldn't YOU have picked up the phone to call your client to let them know? If he had been proactive the client would not have done the updating on their own & would have happily given you the task (& money) to provide the service for them. Now, you appear to be behind the 8 ball as opposed to the expert & you lost revenue to boot. And, now I (as a 3rd party) know it too!
Bottom line, if you're on client side it's not always easy to ask the right questions because sometimes we don't even know what we don't know. But...if a potential supplier isn't asking you enough questions, or offering up advice then politely say, 'no thanks' & walk away. Then, call colleagues & friends to get recommendations of expert professionals to work with so that your business will thrive.
If you're on supplier side don't do this to your clients. While it sounds great to offer to do whatever they want (they are paying you, after all) this is a huge cop out. Offer advice, give them choices, talk with them about the bigger picture so that you see how your service fits in.
If you don't, it's highly likely they'll be calling me as soon as you're out the door.
