So much for “acquaintance" and why an external client is better
Every day we all hear this straightforward phrase “and we are an acquaintance” from friends or colleagues, and every now and then you are offered to order something or execute an order “as an acquaintance”. I have been successfully working in the field of e-commerce for 4 years already; several large companies and private entrepreneurs have been cooperating with me. The number of customers is constantly growing. Every year, my attitude toward “acquaintance” is fading away, and in the last example I finally became convinced of the failing side of this issue.
Under the cut, my personal experience with these acquaintances, about pechalki and new customers.
I believe that the reader will most likely find it more interesting to immediately find out the root of the problem, and not stories about the situations themselves, in which almost everyone was and not once. Yes, I will. For a long time I could not understand the nature of this relationship, which is formed after someone seriously recommended someone to someone (no matter what matters). Yes, of course, when everything works out, then that's fine. We, of course, consider the other side of the medal, namely, when something did not work out. It's all about our mentality and only in it. Unfortunately, for the most part we are not raised; there is practically no business culture as such in our country. If we take, for example, America or Europe, then business there is already more than a century and a half, and we have - well, how many, well, about 10 years from strength. (what was in the nineties, for business, sorry, I do not think at all). What is it manifested in? No education - no respect, and the latter affects everything. And here, unfortunately, it is so accepted that when you are advised, for example, as a good performer (for example, as a programmer or a web designer), then you get some sort of business negligence and irresponsibility: once a friend, once familiar, it means that it can be used and twisted as you like, because he will understand everything, because well, “by acquaintance”. Usually, everybody starts to deal with this when relatives or close friends are connected to work. There are, of course, many more aspects about contracts and obligations. But nature is one - disrespect, and in a manifested situation - rudeness. Hence, the quarrel forever between relatives. This is bad.
Remarkable is the fact that the recommender (especially if he is on close friendship) cannot always be critical of those he recommends. The opposite happens quite rarely.
“We are ready to pay for the site, we are making elite cottages, so the site should look like a million,” the customer tells me.
The old acquaintance who periodically addressed to me for the help on design or the CMS setup brought me. He said that the clients are sane, they have money, they are ready to pay for good work, and they are waiting for me on Monday at 11 am. I somehow trusted, did not even call them before arrival (it was here that my mistake), I went. In the course of the conversation, I have already received some kind of negative attitude in general to the question of website redesign. I assumed that maybe they had some bad mood in the morning. I found out all the necessary questions, said that I would first offer a draft, and then, if I liked it, we would conclude an agreement and begin work after the prepayment. After thinking a few days, I sent the first layout. In response - silence. I call to clarify why there is no reaction. In response, there was a reckless rudeness: complaints fell in my address, some counter-questions “What are you sending us here? We do not understand anything! We want a great layout! Give me more options - there’s nothing to choose from us! ” Naturally, I began to clarify, they say, what specifically does not suit. I did not get a clear answer. Having understood the mood, everything became clear, I politely said goodbye, it is clear that forever. After thinking about the conversation and spreading the answers on the "shelves", I realized what the diagnosis would be here. Judging by the reaction, my customers have an extremely fan-related attitude to their work, everything else outside its borders and their office is the scum of the lower classes of society. At the same time, a man (the executive director, apparently) of a collective farm appearance in a shirt from a local Cherkizon looks very funny, who praises his experience in this business (Well, this is purely my observation - you need to speak a little :)).
I learned how to determine the responsibility and solvency of clients by phone during the first 15 seconds of a conversation, analyzing the pronunciation of words, timbre of voice, communication style, general emotional state. Moreover, when I see a person live: automatically, even with lateral vision, I manage to read and process information about his employment in the process of work and interest in me as a specialist in seconds - in general, body language speaks for itself. Therefore, in the office of these characters, I am 100% guessing the outcome of our attempt to work, but since I arrived, I made an assumption that something might work out - they are “an acquaintance”. And once again I was convinced that my analysis is almost always correct, but a separate post will be more detailed about this, if at all, my article will be in the top and I will be given a long-awaited invite.
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A client with whom we will have a long cooperation is very important for any performer. The importance lies in his serious intentions, responsibility, adequate assessment of the market segment in which he orders services. When I managed to set up an advertising campaign and when clear calls from new customers came to me, I was convinced that the correct presentation of the initial information about my activity and the first negotiations almost always give 100% results: we start working! And this is my client, nobody stands between us, I owe no one, and he (the client) doesn’t care, in short! He needs a result for which he is willing to pay.
New clients on the recommendation are checked even more carefully than those that came from my advertising. (What exactly I’m asking is also in the next posts.) And, in my opinion, this must be done, because it’s still a potential client, and the one who recommended it shouldn’t remain in a bad light (and this will happen automatically if the match between us is done incorrectly), because he may continue to be able to recommend me to someone.
That's all for now. Good luck to all.
Under the cut, my personal experience with these acquaintances, about pechalki and new customers.
Nature of conflict
I believe that the reader will most likely find it more interesting to immediately find out the root of the problem, and not stories about the situations themselves, in which almost everyone was and not once. Yes, I will. For a long time I could not understand the nature of this relationship, which is formed after someone seriously recommended someone to someone (no matter what matters). Yes, of course, when everything works out, then that's fine. We, of course, consider the other side of the medal, namely, when something did not work out. It's all about our mentality and only in it. Unfortunately, for the most part we are not raised; there is practically no business culture as such in our country. If we take, for example, America or Europe, then business there is already more than a century and a half, and we have - well, how many, well, about 10 years from strength. (what was in the nineties, for business, sorry, I do not think at all). What is it manifested in? No education - no respect, and the latter affects everything. And here, unfortunately, it is so accepted that when you are advised, for example, as a good performer (for example, as a programmer or a web designer), then you get some sort of business negligence and irresponsibility: once a friend, once familiar, it means that it can be used and twisted as you like, because he will understand everything, because well, “by acquaintance”. Usually, everybody starts to deal with this when relatives or close friends are connected to work. There are, of course, many more aspects about contracts and obligations. But nature is one - disrespect, and in a manifested situation - rudeness. Hence, the quarrel forever between relatives. This is bad.
Remarkable is the fact that the recommender (especially if he is on close friendship) cannot always be critical of those he recommends. The opposite happens quite rarely.
Rich customers
“We are ready to pay for the site, we are making elite cottages, so the site should look like a million,” the customer tells me.
The old acquaintance who periodically addressed to me for the help on design or the CMS setup brought me. He said that the clients are sane, they have money, they are ready to pay for good work, and they are waiting for me on Monday at 11 am. I somehow trusted, did not even call them before arrival (it was here that my mistake), I went. In the course of the conversation, I have already received some kind of negative attitude in general to the question of website redesign. I assumed that maybe they had some bad mood in the morning. I found out all the necessary questions, said that I would first offer a draft, and then, if I liked it, we would conclude an agreement and begin work after the prepayment. After thinking a few days, I sent the first layout. In response - silence. I call to clarify why there is no reaction. In response, there was a reckless rudeness: complaints fell in my address, some counter-questions “What are you sending us here? We do not understand anything! We want a great layout! Give me more options - there’s nothing to choose from us! ” Naturally, I began to clarify, they say, what specifically does not suit. I did not get a clear answer. Having understood the mood, everything became clear, I politely said goodbye, it is clear that forever. After thinking about the conversation and spreading the answers on the "shelves", I realized what the diagnosis would be here. Judging by the reaction, my customers have an extremely fan-related attitude to their work, everything else outside its borders and their office is the scum of the lower classes of society. At the same time, a man (the executive director, apparently) of a collective farm appearance in a shirt from a local Cherkizon looks very funny, who praises his experience in this business (Well, this is purely my observation - you need to speak a little :)).
I learned how to determine the responsibility and solvency of clients by phone during the first 15 seconds of a conversation, analyzing the pronunciation of words, timbre of voice, communication style, general emotional state. Moreover, when I see a person live: automatically, even with lateral vision, I manage to read and process information about his employment in the process of work and interest in me as a specialist in seconds - in general, body language speaks for itself. Therefore, in the office of these characters, I am 100% guessing the outcome of our attempt to work, but since I arrived, I made an assumption that something might work out - they are “an acquaintance”. And once again I was convinced that my analysis is almost always correct, but a separate post will be more detailed about this, if at all, my article will be in the top and I will be given a long-awaited invite.
')
New client "from the street"
A client with whom we will have a long cooperation is very important for any performer. The importance lies in his serious intentions, responsibility, adequate assessment of the market segment in which he orders services. When I managed to set up an advertising campaign and when clear calls from new customers came to me, I was convinced that the correct presentation of the initial information about my activity and the first negotiations almost always give 100% results: we start working! And this is my client, nobody stands between us, I owe no one, and he (the client) doesn’t care, in short! He needs a result for which he is willing to pay.
What is the result
New clients on the recommendation are checked even more carefully than those that came from my advertising. (What exactly I’m asking is also in the next posts.) And, in my opinion, this must be done, because it’s still a potential client, and the one who recommended it shouldn’t remain in a bad light (and this will happen automatically if the match between us is done incorrectly), because he may continue to be able to recommend me to someone.
That's all for now. Good luck to all.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/127749/
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