Here, Let Me Help You With That...
January 27, 2010
Not sure if it was us or our friends at Qwest but we "found" five voice mail messages that had been left at our main number. One of them was from a company that is considering a new consumer/business owner benefit program they want to roll out in Des Moines. Think, "Name your price" for things other than hotel rooms.
I made the phone call and for the first several minutes listened to "Mark" rail about advertising agencies, "Forgive me if I'm venting but I've spent much of the past several days talking to ad agencies who don't get what I am doing, want to charge me $1,000 to build a media plan for a month and have no clue about their city." Mark went on, "I'm not wanting something for nothing but you would think these agencies would want to learn more about my idea and then work with me to see if we can launch in their city. But, no. Their first question is, 'What is your budget?' and we don't get beyond that."
It's a common problem...the not listening part. Sure, there are talented people out there who can do great creative and build outstanding media plans...but if their first question is, "So, what's your budget?" they must be too busy for new business.
So, I listened and we talked...for nearly an hour. Then today I called him back and gave him the name of a person in this market who is looking for a sales job, somebody we thought would be great for this project. "Mark" was STUNNED. "What? YOU called me back not to find out if you had the job but called to offer me help...without charging me? That is different."
It's the way more of us should work. A guy from out of state contacts us for marketing help...we, in less than 24 hours get back to him not with a quote or a bill or a bid...but with help he never asked for...boots on the ground.
Different...yeah...but hey, why not? We think that's a better starting point. What do you think?