Parc Entertainment - A Video Production Company - Birmingham, AL

You’re a marketer. You might not be in the marketing industry, but make no mistake - you’re a marketer. That means you have a product/service/business/website/hobby/book/movie/etc. that you want to tell people about. And you want those people to jump on the bandwagon. So, what’s the best way to go about it? How do you persuade people to get on board? You have to have passion , and your audience has to feel that excitement. Only then will they be more willing to say “yes” to your offer.

Consider this: You go to the movie theatre one night to catch the opening night of Hollywood’s latest film. It’s outstanding. You exit the theatre completely blown away by what you’ve just seen. Now, what do you do the following day? You tell people about it. But you just don’t tell them. You re-live it. The excitement you felt in the theatre is conveyed in the way you describe the movie to your friends.

Now, translate this to business: When marketing a product or service, you need to communicate that same kind of excitement. However, your energy needs to be focused on your potential client, not on you, your business, or your service. When I go into meetings with a potential client to discuss a video project, I don’t spend time talking about how great our cameras are, how beautiful our images are, or how state-of-the-art our editing system is. When I go into a meeting, I want to learn more about my contact’s business. I want to hear about their goals. I want to show them that I am genuinely excited about their company. I am there because I feel as though our video production services can help them with their marketing efforts.

Your attitude needs to be the same. Be interested in your client. Get excited about their business. Only then will you be able to communicate effectively how your product or service can help. Then, when discussions shift to the price of your product or service, your lead will be more inclined to buy from you, even if your prices are higher than your competitor. Why? Because you have shown a genuine interest in who they are and what they’re all about. The old saying is true, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

As a small business owner or freelancer it can be very tempting to jump on any job opportunity offered up to you. That knee-jerk reaction to say “yes” to any and everything does communicate eagerness, but it can get you into big trouble down the road if you don’t carefully examine the situation before diving in.

In Luke 14:28 Jesus said, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, there’s some wisdom here that’s applicable in your personal and professional life. The moral is, think before you commit. If you make a promise to your client, it’s vital that you deliver on that promise. If you can’t finish what you start, it not only makes you look bad, but it puts your client in a very inconvenient situation.

Sometimes a potential client will come to me with a very attractive project and a very tight schedule. I have to carefully weigh the needs of the client, the scope of the project, and the time frame in which it has to be completed. If I’m confident in my ability to deliver, I move forward on the project. If I don’t feel as though I can deliver all that the client is asking in the time frame allotted, I don’t walk away. Rather, I work with the client to see if we can trim the scope of the project to a more manageable size. I almost never say “no,” because often there are solutions that can be made to the satisfaction of everyone.

To succeed as a business owner or freelancer, you have to deliver a quality product on time and on budget. Before you jump in, evaluate the situation carefully and make sure you always deliver on what you promise.