Tuesday, September 26, 2006
People Needing People
I got a reminder today that marketing is not something where you sit back and pull strings to get people to buy. I stopped in at a client's office for our weekly update meeting. There wasn't much to talk about, or so I thought.
The website renovation I'm doing for him is firmly planned out. My report was nothing more than, "Everything's going just as we decided."
I went in there wondering why I was even going in. It seemed like something we could have handled with a quick phone call or even an email.
But today was different. He's been through a lot lately. His father died recently. He's been looking at some pretty big decisions about the direction he wants to take his business.
My 30-second report turned into two hours of strategizing. Most of it had nothing to do with web marketing. It was mostly about other marketing possibilities.
On another day, I might have grown impatient. "Why am I talking with him about areas that I have nothing to do with?" I might have asked myself. But not today.
I realized that what he really wanted today was a bit of human interaction. He wanted to bounce things off of someone else he could count on to give him an honest answer and not just tell him what he wanted to hear.
One of the myths about entrepreneurship is that working on your own is better than working for someone else because you don't have to put up with other people's ideas and contrary ideas.
That part of it feels freeing for a while, but there's someone to be said for having someone you trust that you can bounce things off of, too.
Face it. We're social creatures. We were designed to function at our best by putting out heads together with others. I'm not saying that we, therefore, should not start our own businesses. But I'm pointing out that you still need to interact with your customers, with your suppliers, and with all manner of other people.
You need to nurture those relationships. And you need to find people you can bounce things off of. Being your own boss is a great feeling. But it's better if you have other trusted people who are in the same position that you can turn to when you need a little human interaction.
Jeff
I got a reminder today that marketing is not something where you sit back and pull strings to get people to buy. I stopped in at a client's office for our weekly update meeting. There wasn't much to talk about, or so I thought.
The website renovation I'm doing for him is firmly planned out. My report was nothing more than, "Everything's going just as we decided."
I went in there wondering why I was even going in. It seemed like something we could have handled with a quick phone call or even an email.
But today was different. He's been through a lot lately. His father died recently. He's been looking at some pretty big decisions about the direction he wants to take his business.
My 30-second report turned into two hours of strategizing. Most of it had nothing to do with web marketing. It was mostly about other marketing possibilities.
On another day, I might have grown impatient. "Why am I talking with him about areas that I have nothing to do with?" I might have asked myself. But not today.
I realized that what he really wanted today was a bit of human interaction. He wanted to bounce things off of someone else he could count on to give him an honest answer and not just tell him what he wanted to hear.
One of the myths about entrepreneurship is that working on your own is better than working for someone else because you don't have to put up with other people's ideas and contrary ideas.
That part of it feels freeing for a while, but there's someone to be said for having someone you trust that you can bounce things off of, too.
Face it. We're social creatures. We were designed to function at our best by putting out heads together with others. I'm not saying that we, therefore, should not start our own businesses. But I'm pointing out that you still need to interact with your customers, with your suppliers, and with all manner of other people.
You need to nurture those relationships. And you need to find people you can bounce things off of. Being your own boss is a great feeling. But it's better if you have other trusted people who are in the same position that you can turn to when you need a little human interaction.
Jeff
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