As I struggled last evening with writing today’s blog posting, I was struggling with the contradictions of the day just completed. On one level, things moved swiftly, and with a simple email, I solved a problem for a fellow board member of the Construction Specifications Canada Ottawa Chapter, and provided a worthy business referral to an association executive officer who had done much business with us in the past. With just a few clicks of my email, I contributed constructively and selflessly. Did this referral create any business for me? No, but it surely helped cement relationships.
Meanwhile, on another project, I managed to strain relationships for a project generated by referrals and high quality giving and sharing by pushing the “ask” for support too hard. This is always a challenge. When do you ask, and when can you expect a “yes” from people you know and have helped or worked with in the past? Sometimes these sales are the easiest to arrange and often the resistance is nil: The person is happy to do business with you and is just waiting for your “ask”. But in other situations, like the ones I encountered yesterday, I’m pushing up against values, perceptions and rational priorities. The “no” is rational and well-placed, and a few of these “nos” make you wonder if the project overall is worthwhile or sustainable. Rejection hurts.
A third example of this sort of dichotomy occurred with the recent Taking Your Construction Business to the Next Level webinar with Bill Caswell. Extensive marketing and promotion on this site and elsewhere generated five clients ready to pay $49.00 (we returned the $49.00 to one client who couldn’t attend when I failed to properly record the event.) We thought the event had been a dismal failure. However, a few weeks after the event, Bill asked for a repeat: It turns out he received two significant and potentially valuable client inquiries from the 90 minute session. My business also received confirmation of a feature profile which will probably generate at least a few thousand dollars in revenue. Here, a seeming marketing failure turned into a rather significant success. (We will take measures to avoid repeating the technical problems next time around.)
What can we make of all of this? Why are some things so easy they seem almost impossibly effective and why are some things so hard that you just want to give up and throw in the towel. (Why, as well, do successes and failures not always turn out the way they appear at first sight?)
I wish I could give a simple answer, but the clues are probably in the basic marketing principals outlined in this blog and elsewhere. Most people like to buy, not be sold to, and most like to control the timing of the situation and “ask”. Most people are looking for quick and responsible answers and if you can provide them without cost or self-interest, you will succeed. However, sometimes selling is wise and effective and can provide results that make everything worthwhile. One person who complained about my marketing and expressed push-back on my selling initiatives also remarked to me: “If it brings in business and makes the project viable, then I’ll change my mind.” He is right, of course. When your marketing goes over the line, and your selling causes you to be a pest, you need to stop — but if you pick up just a few orders from this pestiness, and the clients are overwhelmingly satisfied, to the point that they call back and buy and refer a whole lot more, then is it wrong to be a pest?