Answer Guy Central

Two of my favorite marketing guys are Chris Brogan and Seth Godin. Both  occupy space in my personal Rolodex, and both are brilliant.

I’ve picked on Chris a few times lately, while Seth’s been largely missing from these pages for a few months. Well, he’s back: a couple of days ago, Seth told a story that got me thinking, and you should pay attention to the lesson.

While my natural inclination is to be as transparent as possible and do full disclosure pretty much all the time, Seth points out that sometimes full disclosure can hurt you, hurt your customer relationships, hurt your marketing efforts, and had it been employed would have added nothing of value.

It’s mind-boggling, and if you choose to go this way, I implore you to do it carefully; most of the time you’re much better off saying what your intentions are and then delivering on those intentions.

But remember that perception is reality. Lula’s Apothecary might well be the most delicious stuff on the planet, but there are people who won’t consider a frozen dessert that’s non-dairy, vegan, or anything else that “sounds wrong”. So who says you need to tell them in the big macro-marketing material?

Business Change comes in a lot of flavors, and most of them should be some variant of “transparent”. But since perception is reality, remember that if it tastes like vanilla, it might as well be vanilla.

I haven’t quoted Seth Godin in almost two months. I think Seth’s one of the smartest guys around, and I encourage you to type “Godin” into the search bar on the right of this page. Real Business Change awaits.

Today, Seth’s put together a treatise on what makes a “Great Client”, and it got me thinking.

Who’s responsible for guiding a business relationship?

If you’re paying the bills, you think it’s you, right? What if you’re paying the bills to a consultant charged with making business change for you (it’s what we do here, for example). Are you still in charge, or does the onus of creating business change fall on me?

I found it beyond fascinating that Mr. Godin made the focus of this piece what makes a Great Client instead of what makes a great service provider. It reminded me of one of those memories-from-the-past that my friends and clients have come to know me for: when I was a kid . . . sixteen years old . . . I worked at a supermarket. And the manager one night said—I’m not kidding—“business would be great if it wasn’t for the customers“.

It’s a constant battle. We hate our customers because they’re demanding, but without them we have no business. Customers hate their service providers / business consultants because . . . well, maybe it’s for the same reason! Even if you use the supermarket example, it holds true: “I’m sorry sir, you didn’t use that coupon properly“. REALLY?

Business Change only happens when everyone involved understands the absolute need for collaboration. And strives toward creating it. Be a Great Client and a Great Provider.

Once again, brilliant marketing dude Seth Godin has me thinking. Read his story about apples and experts.

Here’s what that makes me think of:

We act as our clients’ experts in various fields. The Computer Answer Guy fixes broken IT models. PC-VIP introduces a whole new one. And Answer Guy Central fills in the blanks for many different things, from business strategy to media creation to . . . well, pretty much anything that could improve in your business. People come to us and we fix broken things, and make things that are good, great.

There’s very little we do that you couldn’t do for yourself if you took the time to figure out how. Then again, that applies to brain surgeons, too, doesn’t it (other than how physically awkward it would be to cut into your own brain)?

The other side of this conversation, though, is that we EXPLAIN it better than you might be able to puzzle through on your own. We help you get your stuff done in a way you understand well enough that lets you move forward either with or without us. It’s change. It’s PROGRESS.

And progress is the matter at hand.

The next time you’re mulling over your choice in apples, computers, who to date, what kind of movie to see, or anything else, by all means ask the people you think bring enough expertise to the table to make their opinions worth requesting. Then decide for yourself whether to follow those opinions, or not.

Most of all, be smart about who you ask for help. The time savings alone will make for real business change.

OK, folks, READ THIS, and then listen up . . .

I’ve said before that Seth Godin is a genius, and for me this just proves it, more, and again.

The one that stopped me in my tracks was this tip for holding on to customers:

You can create switching costs, so that the hassle and cost of moving to a cheaper competitor is so great, it’s just not worth it.

Yikes. And true.

We’re preparing a multi-part description of our recent odyssey with a service called Hubspot. These guys provide one of the most most amazing legitimate marketing opportunities you’re going to find anywhere. Oh, and: once you’re in, good luck getting out.

How good are they? If you’re just starting out, I’ll tell you something: they’re so good you shouldn’t let that last statement scare you away.

More business change tomorrow . . .

OK, I already know the answer to that one. You might own a sewing machine, but it’s pretty likely that unless you’re one of an all-but-vanished breed, you don’t.

But there was a time not all that long ago when everyone did. My father’s wife, for example, owned a sewing machine, and it did all kinds of neat stitch things that she never used when sewing on a button or fixing a hem that had come undone. Oh, and she sure never made a dress.

Marketing guru Seth Godin recently made a point, and I’d like to expand on it. Sewing machines, like so many things we never thought would go away, are now meaningless. Twitter may already be on the way out, and even Facebook, in spite of still adding users at an impressive pace, is starting to look to an awful lot of people like one more transient fad.

The solution to this problem (folks, it is a problem if you’re trying to stay ahead of change)? Win fast. Kill it, in whatever you’re doing, and if you’re going to, then exit the field before everyone else realizes it’s time to do so.

EMBRACE CHANGE.

Tell me how you plan to do it!