Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello Sunnies,
How is everyone doing? I am posting this article to see how many of you have come accross a client / customer telling you "So what if your company goes belly up tomorrow, who will I get or how will I get the stuff I purchased from you?"
This a question that I`ve been encountering with over the past two months and I want input on how I can put the customer at ease.

Other things I`ve heard are, well can we get your business License number, Fed ID and stuff like that? My response to one of my customers was "Is this the way you deal with your other vendors? His answer was no, so I told him? So why would you request that from our company? His answer was that since he found me on the internet he wasn`t to sure of my company`s reputation, but come on the internet is not any different than opening your Smart yellow pages and searching for web designers ...

Now as a business owner I almost told him to go "fly a kite".. But honestly how do you respond to something like that?
Just wondering what you guys have to say...

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Hi Edgar,

As part of our wholesale registration process, we do ask customers to fill in their tax id #...but we do that to ensure that regular retail customers as a way to weed out the the folks who are just trying to get wholesale pricing if they are not truely a wholesaler.

But in your case it must have been a little disconcerting....this person was perhaps trying to do a little research....we`ve heard often on SuN that some prospects and customers can have a bias toward the start up business or the on-line business.

If this person has potential as a client, I might delve into this a little further with him...I can tell you from experience that I`ve gotten burned royally from Web designers/programmers who said they were, but turned out not to be on the up and up.

Perhaps you can keep the dialogue open with this person and see if there is real potential?

Well see the potential is there, I know we can do business.. But like you said right now he is shopping around for a web designer. As far as tax ID number, that would only apply to wholesale(resellers), plus... it`s not easy to disolve a corporation over night. It`s not easy to close an office over night and in the morning you have a for lease sign.

I`m providing a service not an item. It`s true what you are saying about Web developers and programmers though... they sometimes take advantage of the situation, over promise under deliver, alot of them are only out there to make a quick buck. Alot of them can only provide for themselves, meaning they can only develop for themselves, for their portfolio to see if a company picks them up. Then when they see they can`t deliver what they promised, their phone is disconnected and you can`t no longer find them.

This is anothe issue I am experiencing right now, I have over 7 new accounts, all with half way done web site.

The problem is not finishing them up it`s cleaning up the errors that the other guy made. If there is one thing I hate is cleaning up someone else`s mistakes and designs, especially the coding end of it. It takes longer to correct than starting from scratch.
Any other suggestions?

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

I know the coding can be the most difficult part....but maybe you can distinguish yourself as someone who cares deeply about both.  As a person who needs both services...usually you find a firm that does one or the other and I have to say it can be frustrating.

What would you like to see happen?  

Yes, Distinguishing myself is the key to success. I am in the process of, launching a marketing campaign that targets, clients with uncompleted projects. My catch is, Bring your half-way done project to us, and we guarantee to finish what your other designer couldn`t finish"... This should not only help the business acquire new customers, but also new web hosting clients as well. I just invested in 3 new web Servers so I want to see how that takes off... thanks for the advise...

 

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

I did some work for a software company selling software to big newspapers.  This question came up a lot (since their software was $50-$100K).  They simply signed a contract and confidently told the papers they weren`t going anywhere.

I think giving them some referrals would do the trick....

What your customer is looking for is a little re-assurance.

 

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Bryan C. Fleming

http://www.BryanCFleming.com

I would give them some reassurance...and please don`t do a carbon copy - we are "customer service driven blah blah blah" stuff. 

People want referrals and hard evidence that you "care" about them and are going to be here tomorrow. 

Once you have more of a reputation, these questions will subside be a thing of the past.  It`s just frustrating to get to this point.

Sales is really all about relationships.  They need to like and trust you, and like and trust your company - obviously, the online world is an uncertain place for this person.  It reminds me of something I read that went "All things being equal, people hire their friends; all things being unequal, they still hire their friends."

The reality is in my experience that it`s not about "the internet," it`s about trusting you.  It`s an indicator there is some more work to be done, because you`re at the tipping point of perceived risk (money spent) vs. reward (web site received).

I agree with LGS-- being a few years into the game now, it helps.  But it also helps to exude confidence that their project is going to be done and done right.  Point out clients you`ve served the longest, etc.  Keep at it, believe you can do it, understand where they`re coming from and you`ll get it done.


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"It`s not work, it`s network!"

Portage Media Solutions
http://www.portagemedia.com
My Blog: http://www.interactivemediatips.com