Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Which of you 3 is my contact?

by // Leave a Comment

imgresI’m in the very preliminary car shopping phase. Still figuring out what my next car will be. I know what I want, but let’s be honest, the Tesla X is not realistic for this entrepreneur’s budget. So, I’m checking out some cars. The other night I was playing online and submited info to get a price quote and begin the question asking phase. I got 2 emails back to back from the dealership. From 2 different people, Erin & Christine. AND the email  from Erin was signed by Danny.

I appreciate you have setup automated the follow up process, which I FULLY support. If done well. But if I’m going to give you a lot of my money for a car, then I’d like to have ONE point of contact who can actually sell me a car and answer my questions. I don’t want 3 different “internet managers”. What does that even mean? Do you manage sales only through the internet? If I come into the dealership are you my contact? Or are you in charge of the online presence for your company?

I emailed Christine and asked WHO I should be talking to since I seem to have 3 options here.  It’s been a week and no response…

This isn’t the first time that a company I contact has had multiple personality disorder. Make sure you are make contacting your company easy for the CUSTOMER, not for you. But overwhelming and confusing people you lose business.

Earning Your First Dollar

by // Leave a Comment

imagesA couple of months ago we went up to Orcas Island for a wedding. The ferry was PACKED and we ended up walking on and having a hard time finding a place to sit. I finally found a spot and there were two kids sitting across from us. I told them I’d give them a dollar if they held the booth for us. I left my bag and ran to get my husband & the rest of our stuff.

They held the booth, so I paid them each a dollar. The mom kept saying I didn’t have to, but I told them I’d pay them and hey, they did their job well! Later on the ferry the mom caught me and said they were SO EXCITED they had finally earned their first dollar!

Earning your first dollar is a GREAT feeling. That first check addressed to Yellow Dog Consulting was awesome. And then you get into a routine, and are nagging clients about paying their bill and you stress about budgets.

It’s easy to forget that you worked hard for that money, AND it’s all yours now! Being an entrepreneur is hard work, and it can be a slow up tick to making what you want. When you get frustrated, remember that first pay check, it’s still worth it.

Social Media: Are You Trying to Hard?

by // Leave a Comment

imagesToo often I talk to people who are trying to make social media work for them. They have the secret app that will help follow & unfollow and find the right “peeps” that may buy their product or service. But in an effort to gain followers and create interactions with influencers, too often we forget to be REAL on social media. Obviously my experience is with Twitter, but I know it’s similar with all social media platforms.

Don’t forget to be a person. Be real. I don’t want to hire a logo or a brand, I want to work with a real live person. Someone who posts pictures of their kids or pet or team dressed up for Halloween. Someone who answers my question WITHOUT a sales pitch attached.

If you are active on social media and have a hard time converting, take a step back and look at what you’re doing. Are you desperate to get that ONE big influencer to retweet you? Or are you having a conversation with your target market? Asking questions, answering questions, being a resource. If someone asks a question on Twitter and I know the answer or have a suggestion, I’ll send it to them. Be helpful, no strings attached.

As I seem to say too often in regards to Social Media, your desperation is more obvious to us than you think it is. Calm down, step back and have fun.

And if it’s not fun? Stop doing it. Make sure you’re active on social media where your target market is. If your focus is B2B and you hate Facebook, it’s OK to not have a Facebook business page (note how it has NOT hurt my business at all). If Twitter stresses you out, it’s OK not to be on Twitter. You need to do what works for you. We can tell when you aren’t having fun.