In 2020, we are living in a time when ambient risks have skyrocketed. The economic risks, social risks, and public health risks are massively higher than they were last year. This includes the risk of hiring a professional services firm. People hire these experts to reduce their risk of negative outcomes. For example: I could draft my own contract, but if I hire an attorney to do it, I have more confidence that I can enforce the contract. I could design my own website, but if I hire a web design company, I believe it will be easier to navigate, get higher search rankings, and produce more leads. I could get a logo designed on Fiverr, but if I hire a branding agency, I'll … [Read more...]
PROPOSALS…HUNH! YEAH! What are they good for?
(ACTUALLY? Not a whole lot.) I work with a lot of service firm owners and there’s one thing they all hate, and that’s writing proposals. They love meeting with prospects, identifying the problems the prospects are having, and talking about how they can help. But then they get back to their office and the work of actually writing the proposal is a grind. And it’s easy to see why when you look at the proposals themselves; they are (truly) works of ART! My clients will craft unique descriptions of the problem, then outline (step-by-painful-step) how their unique process™ will produce the solution their prospect is looking for. Then they add to that team bios, case studies, and all kinds of … [Read more...]
Small Business Hiring Success: Build a house you want to live in
Nothing ruins a business owner’s day more than having one of their key employees quit. Even if they are quitting for a good reason, it feels like a failure. Putting a team together is hard work, and this is a tear in the fabric of that team. As soon as we get over the loss of that key person, the reality sets in: who is going to do their work? Most likely me. UGH. So now I have extra work to do, I have a team to knit back together, and I have to conduct a hiring process too. It’s no wonder that I see business owners try to short cut the hiring process (again, and again, and…) It’s painful. We want it to be over. Who wants to take time to think about the job and searching for the right … [Read more...]