Picture this: you’ve just been called into an unexpected meeting, and you’re completely unprepared. The clock is ticking, and your mind is racing. In the corporate world, where meetings are a pivotal aspect of day-to-day operations, being caught off-guard can be intimidating. But fear not! This guide will walk you through various techniques to create the illusion of preparedness, and also discuss when it might be better to simply be honest about your situation.
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(Photo by Franck BLAIS)
I got to a point where my business was humming along pretty well – except I was stressed all the time, had no idea how to expand, and wasn’t happy with our bottom line.
We weren’t losing money. In fact, we had operated with zero debt since the business opened, a particular point of pride for me. It sure would’ve been nice to make more, though. I’d earned less that year than when I was working as a newspaper reporter.* I had no idea how to get there, though.
My state provides free small business advisors, so I took them up on the offer. I ended up sitting down with one of my wife’s old college buddies, and he laid it all out for me – not necessarily how to make more money, but how much to charge for video services, based on how much I wanted to make over the next year.
And once you know exactly what your fee should be, and why it should be that amount, it’s easier to tell clients that’s what you charge. So, assuming you’re a more-of-a-creative-than-a-business-type like me, I’m going to save you a trip and share the secret.
Hot on the heels of our very first truly viral video, I put out another fun, quick clip. While it didn’t blow up, it’s definitely been popular — especially among people I’d love to court as clients.
But I squandered it. Learn from my mistake!
Creating a viral video — that’s the dream, isn’t it?
I had that happen just this week, and I’m still waiting to see the implications. The idea came to me suddenly and completely. I knew what I wanted to say, I knew how to put the video together, and I had a strong feeling that it’d resonate. It was a bolt of lightning, one of those creative sparks that I had to act on right the hell now.
But I stepped back for a minute, thought about it, and turned it into a powerful marketing tool. Here’s why it worked, and how it’s going to help my business get its name out.
Three times in two weeks, I had clients call with requests for the raw footage from earlier shoots I’d performed for them. In all three cases, they wanted me to send it to other production companies.
At the time, I felt compelled to say yes. Now, there’s a clause in our standard production contract that lets me tell them no. In the long run, it’s better to try and keep the rights to your footage.
(Photo by Rob_Rob2001.)
Way back when, the makers of Chivas Regal weren’t happy with their profit margin. In an act of desperation, they doubled the price of their whiskey without changing the formula in the slightest. Sales went up. Sales went up a whole lot.
I can’t even remember where I first heard this story, and it’s very likely apocryphal. But it’s possible to make clients happy by charging them more money — making them think they’re going to get charged an arm, a leg, and maybe a liver.
It should go without saying that whatever kind of publicity you’re putting out, it’s going to reflect back on your, your organization or your business.
But that’s what you want, right? The whole idea of advertising and PR is to make you look good. That door swings both ways, however. Putting out shoddy commercials, press releases or even malformed tweets makes you look bad.
And people remember the bad stuff a lot longer. They’re more likely to tell their friends about the bad stuff. People love sharing stories about bad stuff.
So take it personal. And invest a little bit of ego in it.
My son lulled me into a false sense of security. We got about four good months of his being the perfect two-year-old before the terrible twos started in earnest. And man, did they start. Every little routine daily activity was no longer routine — it was a battle of wills between us. He got mad. I got mad. His mother got mad.
Worst of all, it was affecting how we felt about our parenting. It’s hard to feel good about raising the youth of tomorrow when you feel overwhelmed, frustrated and utterly emotionally beaten.
Thanks to a little nugget of wisdom, though, things are better. Not perfect, mind you, but better. A lot better.