DOTC: Bringing on the Barter

Let's get back to brass tacks today, and do it on the cheap!

As a small business, you often need many products or services that you simply can’t afford to buy outright.  This can be especially true in the very beginning of a new business.

One way to work around this is to go very, very old school  - barter.

Not only does it help you get around a cash shortage, it’s also a way to get your service/product out there, and hopefully, have a barter client who will sing your praises, perhaps via a recommendation on your web site or on LinkedIn.

Note:  referrals and recommendations are a "currency" that can help you out big-time, so don't discount the value of this.

So, how would this work?

A pot of honey for a mauling?  DEAL!

Let’s say, for example, you are a bookkeeper.  You need a logo created.

I bet, if you are out there leads referral networking (and if you’re not, why aren't you? It’s one of the best cheap tactics around), you know a graphic designer or know someone who can recommend a good one. 

It is very possible that your designer friend needs somebody to set up their Quickbooks.  Maybe the time it takes the designer to whip you up a logo is similar to the time it'd take for you to set up Quickbooks.  Thus, it would be a mutually agreeable arrangement for both of you to barter this service.

In my opinion, this works best with services trading for services, but there's no reason why you can't do it for goods.

The possibilities are endless, but here's some services I bet you could find a barter partner for:

• Graphic design
• Copywriting
• Web hosting
• Bookkeeping
• Cleaning services (especially if you have a physical location, like a martial arts school or a small office)
• Administrative services
• Execution of social media
• IT services

Note: When bartering, do make sure you are trading equally - that is, the value of your time (or cost of goods) versus what you receive in trade needs to be relatively the same.

You don't want to give more than you get, right?

Track the value of barter just as you would as if you were paying cash, and evaluate the return on investment the same way.

Also - talk to your bookkeeper or accountant about how that needs to be tracked, as it is considered taxable income by the IRS in many cases.

Have you ever used barter in your business?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Adventures in Customer Service - UPDATE!

If you didn't read about my awesome adventure in customer service with AT&T, you can catch up with Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.  Epic fail was, indeed, epic.

By the way, Twitter account for customer service from AT&T (@attcustomercare), when you ask me to DM you, why didn't you ever respond to the DM I sent to you as requested?  Tweet from AT&T Customer Care

I wrote those posts before the situation was finally resolved - here's the conclusion to the story.

After doing some research, I decided that I was going to switch providers.  A competing provider in my area (who will, admittedly, treat me no better than AT&T - I switched to AT&T from them, so I know them well) has a similar internet service for about $30 less a month than I pay currently.

If I'm going to have bad customer service, I might as well get it cheaper.

So I call AT&T.

I confirm I'm going to get a credit for my internet outage, as I was repeatedly told several different CSR's in the midst of the outage fiasco.  The nice guy on the line (and I do think they hire very nice people overall) tells me he will manually make sure I get issued the credit and confirms the amount.

Wait... "manually issue the credit"?

That's not funny, AT&T.

If I didn't call in and specifically request it, would I have automatically received the credit?

I asked the CSR this question, and he responded that they couldn't know how long my internet was down and thus what to credit me for unless I called in.

I would not have received the credit if I hadn't called in and specifically asked for it!

I received a robocall on the day service was restored telling me the ticket was closed.  So yeah, they knew I was back online.  The promise of a credit was basically a promise they weren't going to argue with me about it, I guess?

Here's the deal: I'm a big corporation veteran, so here's my (admittedly cynical) bet:  I bet they are hoping I forget or miss it on my bill so they can keep the money.

It's like how a percentage of people let gift cards expire and the company gets to keep the money.  It's one of those little things they do that flows directly to their bottom line. It's smart on a spreadsheet.

It's horrible customer service.

So, next, I tell CSR guy that I'm going to fire them for a better deal, and he wants to transfer me over to the Retention Department.  I agree to listen (hey, never hurts).

Retention Department Dude is a very nice guy, and he offers to give me the next tier of faster speed for about $15 less a month than I am paying them for the slower service (and the faster service starts immediately).  Plus, they are going to upgrade my modem at no charge (which is what the service tech recommended).

The equivalent service (the faster speed than what I had) from the competitor costs almost double that, so, after three (and now four) blog posts complaining about them...

I'm still a customer of AT&T (just barely) for another year.

Even if they just had to end that call with that stupid, mindless reminder about texting and driving (seriously, AT&T, stop it!)

Here's the thing:

I think AT&T is trying very hard to deliver good customer service (given they are in a captive market, which I talk a little about here) and are completely missing the mark.  I think, on some level, they know this, and that's why they have a Retention Department authorized to reel me back in with a (relatively) good deal.

They overcame my anger by finding the tipping point whereby I would let it go in order to get a better price.

They can afford to this, because they are very big.  You know how I bet they are hoping I miss my credit (and thus give it up) above?  This is the flip side of that bet.   

You (and I) are very small.  We can't afford to do it this way!

To sum up:

1. Don't require your customer to solve their own problems - that's your job
2. Don't say things you don't mean
3. Don't put your priorities ahead of your customer's

Are you disappointed I stayed with AT&T?  Let me know in the comments below!

Assuming the No

Recently, I wrote about the pursuit of the Big Idea, and how we prevent ourselves from making them into reality.

One of the reasons we use to prevent our development of Big Ideas is:

We decide we can’t get buy-in from needed partners or leaders.

This is "Assuming the No".

People in direct sales are very familiar with this, and to be successful, they have to do a very good job in overcoming what I suspect is a natural inclination to assume people don't want you, your ideas, your products, or your services.

I struggle with this myself! I have a nearly pathological fear of approaching people I don't already know in order to sell my services (and yes, I'm working on that).

This is related to something a friend and I were discussing the other day - the idea that we have

Protip:  Grumpy Cat will not be on board.

been programmed to ask for permission to do anything.

Starting as small children, we need to ask for permission from parents, teachers, pastors, coaches and a whole host of other people.  As adults, we include needing the permission of bosses, coworkers, vendors, and customers.

When we become small business people, we then retain this habit, even when we don't have to!

So this is what we do:

1. We ask or wait for permission
2. We assume that permission will not be granted.

I want to explore asking for permission further in another post, so lets get back to that NO you think you're going to get, and let's assume you do need "permission" to proceed with the idea (such as buy-in from a potential partner).

We all know the saying about assuming things (and if you want to see the origin of the phrase, as far as I can tell, take a few minutes and watch this scene from The Odd Couple - classic!) but that's not the real core of this problem.

Why are we automatically assuming that NO is the answer?

What happens if we change our minds and assume that YES is the answer? That the idea will sound as good to other people as it does to us?  That they, too, will be swept up in the excitement of our Big Idea?

Unlike when we were kids, where we learned that Mom and Dad were absolutely not going to allow us to eat candy for dinner every night, there's no good reason to assume that every person will give you no for an answer other than our own doubts and fears.

Here's a challenge: for one week, in everything you do, to assume that whenever you need buy-in from somebody else, that the answer will be YES.  Don't let your fear of no prevent you from getting that client, partner, or Big Idea off the ground.

Start assuming the yes.

I bet it's going to change your perception of what you can do - and you'll discover that it was you saying no far more often than other people.

Try it, and let me know how it goes!

You can always drop me a note at AbanicoMktg@gmail.com or comment below.

What's the Big Idea?

Ever get an idea that was so powerful it felt like literally getting hit in the head when it occurred to you?  It’s one of the best feelings in the world, isn't it?

True, 99% of these ideas are unworkable as originally imagined, and maybe a third are workable in a refined form.  Regardless, some of my best work comes from these “lightning bolt” moments - the times when I become struck with a truly Big Idea.

So, after the initial shock of it wears off, what happens next, typically?

I've noticed that it’s very common for us to dismiss Big Ideas offhand.  We let the Big Idea just die. We do this for a lot of reasons:

Probably both?

We decide we don’t have (and can never get) the resources necessary to execute this Big Idea.

We decide we can’t get buy-in from needed partners or leaders.

We decide that the idea is so fanciful it’s completely unrealistic to spend any time developing it.

We decide that the idea must have too many fatal flaws - if it is such a great idea, why isn't somebody else doing it?

Or, most tragically, we decide that the idea is just too good or too big for somebody like us.

Much of the time, this decision is made before doing any research, any discussion, or any planning. It’s automatically rejected out of hand before any development happens.

Every great idea was at one time just somebody’s “aha” moment - nothing more than a Big Idea.

Take Jeff Bezos and Amazon.  Do you think when he first considered selling things on the internet, that he had the huge logistical problem completely worked out before he started writing his business plan?  Do you think, at that stage, he had any idea what Amazon would become?

Nope – he wanted in on the ground floor of the coming eCommerce revolution, and he saw books as his way to do it - so he wrote a plan, got the partners he needed, they solved the problems that arose, and changed shopping on the internet as we knew it. 

Learn more about how Amazon came to be here: Freshdesk: Amazon's Road to Customer Happiness

The point is, if Bezos had listened to conventional wisdom about profitability, and logistics, and a host of other things, Amazon would not exist.  Now, you can argue somebody else would have done something similar, and maybe that's true - but it was Bezos who created Amazon and changed our world.

There is no reason in this world you can't do it, too. Imagine how amazing the world would be if we all developed those Big Ideas into reality!

Do me – and the world – a favor.  Write down your next great “aha” moment and let that big idea breathe.  Don't let it die before you give it a chance.

Who knows?  The next Big Idea that changes the world could be yours!