Do these questions sound familiar? Or did it ring tons of bells? 😂
In a few discovery calls I had with some potential clients, these are some of the statements or somehow statements with a tone of questioning that need to be further discussed for clarity.
That way, any misunderstanding could, at all costs, be avoided, and these top two questions/statements are:
👉 This shouldn't take that much time?
👉 This should be easy, right?
This used to take me aback when a prospect said/asked these things because it immediately made me think:
💡 it wouldn't take much time if all resources are available and there was enough preparation
💡 if it were easy, you could have done it instead? 🤷♀️
Yes, in a perfect world, it shouldn't take much time to finish the project if all resources are easily accessible and there's enough preparation.
However, we're not living in a perfect world, right? 😂
We do our best to deliver quality work as soon as possible but sometimes there are external factors that will affect your project timeline including:
👉 How quickly you can give feedback during the process
👉 How open and accessible the communication is
👉 How long does it take for your third party services such as domain/hosting providers to respond and resolve your requests (if applicable)
👉 How quickly you can provide us with the content and assets needed for the project
But then, I took a step back and gained some perspectives like
💡 maybe this potential client is asking this because she wants to know the turnaround time or wants to be given an estimated time that a task/project will be completed because there are other tasks that are dependent on it
💡 maybe the prospect is asking if it's easy because she had seen that I've done it with some previous clients and just needs reassurance that I can do it again OR wants to know the depth of my knowledge and experience in a given task/project
..and these all made sense!😊
The truth is that social media management is not as easy as it sounds.
It's a challenging job, and it's not always quick as what most people would think.
I'd be lying if I say it's a walk in the park!
There are many different channels to be on, which are constantly changing. It can take a lot of time and effort to keep up with these changes.
When questions like these come up on calls or meetings, I don't immediately jump to conclusions and be defensive, like I used to. 😅
I put myself in their shoes, ask questions and clarify when necessary.
I do my best to read between the lines, analyze where the question is really coming from and try to fill the need/gap.
To my fellow service providers, let me know if you have a similar experience and how you've handled it then and now 🙌
Cheering you on,
MJ 💕
