Charlatans
When I was a kid I had a brother-in-law, Ted, who was a Lutheran Pastor. Once a week Ted would create a sermon to be delivered to his flock on Sunday morning. His approach was to use an event from over the course of his week as a topic at the center of the sermon. The church calendar would also dictate that the sermon teach the lesson from a specified bible passage. It was easy for Ted to come up with his story for the week. It wasn't always easy for him to tie it into the requisite scripture reading. There were plenty of Saturday nights consumed until dawn making this connection. It was hit or miss.
I find that this same approach works for me when it comes to producing this weekly blog entry. For those of you who have not noticed, I post an entry each Friday. However, two things are different for me than they were for Ted. First, I don't have a required bible passage to tie in. And Second, I don't stay up all night on Thursday composing. The nice thing about this blog software is that you can post-date entries. Some of mine have been weeks late.
My entries do relate to an event or activity of my week, or the week before. And, while I don't need to connect to verses from the Good Book, I do keep things relevant to the theme of customers on the edge. So, what was the experience this week that led to the title of "Charlatans"? A difficult client meeting, what else?
I have a client, who after months of working together, still treats me as if I am trying to pull a fast one over on him. You will have seen a previous entry describing this as a broader problem – consultants are often linked with other notorious professions. In the minds of some we are all just charlatans.
For an interesting dialogue on client / consultant relations check on this blog site.
This same perception can leak over into other industries as well, particularly when it comes to marketing, and especially on-line marketing efforts. I have seen banners and gimmicks from Fortune 100 tech firms that are no different from those hawking dating services, porn call-in numbers, and get rich quick schemes. Under these circumstances the damage is self-inflicted. There is absolutely no reason to use nefarious means to lure people to your site. If you offer an iPod give away you are going to attract people who want a free iPod, not necessarily those who want to buy your services. And if you forward those contact details onto your sales force as if they were real leads, you are only doubling the damage.
The use of a Trojan horse to get someone to visit your site and check out your product does not have to follow this slippery path. Offer a white paper or webinar that is on a topic relevant to your product or service. This stands a much better chance of attracting quality prospects into your funnel. This can be a hard concept to get across. My own marketing VP will argue that our last M&M giveaway brought in a legitimate client. I’m OK with giving stuff away – it does build a certain amount of good will. However, when it comes to the use of techniques to lure those to your site, stick with product or service related content. It will save you from being lumped in with the rest of us charlatans.