Craig Sutton
Why did I want to do it?
Four years ago when I first had an idea that I wanted to start a new company, I really had a very ideological concept developing within me about giving back to others while still finding a way to make a living. In general, I really like people, don’t get me wrong, I have had some very interesting relationships with people as well, but still feel the majority of people in their core are good and decent.
I wanted to be able to serve people in a way that was meaningful and use some of my core strengths and the knowledge I have obtained over 25 years in the workforce and 28 years investing time in technology. So it only made sense that the computer and its various uses including Web development and now social media would become a big part of what this company, networktask.com and its web division BrightWeb Marketing, would do.
What I thought was this, we can fix a computer, we can help people with their network, we can create a website based around what the customer’s products and services are, but I have always felt that giving the customer some of the power back would help them understand why our services were necessary. In some cases we would be teaching these customers things we would otherwise be charging them for. But I had greater goals in mind, I wanted to earn the trust of people. If you earn the trust of others, there is nothing more rewarding you will do in your lifetime!
The philosophy was simple, don’t try to make all of your money on a few customers who have very little information about what you do. Instead educate them to become more efficient and have a better understanding of how the technology works so they can help themselves when it is possible to do so and rely on the professionals when they know things are out of their scope of knowledge. My thought was, and always has been, that I would prefer to have more customers not just a few core customers who need me.
Something I continue to preach over and over again, whether you’re talking about management, services, processes its all just about people. If you take care of the people the people always take care of you!
So how do you educate the customer?
Regardless of the type of product and services that you offer, be prepared to explain the necessity in detail and also be prepared to avoid the hard sell. I know how difficult this is, for some, closing sales is your means to an end, however the education has produced more work for me. It doesn’t always produce immediate results, but building relationships rarely ever does.
Want details? Here you go!
We currently have a small classroom in our office that holds roughly 10 to 12 people. We have started to offer some instructional courses on topics ranging from search engine marketing, social media, Microsoft office tools, how networks work… Etc. for some of the classes we charge a small fee, other classes we offer for free. Share the Knowledge!
How does the company and customer BOTH benefit from this?
Lets give the example of Search Engine Marketing classes:
In the area in which we live our target by necessity is small business, we do not have a major business needing our services in our region. Small business people know their core business better than I could ever know it. Unless I spend the time to understand a small businesses at an expense to them, I could never do them justice. However, if we educate them on how these processes work and how to do things the right way they become a guide for the services we can provide that do not match their skill set, such as web design. It becomes much more affordable for small business to pay us to make adjustments and make suggestions on their wishes than to run a campaign for them. Now we still have small business who wish to pay us to run the complete campaign, but they do so now with the knowledge of the process and why it is so detailed and costly. This gives them a solid appreciation of that expense. Nothing makes people happier than knowing they have made a choice based on information, not out of necessity and their lack of information.
End Result?
Because of this word-of-mouth has produced the results I hope for. We now have a very solid footprint of customers in our small region, including some of the biggest names in this area and the majority of this work came from customers who were happy with our approach. Not sure many of our competitors feel the same!
I’ve made it a goal in my life to find a way to help others. This does not mean I cannot make a decent living doing so, in fact our company remains healthy in its fourth year.
I hope this helps you!
Tags: craig sutton, customers, educating, education, examples
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Craig, thanks for educating me (and by extension my staff) long distance via email and phone. One thing I’ve come to realize is that running a web business is a lot more complicated when the business grows, and I am grateful to have solid partners.
Having the right partners (like your company) is not just a “nice thing.” It helps you grow faster and with fewer mistakes along the way.
I’ve learned a lot from you and your team already even though I am not close enough distance-wise to attend your classes, and I appreciate your taking the time through email. I look forward to learning more.
– Anita
Anita,
I appreciate the kind words, but you also just gave me an idea. I need to record and post the classes to make them available to others who are not local. Look for that from us on the near future!
Craig
Great — will look forward to the video-taped (or audio) classes, too. And if you have kind of workbook, putting that online for clients would be helpful as well.
I’d love to have my staff get access, too, as it saves me time having to explain things to them.
As someone who subscribes to the ‘value for the community = value for all’ philosophy, I wholeheartedly support your stance on educating customers and sharing knowledge.
I, too, spend a great deal of time teaching my clients about interactive strategy, online branding, social media and the web overall. It is my hope that if I effectively impart the subtleties and nuances of the space, and help to elevate their thinking on the subject, it will benefit everyone — me in gaining buy in for campaigns [with customers who have a better grasp of the market] and the customers in enhancing their expertise and internal planning practices in devising more targeted/achievable strategies.
It also helps with communications as we are all ‘speaking the same language’ in crafting initiatives aligned with realistic objectives that generate a measurable return.
For me, it is part of my job to make my clients look good with their senior management et al; therefore, it is incumbent upon me to impart as much knowledge as I can so that they are equipped with the tools for success — even outside the scope of our engagement. It’s a partnership, and I believe that if you approach it that way, you build stronger relationships with your customers, develop compelling, more actionable campaigns, and create a blueprint for ongoing results.
Unfortuately, in an oversaturated space where everyone is stepping all over each other for business and share of voice among the same customers, many opt to hold onto that knowledge, concerned that clients will take it elsewhere or that it will mitigate the need for them as service providers. But the old ‘I’m the expert’ paradigm is limited; without the free flowing exchange of information and knowledge, you end up stagnating — vendors, customers, campaigns, etc.
Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in an open forum, sharing ideas, knowledge and best practices to help identify — and fill in the gaps — to advance to the next level.
At the end of the day, we’re all learning but if we don’t share what we’ve learned as we go along, we all stop learning. And worse, we all stop innovating.