CC by loush

There is one thing I wish western culture learned from Eastern European folks, and it’s being more straightforward. I meet new people everyday. Quite a lot of those new connections can be potentially good for my business. Most of them won’t be. I don’t mind. It’s nobody’s fault. My product might not be right for you. You might be too busy to focus on implementing it at the moment. It might not be possible for us to cooperate because of some ‘political’ issues. It’s possible that you simply don’t like me. I don’t care, as long as you tell me now.

Quite often we end up talking to that Big Important Customer for 6 months, just to hear that ‘things have changed’ or ‘we need to focus elsewhere at the moment’, while the answer was obvious from the start. This is why I value the approach that Fred Destin once described in his blog post on The one-sentence e-mail turndown – a quick no is worth a lot more than a nice half year long ‘conversation’. But it’s a two sided issue – quite often we should move on if the dynamics of the new relationship is not performing the way it should be.

So please Mrs/Mr Important Customer, the next time you get a call from someone that wants to do business with you, and you’re not interested, just say no. You don’t have to be rude. People will understand (eventually). It will save them a lot of time, in which they can do quite a lot of new business. And if you’re the guy being told ‘no’ within first week of new business relationship – just be grateful and move on.

1. Partnerships
   You will need them at some point if you want to grow fast – be it your distribution channel, promotion partner or complimentary product provider
2. Financing
   ‘We don’t invest in people we don’t know’ one VC told me once – enough said ;)
3. Buying
   When you’re small, have no credit record, and you company is 10 days old it’s hard to get good prices, long term payment conditions and any form of exclusivity (which might be important if you’re claiming a ma rket niche)
4. Promoting
   It’s a lot more efficient to call 3 friends and tell them you’re up to something new than distribute 1000 press release messages to industry bloggers.
5. Hiring
   You can’t pay them enough. You can’t give them benefits. Your promise is sweat and blood. And possible defeat. The’ve got to like you to trust you :)
6. Selling
   Chances are your product can be sold to enterprise customers, be white-labeled or bundled with something. It might not be your ultimate strategy, but anything that keeps cash flowing in is good at the beginning.

So even though you think that in this WebThingy you can Adwords your road to wealth, or Digg your product to fame – think twice. People are using your product. People spread the news about your product. People will make your product. Get to know them. Go, network.

If you strongly disagree – let it out in the comments.

Thus said, customers didn’t stop being people – even if those people represent companies or organizations. How do you make contact with them then? You have e-mail, IM, blogs, Twitter, social platforms and other tools to help you – but do you really use them all? Probably not, and quite possibly you shouldn’t. Because what you use should really be contextual to your business, or rather to the way your customers are used to communicate. If you’re selling to people in their twenties Twitter will probably work. But if your customers are their grandparents you will have to stick to the old-school like phone or standard mail. In middle ages the best place to communicate with clients was being literally on the streets because that’s where they were. And you couldn’t send them letters, because most of them couldn’t read. That’s pretty much the same right now – they can read, they just don’t know how to get your message.

So if you’re running an online business make sure you let your customers communicate with you pre and post sales in the way that you really thought through and dedicate yourself to. Because if you put e-mail address on your website, and don’t respond to it people will be disappointed. And they will let everyone else know about it in their way: Twitter, Facebook or their local BINGO club. Also – make sure it’s a two-way and active communication. It’s not enough to run Twitter account to broadcast company promotions. You have to react to people’s complains or praise about your products. You should participate in conversations that are relevant to your business, even if they’re not about you.

Internet is ‘the street’ of today. Make sure you’re really on it. Because being social is not only about the buzzword – it’s about communication with people. Your people.