I have been working my ass off, frustrating my friends, frustrating my wife (who does understand and support me 100%), and pushing myself to the limits with some of my projects.  I work hard because I love what I do and feel that the work that I put in will be worth all the time spent and frustrations created.  The thing I have the hardest time with is that NONE of my sites really make good money.  Yeah, I am admitting that.  None of my sites make enough money that I could survive solely on the money that the site provides.  No, I will not tell you what they do make so please do not ask.

What I can tell you though, is that I recently just finished a book called Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk. The book basically says, “If you are passionate about what you are doing and really believe in what you are doing, then chill”. This is not necessarily the intended message of the book, but I did get this from what Gary is saying.

I believe that the intended message of the book is, “If you are passionate and follow through with your passion, you will Crush It”.  I have been in-line with this mantra for a while, but it is tough to keep going when things are not where I was hoping they would be at this point.

So, I am taking to hear the original message. I am going to spend my time making my products good, talking about them, sharing them and “crushing it” by letting people know who I am.  By doing this I bolster my “personal brand” (another big mantra of the book) and direct people to the projects I am working on as a result.  One more thing I am going to do is provide more content for you the reader both here and on my personal blog.

For more information about the book, you can get it pretty cheap via amazon:

As you can probably tell by my declaration of course redirection, I highly suggest this book. If you have a passion and want to know more about how to turn that into a profit or you want to know how to take what you already have to the next level or you just to find out that you are already on your way to Crushing It, read this book.

So, I have this friend… This is the way many people start their stories when they are really talking about themselves, but this time it is not the case.  This story is about a friend of mine, we will call him John.

John runs a website which is a store front and information source for a niche market that didn’t realize they were a niche until John’s website.  It is a cool idea for sure.  John is not a developer.  He runs the company and handles all of the marketing and content that goes on.

When John wanted some new features on his site he came to me and we talked.  I informed him that as his site was in .net I was not able to do any programming but I could definitely be a consultant on whatever project he was getting done for his company.  John then went out and asked for programmers that new .net and who could handle a project of the size he wanted.

I referred my friend Jason Rowland, who accepted John’s RFP (Request For Proposal) and came back to him with a fully fleshed out proposal.  Jason’s proposal came in higher than John expected and the timeline was longer than the other proposal that came in.

Sam sent in the other proposal.  His proposal was a more manageable number, something closer to what John was hoping the cost would be for this feature and as I mentioned before, he said he could get it done on a shorter timeline.

Well, you know as well as I do that I would not be writing this story down and sharing it if something didn’t go wrong.

John went with Sam, which made sense at the time because he was cheaper and the feature would be done sooner. After the delivery date that Sam had come and gone,  and after the money Sam had asked for did the same, John was worried.  I had been talking to John throughout this project, even consulting the developer on one of the features and how to handle it so that it was optimal for SEO, and it didn’t get the site de-listed.  I noticed that the developer was a little lost, he was trying things that were misinformed and seemed out of place for a developer of the caliber that was needed for this project.

In the middle of all this, someone noticed that the website was hacked into and there were prescription drug links all over in the source of the pages and told John.  John asked Jason to look into it, because Sam was so bogged down with the other project.  Again, Jason sent him a proposal of what would be needed. On top of that, Jason noticed a huge security leak in the site that would allow future issues if they didn’t cause the original issue itself.  Jason told me about what was going on, because he knew I was friends with John and had been consulting with him along the way.  I immediately sent John an email showing him the security issue and how his current developer was the cause of it.

John got Jason on the phone, asked him to figure out how much it would cost to fix all the problems and put Jason in touch with Sam. Sam admitted to Jason that he “left a security vulnerability issue on the site because he figured he’d ‘clean it up on the next go-round’”.  John was PISSED, and understandably so.  He hired Jason to fix the issues on the site.

As of last night, the repairs have cost John $1000 and things are only partially fixed.

What is the lesson here?

When you ask for proposals and you receive them, please do not look at the number at the bottom.  Look at the proposal itself, judge the developer on the amount of time and effort he puts into the proposal.  This is a good indication of how dedicated he is to his profession and providing a quality product for you.

When Jason did his proposal, he came in considerably higher than Sam.  Up front, this is scary to anyone asking for proposals because they KNOW how much money they will HAVE to shell out and there is no guarantee that the product will work or be finished on time.

John has spent more on the project than Sam proposed and more than what Jason originally proposed.  Jason will fix the problems, but no one can work for free so it is going to take some money to fix the glitch (READ: to fix Sam’s crappy job).

This is a tale as old as time, because this happens with any contract work.  People will consistently worry about the bottom line and not pay attention to the warning signs.  Please learn from John so that you do not make this mistake yourself.

The last time I talked to John his comments to me were:

You and Jason are my go-to developers from now on

Thank God you recommended Jason to us

I just wanna say that you and Jason are good at what you do because you convey trust and that you know what the hell you are doing.

I got two names that stood out above the rest from my impromptu contest to name my RSS application.  The problem is that I am not sure which name to choose, which will in turn decide who is $100 richer.  I leave this up to you, but first I will give my 2-47 cents.

The names to choose from, in order I received the suggestions, are:

WINNER: Twindicate.com! More info here

Twitticate

FeedMeStuff

FeedMeThings

RSSCaster

Please tell me which one you like and why. This will help me figure out who the winner of my contest is!

These names were suggested by @barineau & @18percentgrey, respectively. Give them some Twitter love by following them, they are both great guys!

I have been working on an application for a couple months now. Recently, I just overhauled it and added a ton of new features to accommodate a potential client’s requests.

The product is solid and does exactly what I want it to do, the problem is that I do not have a name for it.  For some reason with this product I have writer’s block for domain names. Normally, I can come up with something and just run with it.

Now, you probably want to know what the product is. OK, this is the first time I am publishing anything about it online mostly because I am paranoid, but also because I was not ready to share it yet.  In order to get a quality name, knowing the features can help.

The product is an RSS to Twitter post application for enterprise users. Yes, RSS to Twitter has been done before. However, I provide specific features that help users to maximize the potential from posting their RSS feeds to their Twitter feed.  Also, if there was not competition for the guys who are out there right now, what would drive them to innovate?

What I need is a quality memorable name that will allow me to brand my application and give potential clients something to hang onto.  I am working on the product description documentation and some marketing materials, so I need a name to put at the top of the page.

Here is what I am looking for:

It needs to be available, as in as soon as I see the name I can register it.

It needs to be somewhat topical, or completely off the wall (in a good way)

Remember, I am going to use this name when I go to potential clients.

I am going to try to stay away from Tweet, Twitter, etc just in case.

If you have an idea, please DM me @mbernier or email it to me at name-ideas AT reinforcemedia.com with your Twitter account name if you have one.  If I choose to use your idea, I will send you $100 for helping me out and do a write up about you and how you helped me out.  If I do not choose your idea and it is appropriate, I will share the idea here and why it doesn’t fit with what I am looking for.

If you have questions or comments about what I am looking for, please leave them below.

I appreciate you reading this article and if you send an idea, I appreciate that as well.

I will announce the winner on this blog on the morning of Friday September 25th, and work out a way to pay them the $100 once they are announced.

I am aware that what happens to me would not affect most people. However, I have been thinking about brand management quite a bit recently and this struck a chord with me.

Tonight I walked into Chipotle near my house to get dinner.  As I walked up to the counter the employees were all in the kitchen area talking and joking around.  When they finally saw me they said “One minute” or something similar that told me I had been put on hold live and in person.  The only thing worse is when you walk up and someone is talking on the phone and gives you the “just a minute” finger at the same time as they completely ignore you.

I brushed this interaction off because I was hungry and wanted a ‘dang quesa-dill-a’ with chicken.  After they made my food, I asked for the corn and pico to go with it, and asked for everything to go.  As I reached the register, the manager came out of no where to take my payment.  She told me the total, I handed my debit card over, and I started to get that paranoid feeling like I was paying too much.  The manager did not hand me my receipt, she set it on the counter next to the register. That little guy in charge of my paranoia started kicking my brain saying “PAY ATTENTION”.

I grabbed the receipt, looked at the manager, and promptly told her that she rang up my order incorrectly.  At which time she gave me a line about how a quesadilla is a quesadilla, but when you ask for salsa it makes a burrito.  This astonished me.  No other Chipotle has ever made that claim to me before, and I go to Chipotle more than I care to tell you about.

My purpose is not to let you hear me complain about a less than desirable interaction at one of my favorite restaurants.  It was instead to lay the groundwork for a checklist of sorts.  This is a list of things you should think about when dealing with your customers.  It is also a list of things that the Chipotle employees screwed up on.

1. You should be responsive to your clients and ready to act when they call on you

Those of you who deal with your clients daily, cringed at this first item. I cringed when I wrote it; not because it is wrong but because it needs qualification.  You SHOULD be ready to help, respond to, or reply to your customers. This does not mean that you should ask “how high” when they say jump. It means that you should be there ready to listen and talk to them whenever they come knocking.

When I walk into a restaurant my first hope is that someone who works there will notice me, take my order, and give me my food.  That is why I went there in the first place and why I am willing to pay extra for food I could make at home.

2. You should set your client’s expectations appropriately and be consistent

I learned by example that you should “under promise and over deliver”.  Set the expectation just under what you think you are capable of and then exceed that expectation.  You will impress your clients AND you will create brand evangelists.  With the way that people are connected to each other, the old adage that “an angry customer will tell 10 other people about their experience” no longer stands.  It is more like an angry customer will tell 10,000 other people about their experience.  The other side of the same coin is that a company who impress their clients will be talked about as well.

Chipotle has the advantage of consistency in its food, whether or not their employees live up to the standard of the food is up for debate.  I know that I can just as well go to any other store and get a delicious quesadilla.

3. Know who your clients are

You not only need to know the target group of people who are going to buy your product, you need to be friends with them.  If you are friends or at least buddies with them, it is way more likely that they will call you and share their ideas and concerns with you.  If you are paying attention, these ideas and concerns can make or break your company.  A communicative client is one of your most valuable resources.

Chipotle’s customers are hungry and impatient. They provide quality food for their hungry customers, but the fact that their employees don’t even pay attention to you when you walk in the door leaves something to be desired.

4. Be informative and don’t surprise your clients

As a business you should keep your clients right where you want them, happy, fat, and content (see #2).  Give them the information they need and keep the rest to yourself.  I typically read and re-read emails I send about three times when it really counts.  Sometimes, I will even write the email and go to lunch.  This way I can think about what I am writing and look at it from the perspective of the client before I send it.

I have put out more fires before they started by just keeping contact with clients to the point and not confusing the issue by giving them more information than they need.  My first draft email almost always has way too much information.  I cut out all the fluff, get to the brass tax and send.  Anything more opens you up for trouble later, and does not set expectations appropriately.  The best way to know what should be in your emails is to know your clients, know what they are looking for and meet or exceed their expectations, but not so much that you cannot get your job done.

Chipotle doesn’t have all of their items on the menu and depending on who is at the register you run the risk of paying a completely different price.  When I expect to spend $4 and end up spending $7, this is a surprise I am less than happy about.

3. Understand that your actions and the actions of your employees can burn the deal

The reason your clients have come to you and are paying for what you sell is because they don’t want to do what you do in-house and they think that by giving you money you will SOLVE their problem.  This means they are assuming you will not CREATE problems.

If you create more problems than you solve, you will find yourself on the curb without a shirt.

4. When in trouble, fix the glitch

Everyone knows that problems come up, unexpected things happen.  You can’t see them coming and you can’t prevent them, which is exactly the definition of unexpected.  When these things happen, the best thing you can do is assess the situation, handle the situation and in doing so exceed your client’s expectations.  It is your job to make sure that when you make a mistake that you own it, solve it and make sure everyone walks away happy.

The manager did not offer to solve my problem.  In fact, she walked away from the register, leaving me standing there confused about what I just paid for and why it was a different price than I was used to. I finally asked her for the rest of my “burrito” and she had someone make a bowl of rice and veggies.

5. See Opportunity in the things you do

It seems that everyone else is doing everything that you already do but faster and cheaper.  If you do not see and take hold of opportunity when it slaps you upside the head, you will lose the race, your company, or worse.  PAY ATTENTION.

There is opportunity in every interaction, whether that means that you are constantly getting more data that will lead to a new product or your client is angry and asking for something.  Your interactions with your clients is the best time to find out what they need and how they need it.  This means that you have the chance to stagnate or seize what is in front of you and build up your business accordingly.

The employees at Chipotle do not know this information, they are just part time workers who are trying to get free food and a paycheck.  Some of them are probably still in High School, so you cannot expect much from them.  This really is no excuse, but for some reason the bigger the company is the more they get away with. You and I both know that any employee in a small company has more responsibility for the projecting the right “face of the company” than that same employee would at Chipotle.

The difference between yourself and a Chipotle employee should be that you are willing and able to step up and prove yourself, your product, and your company time and time again. Chipotle’s product is not their employees, it is their food and it is delicious.  This makes it easy to look past a bad experience. You do not have this luxury with a small business.

If you can be the product, sell the product, and support the product you will rise above your competitors.  You will be a leader in your market and your hard work will pay off.