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Are you speaking the same language as your customers and clients? I don’t mean the prosaic lay-jargon 
between vendor and customer — no I mean literally the same language.
A few weeks ago I examined the horrendous marketing of seasonal professional services and zeroed in on landscapers. If you missed it, then you can catch up by clicking here, then be sure and come back to finish this post.
A neighbor who knew I was writing that post made the following suggestion after I had posted it:
Make your sure the landscaper and crew speak English.
And speak it well. Neither I, nor anyone else (with a backbone) are going to be reduced to pidgin English and ridiculous pantomime just to pay you for your services.
If you’re going to do business in this country . . . and take money for professional services — then the language of successful commerce is English. If you don’t speak it well, then it’s worth the money to at lest hire a professional translator to come out to the potential job site with you.
Seriously.
Just last week, I called three landscaping companies to come out, look at what we have, and give us a quote. One never made it past the phone interview. His English was so broken it was like he was sounding out Morse code.
Ehhttt. Next! Who do we have up next, Bob?
That leaves two that made it as far as the in-person quote/interview. They’re coming out to give me a quote based on what they see. I’m interviewing them while they’re quoting.
One shows up with a crew, ready to work. Bad move, bunkie. This is a quote session only and I was very clear about that. I’m not going to be snowed by the broken English, sad faced pantomime and the “pressure” I’m supposed to feel by staring down a crew of four ready to get to work. I lived in SoCal for 7 years. I know how that routine works.
Ehhttt. Next contestant, Bob!
The third shows up in a battered truck, slovenly dressed and no professional affiliation anywhere — not on his truck, not on his clothing and not on the dirt-streaked legal pad he was writing on — in another language.
Here’s a hint, the winning company will look like a professional company — i.e, a truck with your logo on the side (and not a removable magnetic sign!). Your workers won’t look like they slept under the overpass all night and dashed to the nearest street corner when they heard your truck coming.
And your professional quote that you leave behind? That’s your calling card that reminds me of your professionalism while I’m getting quotes from your competitors.
Now . . . this post was not about illegal immigration. So for the race-baiting “slight merchants“, don’t even go there.
So what was really being covered here?
What? Who said “isomorphic metaphor“? No, it couldn’t be the isomorphic metaphors that were first discussed here:
Spider-Sense . . . Tingling . . .
and here . . . Walter’s Rule #05 - Part 2
here, too . . . Marketing “Lost” — Adrift In A Sea Of Open Loops
Post your comments and let’s hash it out.
Like what you read? Then click here to buy me a coffee.
By Walter |
Topics: Client Top Secret, Marketing Mishaps, Pet Peeves, Pro Analysis |
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Comments
between vendor and customer — no I mean literally the same language.