Ten Tips for Freelancers and SMEs/SMBs

1. Avoid being on the Road (too much)

As we all know, we spent too much time on the road. All these hours cannot be billed. Try to communicate as much as possible by email, phone and Skype. Try to schedule meetings in the same region on the same day. Check out the best way to travel: car, public transport or (my favorite) a combination. It’s best to schedule meetings outside of rush hour. It saves both of you time.

2. Cold Calls are Tricky

Cold calls as a tool for drumming up business is tricky. It is time-consuming and should therefore well-prepared. For many SMEs/SMBs, cold calling is not the way to go. WOM (word-of mouth) is far more effective and cost-effective.

3. Keep Communicating

Keeping in touch with your customers is the key to your success as a freelancer of SME/SMB. There are many ways to keep in touch: newsletters, emails with special offers, and social media. Make sure to call them once in a while to ask if everything is fine. Make sure to send out season’s greetings and personal congratulations (e.g., birth of a child). Use your business page on Pinterest, Facebook, and LinkedIn, as well as your Twitter account to inform update, and spread positive messages. Don’t underestimate the power of your corporate blog – you can position your business perfectly that way.

4. Presentations Should Rock

Presentations are still expected. But (potential) customers are sharp, so make sure your presentation is short and to the point. Keep your power point presentations short and avoid cutesy graphics/animation. Make sure there is a call to action on the last slide. It is a good strategy to send them the presentation in PDF later on by email.

5. Respect the Uniqueness of Your Prospect

Each prospect is unique and wants to be recognizes as such. You need to know what makes your potential (and existing!) customer tick. What are the pain points they are facing? What is their history with similar companies/offerings like yours? Doing successful and long-term business is based on trust. You will never be able to make all your customers happy all of the time. Be gracious, and when it does not work out, make sure your prospect or customer never looses face.

6. Make Sure You Both Have the Same Agenda

A lot of bad feelings between supplier and customer results from the simple fact that they are not “on the same page”. The prospect or customer believes that it will get A, while the supplier is convinced that the prospect or customer wants B. The best way to avoid this kind of Mexican stand-off is to send points of understanding combined with action items after each meeting.

7. References and Recommendations

References and recommendations are important. However, it is not always possible to supply them, especially if you provided services for the military, homeland security or other companies that required the freelancer or supplier to sign an NDA or confidentiality agreement. LinkedIn offers a great way to circumvent this issue as long as there are enough recommendations on the freelancer’s/supplier’s profile. A blog is also a good way to position yourself as a though leader without infringing on any agreements.

8. You Cannot Win Them All

Rejection is part of our professional lives. Job seekers are rejected for jobs they really want, and freelancers and suppliers sometimes loose out on juicy contracts. Proposals can be rejected for many reasons: the price is too high, they got a better offer, they had to hire a freelancer/company due to internal politics, the job/work is canceled or frozen, or there just is not any personal chemistry. The best way to handle this kind of rejection is to be gracious, leave communication channels open, and realize that you cannot win them all.

9. Know Your Target Market

Your product or service might be great, but it would not fit all customers. It is important to know your market. Who needs our products/services? What pain points do you address and how much are your (potential) customers willing to pay for it? Communicate with your (potential) customer to identify their existing as well as future needs.

10. Build a Relationship

Your attitude, skills, and aptitude determine if a customer wants to do business with you. Be generous with (free) advice and think with (and not for) your customer. Once you are seen as a partner, and not a mere supplier, you will have a mutual beneficial relationship that could span years. Nothing is forever, especially in this economy, so nurture good relationships. Even is a customer has to drop you, his or her recommendation and goodwill is worth its weight in gold.

Nicolas Sarkozy turns to Twitter to boost his Presidential Race

Nicolas Sarkozy did something clever: he is boosting his online presence on Twitter, the popular microblogging. The official account of M. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, is being fed in part by M. Nicolas Sarkozy himself as a private citizen.

During an interview on Europe 1, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the French Minister of Ecology, stated that she is all in favor. Not surprisingly, she is slated as becoming the official spokesperson of the future candidate. "This offers direct means of communication. I find it fun. I understand that it is based on the concept that NS (=Nicolas Sarkozy) will write and tweet the message himself."

The first tweet appeared on February 15, 2012 was signed NS. The message said: "I accepted the invitation of TF1 to appear in the news segment at 8pm tonight and I'll meet you all there." All that was missing: XOXO!

Two hours after the tweet hit cyberspace, the NS Twitter account already boasted 15,593 followers. To compare: main rival François Hollande has 147,186 followers.

Even in traditional France, politicians are harnessing the power of social media!

Is Pinterest Good for Companies, Firms and Freelancers?

Pinterest has been hailed as the latest must-have social network for companies, firms and freelancers. Mashable, the Huffington Post and TechCrunch all predicted a bright future for Pinterest. According to comScore, Pinterest hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other social media site before.

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard, not unlike pinning stuff (photos, recipes, business cards and the like) in your cubicle at work or on your fridge at home. Pinterest allow for digitally organizing and sharing images and links on themed pinboards. Users can also share their pins on Facebook and Twitter.

As with LinkedIn and Facebook, users can create a branded Pinterest page to promote their business, expertise, brands, events or any other info. This could support their corporate brand or service offering.

Pinterest could therefore be relevant for marketing strategy, since it serves as a clever addition to the existing social media mix. As with other social media, it also allows for monitoring competitors’ activities, brands and IP.

Will Pinterest become the next Facebook or Twitter? I don’t know, but it worth monitoring! Since Pinterest is free to use, there is no harm in trying it out. In the mean time: happy pinning!

(Image courtesy of TechCrunch)

Vermont Prison Inmate Inserts Pig on Vermont Police Car Decals

Vermont State Police cars feature 16-inch decals consisting of the state police crest. The official crest depicts a spotted cow against a background of snowy mountains.

However, the latest batch of decals depicts something different. A Vermont state trooper discovered that one of the spots on a cow contains an image of a pig.

The recalls were produced by a Vermont correctional unit's print shop. The State of Vermont uses correctional facilities for some of its print products, including the cruiser decals. Someone working at the print shop changed the emblem from the officially sanctioned design.

The prank image of a pig has been shown 30 police cruisers for the last year.The sixty 16-inch door decals will be removed as soon as it is practical.

State police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro stated that the inmates’ version is “an apparent reference to the pejorative word for police.”

She pointed out that "it dishonors the memory of those past and present members, especially for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty."

The "source and timing" of the change to the design is under investigation.

Police Major Bill Sheets said in a statement that "while some may find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the taxpayers."

The new police car decals will be made by next week at a cost of $780.

Lessons to be learned:

1. always check your printed materials before distributing it
2. check the quality of your graphic designer and/or print shop
3. turn a setback into an advantage. I strongly advise the police to raffle off the “pig decals” for charity

The Art of Retracting a Press Release

Suppose you provide communications support to a global, non-profit entity, such as the global milk sharing network (Human Milk for Human Babies).

During your PR activities, you come across a woman who is asking for milk for NY friend currently living in Paris. The friend has a hard time finding enough milk for her baby, and turned to the hm4hb website for assistance.

As a PR professional, you see a golden opportunity to get the purpose of the non-profit across. Since the French webpage of the non-profit is not very active, you boost it with a press release, promoting that webpage. You then send the release to about two dozen French media outlets, including Le Monde that picks up the story. Le Monde also talks with the director of the milk bank in Paris who claims that milk sharing is governed by French law. It is therefore illegal to share milk via a website A TV5 reporter states the same.

The non-profit, fearful of French police showing up at its French offices, wants to retract the press release. Just pulling the French and English version down from the website will not do the trick.

So what are the options?

1. Amending the press release and resending it to all media and journalists, including Le Monde and TV5.
   Lesson to be learned: obvious mistakes are best handled this way, especially for listed companies.
   
   
2. Reposting the press release on the website.
   Lesson to be learned: leverage the power of your website (and social media) to do damage control.
   
   
3. Replacing the press release with a letter explaining the intentions of the non-profit.
   Lesson to be learned: asking forgiveness always put a company in a positive light.
   
   
4. Getting legal advise on the law in France. Lesson to be learned: always have legal look at a press release before sending it out.
   
   
5. Do nothing. This way, its will blow over; quite likely sooner rather than later.
   Lesson to be learned: least said, soonest mended.

But the best strategy (of course) is to avoid the need of retracting anyway!

La Redoute’s Advertisement Faux Pas

La Redoute is a popular French clothing company. On its website, is published a nice advertisement for its line of children's clothes. The image shows four cute kids in colorful beachwear. The photographer also captured a man in the background not wearing one stitch of clothes.

The photo was displayed on the website for almost a whole day before the company realized the faux pas and removed it. By then however, it had gone viral.

The company turned to social media to do damage control.

"La Redoute apologizes for the photograph published on its site and is taking steps to remove it," a company representative tweeted.

On Facebook the company posted: "We will strengthen the validation process of all brand communications for this cannot happen again in the future." Over 1,000 users commented; quite a lot were amused.

Some cynics wondered if it was all a well-planned and executed PR stunt. One of them saw it as: "A marketing coup by La Redoute's web team ahead of winter sales."

Although it would definitely be a good marketing ploy, it is highly unlikely it was done on purpose. In its official statement to press, a spokesperson of La Redoute stated: "An internal inquiry has been opened to determine how the error happened."

Following this debacle, the following was tweeted: "Oh and La Redoute also appears to sell a t-shirt that spells holiday as "holyday"…Zut!

It might not have been fun for La Redoute, it’s even worse for the skinny-dipping man. For now his identity remains a mystery. Hopefully it stays that way.

About The Five Types of Prosumers

Euro RSCG has been conducting research about prosumers (professional consumers) for some time now. With the rise in social media use, the importance and impact of prosumers has been growing.

Prosumers differ from consumers. Prosumers have (relatively speaking) more influence, are more involved, and are more digital-savvy. compared to “regular” consumers. For brand owners, prosumers are important. Companies want to know what motivates them.

There are 5 prosumer archetypes based on social media use, the way content is shared, and reasons to be active on social networks

1. Utilitarians are the natural allies of brands that make appealing offers
   
   
2. Entertainers get excited by stimuli
   
   
3. Advocates as a good citizen and to contribute to a better world
   
   
4. Co-Creators support brands that approach them in a personal way and help them to come into contact with others
   
   
5. Competitors assume that brands are in competition, as they themselves would.

To learn more about prosumers, check out the video below. It also includes world domination by Google in 2050 and Lawrence Lessig becoming US Secretary of Justice in 2020 and declaring copyright illegal!

Enjoy!