I just spent part of my weekend in a speaking engagement for soon-to-be and newly minted entrepreneurs. As is the norm in these situations I was approached by a lot of the attendees for reasons of simply commenting on my presentation, asking for advice, or simply networking for some future occasion. It was at this point that things got a little weird for some of those attendees. The expectation (and reasonably so) was that I was there to network as well. I wasn’t. And when you break the somewhat agreed upon social ruleset all kinds of uncomfortable things can happen.
You see, I call my business a “non-conformist company” for a reason. It’s not some made up excuse for mystique thought up by my brand guy, and it’s not an ideal that I try and build towards. It’s due to the fact that I chose to structure my business (well, this business at least), and my approach to it in a very specific way. And while that has worked out well for me, it tends to break all of the traditionally understood models of how one becomes successful. So what exactly does that mean? I won’t go into all the things that my business does as it’s the business *model* that really is the topic.
- I don’t market my business. You’ll never find an advertisement from me, and if I sponsor something I do so because I believe in it and don’t request or require that my name be posted on any materials for the event.
- I don’t “network”. This is a bit of a misnomer, as I actually network quite a bit, but I don’t do it to gain new business. I do find lots of new partners whose tools I can use and whose resources I can leverage, and I do it to maintain my knowledge levels in particular areas, and lastly I do it to try and find smart people to surround myself with. Is my business the better for it? Yes. I just don’t go seeking new clients.
- I rarely keep business cards on me. See item #1. They serve a purpose of course, if I want you to be able to contact me they can be useful, but these days everyone has a phone they can simply type my email into and be done with it. And because of item #2 I have no desire to keep in touch with someone if the sole objective was just going to be to find new business. It wouldn’t benefit either of us, so very few people actually need to know my contact information in the first place.
- I only do business by referral. This is what allows #1 and #2 to be possible. This one seemingly illogical choice was by far the best thing I ever did in my career.
- I don’t care about my website. Yes, there’s a basic website out there for the public that essentially says something very vague and then tells you we only do business on referral while not providing contact info. And yes, I actually have quite a few non-public sites (client portals, help desk portals, collaboration sites, etc.). And yes, I scatter my own thoughts into the internet ether at places like this posterous website. But not from a marketing perspective as it’s always words from me personally and not my business, nor do I provide contact information. If anything I *hide* my company from the public eye.
So just how the hell has my business been growing like crazy in a recession? It sounds like I’m doing everything possible *not* to get business right? Good question. I have a few theories. You’ll note that I didn’t say this was some grand strategy I had. This had everything to do with me trying to merge my own personal philosophies with my business, and an attempt at improving on traditional professional services cashflow issues and nothing to do with growing my company, so please don’t give credit where it isn’t due.
First, our sole focus is on the client relationship. To say we give our clients high-touch service would be the understatement of the year. That is what allows the referral only model to work. Your clients have to become your sales and marketing departments. We’ve found that business owners like nothing more than being able to solve their friends problems…and their friends tend to be other business owners. If you completely kick ass at servicing your clients you’ll soon be getting a call from that clients friend. It’s really that simple. Our clients are 100% referenceable, and we’ve never lost a client. That is by far the thing I am most proud of in my business. As my wife can attest however, to achieve that has required interrupted vacations, frequent weekend phone calls, pushing really hard on those people who do work for me, and constantly delivering above and beyond the call of duty. Think about it, in a referral only model if you completely screw up a client then the rest of the clients will shortly be informed as the communication dominoes through the referral group.
Second, we make it dead simple. My clients have one phone number to call. And unless it’s an exceptional situation (vacation, etc.) that number will always route to me wherever I am. Now, obviously I don’t do all the work (or whoever the account manager is if it’s not me). At any given time we may be deploying an EMR package for a medical practice, building out their long term business strategy, developing out a patient portal website, handling support calls, managing a SEO and analytics program, etc. for that one client. What’s important is *I* take ownership of the problem. They can now go about their day without any concern as to whether or not the problem will be handled. They don’t have to explain who they are, there’s no frustration about the fact that the person on the other end of the phone seems oblivious to their environment or the phone call to someone else that took place yesterday, etc. On our end of the equation what it means is that we establish deep relationships not just with the executives, but with every person in that organization. I know them. I know their children. I know the struggles they’ve faced. I know their political ambitions and manipulations. And I make their lives easier.
Third, we only use very smart people with a wide array of skillsets who are comfortable leaving their egos at the door. That last bit is important. There’s no room for diva’s when you might be building their business strategy one moment, and climbing under a desk to fix a network cable the next. That may sound like we waste skillsets when we ask such a highly skilled person to do a less skilled job. But a) it’s factored into our model and our rates more than cover it and b) ask your client sometime if they’d rather wait for a less skilled person to show up and fix something or just have you take care of it since you happened to be standing there? I frequently find myself engaged in a menial task when walking around a clients office after having just come out of a meeting where I set the strategy that will either make or break the company. We completely understand the concept of making ourselves indispensable, it’s also a real pain in the ass sometimes.
So how does my business model make for all these uncomfortable situations I described earlier? Because when I’m in a social situation the presumption by the vast majority of the world is that I’m there to “network” (from a new business perspective) just like they are. When I don’t hold up my end of that social bargain it can be taken to mean that I’m just not interested in networking with *them*. Just like if I say “I don’t carry business cards on me” it can be taken as “I don’t want to give you one”. That’s the downside. And it’s also obviously complex to explain away in a brief sound bite.
The upside is that once people *do* understand what I’m about it makes for much more meaningful relationships. They know that if I’m involved in something it’s because I believe in it and not because I’m looking for something in return. They know that if I’m their friend it’s because I want to be, not because they may have some connection I’m interested in exploiting. You’d be amazed at just how much that can color the aspects of your relationships. The last big benefit is integrity. If I’m speaking to you on twitter, at a social media event, a conference, etc. then you know that what I tell you is what I really believe and not suspect because I’m trying to lead you towards my business.
So if you’re one of those people who have been caught in the uncomfortable conundrum that is I you have my apologies, and hopefully this explains things a little better.
Matt Ridings – @techguerilla