In this day and age the cult of positive thinking and “the law of attraction” are still very much alive and well in the business services industry. Here are a few simple questions that you can ask prospective business service providers to help you gauge if they are the real deal or just caught up in the fad of “say yes to everything,” or “outsource everything” being populated online by countless “thought leaders” and cult gurus. Classic con artist.
Lots of people will ask, “What’s the harm of people trying to make something of themselves?”
Well, I’m here to tell you there is huge harm in taking risks with a client’s money and manipulating people into trusting their “expertise” when they have none.
Business owners: Due diligence is more important than ever these days.
There are whole communities of people helping to prop each other up as experts in fields they know nothing about while outsourcing their tasks with little or no oversight into the actual work being done on your behalf.
It is nearly impossible for you to tell if this is even going on. Don’t worry. I am here to help you avoid a con artist.
How? By showing you how to weed out the bad actors by asking really simple questions.
This set of questions is perfect for people who need to distinguish if the expert they are talking to is really just an expert in bullshit with a likable personality.
Why do these questions work? Because people who are into this kind of stuff are rarely hesitant to talk about it when you ask them direct questions. They believe that what they are doing is a good thing and so they are more open to sharing this information with you because they think by you asking that you are also into similar things.
It is a fun little trick I picked up while learning to do consumer polling and political surveying.
The Questions:
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- Who influences you professionally?
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- Do you follow any “thought leaders” “gurus” or coaches? If so, who?
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- What “school” of thought do you ascribe to in your profession, and where do you learn what you know?
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- Are there any industry standards you do not agree with?
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- How do you apply the services you offer to your own company?
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- Can you please tell me the background of your support staff and can I see their CVs?
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- Do you outsource or white label any of the work your company does?
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- May we audit your process before buying your services?
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- May we discuss your proposed strategies with others in your industry to ensure quality?
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- Would you be open to speaking with an independent consultant that is knowledgeable about your industry about your proposals?
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- Can you show me examples of your past successful jobs?
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- Do you have any industry-accepted certifications and how many hours of study do you do in a year to keep your knowledge up-to-date and current?
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- How many clients have you had in the past?
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- How many clients do you have currently?
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- How many clients are you able to handle at one time?
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- How many other clients do you have that are in the same industry as my company?
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- How long is your onboarding process before we start getting down to actually making changes to help solve the issues my company is facing?
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- Can you explain to me the steps you will take to identify my company’s needs?
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- Have you ever taken a course in NLP or any other similar course of study?
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- Have you ever been a part of a Multi-Level Marketing company?
Fun. Right? Well, we aren’t done.
It is not just enough to ask these questions… you have to pay attention to the answers, as well as the WAY they are answering questions.
And you also have to RESEARCH the company after you get your answers to make sure they ring true.
You cannot keep accepting people at face value, not when the risk is to your business, employees, and clients. There is little to no risk for a person who is being dishonest about their capabilities and skillsets. They will walk away with your money, ready to go find another target for a chance meeting that seems amazingly perfect.
Do not leave your business decisions to chance encounters at networking events. Research before saying yes.
No matter how likable or appealing the person you are speaking with is.
How do you research? Easy. THE INTERNET. Look at the website of the company you are considering working with.
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- Does it look professional? (do not use your website as a standard for professionals unless you have had it done by a professional)
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- Can you see a list of their past clients?
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- Do they effectively tell their story as a company or are they just selling?
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- What do their social media profiles look like? Do they have many followers? Are they updated regularly?
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- Do they have any positive reviews on social sites? (Yelp, Facebook, Linkedin, etc)
You can also do some simple things like running SEO Website Checkers on their websites. There are tons of these online for free and they will give you a pretty good indicator of if they are using best practices on their websites – you can even do this research on their clients’ websites.
Also, if you know anything about SpyFu, you can run their website through that to see how they are doing their own online marketing (the same can be said for their clients if they are selling this service).
Facebook also has a cool section that shows you ads that a Page is running. You can find this info connected to their business Page as well as the Pages they manage for their clients as well. None of these things automatically disqualify a potential service provider, but their answers to the question of “why” things are the way there are might be very illuminating to you as a business owner.
This may seem like a lot of work, and it can be if you do not do these things regularly and have them down to a system, but the cost of not doing these things is way too high. A con artist is born every day, thanks to the internet.
You have a right as a business owner considering services from a vendor to ask these questions.
They also have the responsibility as a service provider to answer these questions in a professional manner. Sometimes the way in which they answer the questions is far more important than the actual answer.
If all of this seems too overwhelming for you to handle, that is okay.
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- You can ask one of your staff in your company to take on this role and responsibility.
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- You can hire someone to come in and help you with these decisions (and you can ask them all the same questions as above before taking their services).
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- You can reach out to other business owners in your network to see if they have recommendations for someone who could help you with things.
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- Heck, you can even call up companies that look like they are doing as well as you want to be doing online and ask them who they are using for their services. Try successful companies in other industries as your competitor won’t likely be interested in sharing their secrets with you…
What is important is that you are asking questions, researching, and ultimately making sure that you are doing as much as possible to ensure making the best decision for your company.
Final thoughts:
“But, Jay, what’s wrong with taking a risk on an up-and-comer?”
The answer to that is NOTHING. There is nothing wrong with taking a chance on someone. Someone being green doesn’t make them a con artist.
The issue I am raising is in the honest portrayal of businesses and their capabilities. It is about honesty.
I am a huge fan of working with people who are new and passionate about an industry. But I only work with people who are honest with me about who they are, what they can do, and how their processes work.
I have worked with tons of people who are still learning on the job. It can be quite educational for a business owner as well.
Just make sure they are being honest about everything upfront. You are not obligated to give anyone a chance when it comes to your business’s success, and it’s not right that someone might manipulate you into doing so.
Charles Mackenzie-Hill
August 18, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Your absolutely right, its impossible to quantify. Results ,leads ect would sway the argument. My bet social susie we be closing more deals as would have more options, because of the higher profile?
Eric Hempler
August 18, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I don’t think it should be decided on how much time you should spend, but what tasks should you do in Social Media. Ron doesn’t do very much, but put little things out there that may drive business to him and on the other hand Susie does a lot more, which would also drive business to her. It doesn’t matter how much time you put in, but how you use that time to produce the results you want.
Tassia Bezdeka
August 18, 2010 at 4:07 pm
#1 is an excellent example of a minimal but effective schedule.
Really the key is to stay on top of things. A lot of my agents ask me how often I’m on social media every day, and I always get a kick out of how big their eyes get when I tell them that I check my social sites a between 5-10 times a day. The trick however, is that I’m never on for more than a few minutes, because I’m keeping up with things.
Use your time wisely as well. Facebook friend lists can be extremely useful here, so that you. You’re not on FB to browse through your old buddies pictures for hours on end… you’re there to connect with a variety of people and give them news they can use.
Waiting in line at the grocery store or gas station? Bust out that smart phone.
On hold for a phone call? Use that time wisely.
Facebook is a meal best enjoyed in small portions throughout the day, in my opinion.
Chris R
August 18, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I think the key thing here is balance. This article shows people at two sides of the spectrum. I’m sure that there is a place in the middle that offers all the social benefits that Suzie has with better time management like Joe.
Steve Visio
August 18, 2010 at 5:07 pm
The implication is the opportunity cost for time wasted. You can only know that if you correlate the time spent with the results gained. What metrics should the agents be tracking?
Joe Loomer
August 18, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Neither is my model. I think there’s a middle ground here. Twitter is nearly non-existent in our town (yet), and Facebook is the place we invest our efforts. Lost in this post is the fact that you can do other things at the same time. As I’m researching and posting and blogging, I’m also making lists of prospects and calling them. When they answer the phone, I stop what I’m doing and stand up and pay attention to the call. Call it multi-tasking, but what I’m trying to do is grow my sphere simultaneously. If an agent I’m attempting to set an appointment with (read: a listing or buyer prospect for most of you) is not my friend on FB and I succeed in having a warm conversation with them, I follow it up immediately with a friend request. Usually works.
My bottom line is I create events, posts, pictures, whatever that I try to keep relevant and on-target. I do not worry about how many likes or comments I get because I’m focused on just putting information in front of people that may read it and never give me the insights on their opinions, but I know they see it from my interviews. It’s my way of shouting our our culture, training, and coaching at them without expecting a reply – it’s on their wall feed, that’s all I care about.
I obviously have a different agenda than your primary audience, but that’s my two cents.
Two – three hours a day, minimum – but a lot of it is before/after business hours.
Navy Chief, Navy Pride
Chris Lengquist
August 18, 2010 at 6:36 pm
I make money from my blogging. So my social media time is also my prospecting time most of the time. Therefore, the more I SM the more money I make to a certain degree.
But I have to say I can burn myself out. I’ve been blogging since 2005 (December) and there have been two or three times over the last 5 years that I just had to push away from the table a bit. Sadly, my leads began to dry up. So back I go, sometimes before I was ready. Making a living is work. So is whatever avenue you utilize for prospecting.
Melissa Delgaudio
August 18, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I love your answer (or NON-answer, really) to this question. People ask me all the time what they should be doing or for how long they should be doing it. I tell them that it’s not a one-size-fits-all thing. Spend time doing the things that are effective for you (and those that you enjoy). If they’re really benefitting your business, then it’s time well-spent. If people find that their online activities are detracting from their day-to-day business, however, setting some limits and focusing on only what’s “important” will be helpful.
LesleyLambert
August 18, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Great comments everyone! I meant to imply that there is a middle ground. In fact, my point is that there shouldn’t be a hard and fast rule about how much time or how you spend it. I am, as most of you might have guessed, the model for Susie, but I know that many people have no interest in dedicating so much time. Regarding metrics, that is the harder question. All I can tell you is that it is working for me. Several times a week I get a call out of the blue that someone wants a market analysis or buyer’s agent and they are looking at a blog post or saw a post on Facebook.
Keep the input coming everyone!
hermanchan.com
August 18, 2010 at 7:37 pm
https://dlvr.it and https://ping.fm are two sites than help ppl more efficiently manage social media. i use ping, but does anyone have feedback about dlvr?
Tassia Bezdeka
August 19, 2010 at 3:04 am
I use Hootsuite exclusively (although if you don’t have an iPhone, you’re SOL in terms of mobile posting… BB and Droid apps have been forthcoming for a few months now)
Hootsuite will manage Facebook, Facebook Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, Ping.fm, FourSquare, MySpace. They are in the process of going freemium, but a free account (up to five linked networks) should be sufficient for the average user.
hermanchan.com
August 19, 2010 at 3:33 am
thanks tassia! i’m about to toss my bb out the window next month once my upgrade is due. not sure what phone to pick but hootsuite looks like something i need to explore.
ps; i’m following u. follow me , merci!
Rob McCance
August 18, 2010 at 11:04 pm
I don’t do any, unless you count this.
I landed none of my 30 clients in the last two years via social media and as far as I know, none of them use it or used it to find me.
I do spend a ton of time on my web site, both the design and SEO aspects.
I always thought all the social media stuff was for teenagers, not professionals, or people making the largest investment in their lives. So I just personally refused to FB, Tweet, LinkIn, and whatever else. I don’t feel as if I’ve missed a single thing in the last five years choosing not to participate.
I read and contribute to blogs primarlily to try and learn things about websites, the web and SEO, etc. Also, some technology in general.
All that said, if you land ONE client via social media and it nets you $30k in commission, it’s definitely all worth it!
RM
Chris Lengquist
August 18, 2010 at 11:34 pm
@ Rob – Your distinction is probably correct. But I’ve never figured out how to tell the difference of when I’m blogging or social mediaing or whatever the heck you call it. I use facebook and my three websites. I don’t make a lot of comments on realtor blogs because realtors don’t buy houses. But I do take filled out lead forms that go to my Top Producer very seriously and then I go offline with those prospects.
So maybe my comment was completely off base. But I do agree with your Twitter comment. I’ve never figured out how that helps me or my clients. I guess I just don’t get it. Too old? 🙂
Tassia Bezdeka
August 19, 2010 at 3:02 am
You also have to distinguish Twitter for output vs Twitter for listening.
There are very few people that I actually converse with on Twitter, but I do feel it gives me a broader reach to people who might not other find me (via RT or Twitter searches, etc).
But where Twitter *really* makes itself useful for me is by giving me one central location to get a lot of information. I could go to 5 news sites, 10 local restaurants/bars, 18 blogs, etc OR I could follow them all on Twitter and get what they consider to be pertinent news filtered directly to me.
hermanchan.com
August 19, 2010 at 3:36 am
sometimes clients (especially websavvy, tech oriented clients) will go thru twitter posts as a way to get to know you more. it’s real, live and snapshots of your personality and interpersonal skills, which are qualities they can’t get from reading a website. think of twitter as an extension of your website in a way. u cant update your site multiple times a day, but with twitter you can. and clients feel they are with you on topics and that you are relevant.
Sheila Rasak
August 19, 2010 at 7:14 am
As always amazing content that offers so much information in a condensed format! Thank you for shedding even more light on the subject of social media!
LesleyLambert
August 19, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Glad you like it and pleased to meet you!
Missy Caulk
August 19, 2010 at 9:09 am
I get asked this a lot too, people assume I spend more time than I do, but probably less than an hour.
Mobile updates help and you can respond quickly, retweet, give an like etc…
I see a lot of extremes from some Social Media guru’s. Not sure how they can be selling many houses…but who am I to judge?
Ken Brand
August 19, 2010 at 2:01 pm
True words.
Debbie Harris
August 19, 2010 at 6:08 pm
I agree 100% – it will vary. For those that want to see the most consistent long term benefit from it, commitment will be key. As part of a regular daily marketing/prospecting plan it can consume various different times. One of its great assets is its no cost or minimal cost making it an excellent avenue for reaching out and connecting.
Lori Ballen Wekerle
August 19, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Man – here is a topic I can sink my teeth into. Besides FARMING (he-he) – I spend about an hour or two with posts, shares, tweets, facebook communication, and feeds to Twitter and Linked In.
I LOVE IT and don’t remember life without you.
My Facebook Link is facebook.com/lori.ballen
cbwardley.com/ballengroup
Peter Guichard
August 21, 2010 at 12:18 am
Hi Lesley,
Thanks for your article. It was very helpful. I’ve been guilty for sometime for not participating in the social networking phenomena. I was overwhelmed by the thought of how to get started. Believe it or not, I managed to revive or open accounts at Linked In, Facebook and Twitter after your article.
SmartVestors Realty
August 22, 2010 at 6:33 am
This is a never ending process along with the desired automation from the social medias. The great part on this is to have the real ideology in regards of collaboration throughout the scene.
Thanks,
SmartVestors Realty
Teresa boardman
August 23, 2010 at 5:07 pm
23 Min and 40 seconds. longer for men because most can’t type very fast.
Michael Sosnowski
September 14, 2010 at 9:13 am
To begin, social media is easier than developing a well conceived and lead generating website. That being said, in the end, there will only be a few that are really committed to success, understand what needs to be done and will benefit from attracting potential clients.
Rob McCance
September 14, 2010 at 10:00 am
Mike,
I agree with this completely. But you get what you “pay” for…or work for.
If you do develop a ” well conceived and lead generating website” you can literally bring in 100 or more leads per month. And this, in my estimation, FAR outweights anything you can accomplish in social media with regards to raw lead generation.
Not that it matters to anyone, and shouldn’t: but this is why I do ZERO social media and 100% web site and SEO development.
We can wax on about the future and social media but hey, nobody really knows the future and I’ve got to eat and pay the mortgage NOW.
Cheron Lange
September 20, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Okay, I have to admit I am guilty of seriously over doing it at times. There are days, I am only on for less than an hour and days it is more than 2-4 hours. And to boot I get nothing done!
I have several websites and fb pages that I like to read, and that is time consuming, along with catching up on local and community news. Oh yeah and I forgot to say I am a mom, along with being a Realtor and social media junkie!
I honestly do not think there should be a specific time frame, but beware…it can get out of hand!
eric
March 16, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Social media is cake. get some tools and automate twitter. twitter is not for interaction it is the #1 source of traffic to your blog. I spend 10min a day on twitter automate everything i have 4 active accounts that have close to 100k followers. imagine how much targeted traffic i get when i tweet my most recent blog post.
Facebook is for interaction answer every that writes to you. find a couple new ppl to follow another 5-10min
blogging a couple posts a week 1 hr each
all in all 20-30 min a day for social media is more than enough.