In a previous episode, Robbie and Zach were sharing their own experiences on how to determine when WooCommerce is the right solution for a clients project. The fact is, it’s not always the best direction to go. In this episode, we their final thoughts on the importance of recommending the right solution for your clients, each and every time.
One of the biggest takeaways as an agency owner is all about recommending the right thing for your client. It may not be the thing that you do or specialize in. And it may mean that you’re actually sending a client elsewhere. That’s okay. Because there’s so much work out there that you couldn’t do it all. Even if it came to you, you couldn’t do it all. So it just makes sense that sometimes you send a client somewhere else because it is not your specialty.
As mentioned before, if that was the case and everything was in there in Salesforce, then I would say, let’s see if we can’t find someone that can help you stay in that ecosystem there, that whole world that you’re already in, because my agency isn’t he best fit.
Or it could be that your agency does say, “you know what”? Hey, you’re brand new to your business and you have no web presence. You think you want to sell online? Maybe we start you with an Ecwid store and see how this goes and give it six months and see if you’re selling. And then we decide if we need a bigger presence online. In which case you may want to do that internal in your agency because that’s a client that you could grow into something else.
Or you may say, “I only do WooCommerce”. But that doesn’t mean you should take every client that comes to you. You should evaluate what they need and decide if it is a great fit for them. And if so, move forward with it. If it’s not, don’t just do a disservice to them. Send them where they should go if you don’t do that.
And I do agree that some agencies, that’s their total focus and that’s great. I think some agencies, that’s their one to focus. Then you just stick with your one focus and that’s great. My agency always kind of been diversified anyway. But we do have particular areas that we are more I would call us expert level in than others. And if there are things that we don’t do, I have no problem sending someone to someone I might know. If I have a good recommendation, I’ll recommend them out to someone. If I don’t, I’ll say this is what you need to try and find. I don’t know anyone who does it.
And so I think as builders out there, it’s a good, decent way to run an agency. It’s all about delivering the proper solution to your clients, whether that proper solution gives you more business or not.
It’s all about developing, as an agency owner, those relationships so that when you have something like that come up, you can say, “Oh, well I may not be the right fit for this, but I know who is.” And in that way, you’re still serving your client. And even if you’re not the one that’s doing the work, then you still have a client that’s really happy with where you sent them, where you knew you could trust to send them. And that’s a huge thing.
Because that goodwill comes back because when they’re talking to their store owner friend who really wants WooCommerce, then they’re going to turn around and they’re going to send that project to you because you sent them to the place that they were best fit for.
That’s good karma. And karma is not only in our personal lives, it’s in our business lives. That’s why I say you need to be kind to people. You need to give good solutions to people, the best that you, to your knowledge. And just because it’s the best of your knowledge doesn’t mean it will be the best solution probably, but it’s the best solution you know. And that’s the best you can do I feel like is you just have to make a real, honest answer to your clients, to their needs. And if you don’t have an answer, that’s also an honest answer. I’ve had people who needed certain things and I’m like, this is what you need, but I have no idea how to do it myself, as well as I have no idea who to send you to.
You hear this fake it until you make it thing a lot. And guess what? No, there are times where that makes sense. There are times where it’s okay to admit to the client that you are going to have to learn pieces of it to get it done. And they know that that’s a risk factor and you tell them that upfront. But fake it until you make it is not a real business strategy. Because that’s just going to be faking it until you tick your client off. Right?
If you really want to try something and you don’t have the experience, you should be honest with that client about that and say, “Look, this is something we haven’t done. We have these skill sets that should apply to that, but we haven’t done this. And we’re willing to take it on, but you have to know that it could take us longer or it could, whatever. I might have to hire an outside contractor and pay a little more on that.” And so and if it’s a long term client, a lot of times they’re like, that’s fine. We’re willing to go along this ride with you. And so and then you may increase your skillset internally. So it’s you can do those things, but like you said, you have to be honest with a client.
Don’t tell the client you can do it when you’re going to have to turn around and open up YouTube and figure it out. That’s never a good way to go. You’re going to feel so uncomfortable anyway, it’s not going to be a good project. So I think that’s probably our best takeaway I think that we can give people out of this is just be a kind person. Try to give your best solutions out there to your clients. And I think your agency will go great that way because it is all about how you treat people and how you act is going to be the way your success goes.
Episode Transcript
Robbie:
And I think that’s one of the biggest takeaways as a agency owner that I would hope the agency owners would take away from this. I should say, lemme reverse that, is that it is all about recommending the right thing for your client. It may not be the thing that you do or specialize in, and so it may mean that you’re actually sending a client elsewhere, and that’s okay because there are so much work out there that you couldn’t do it all. Even if it came to you, you couldn’t do it all. And so it just makes sense that sometimes you send a client somewhere else because it is not your specialty because just like you said, if that was the case and everything was in there in Salesforce, then I would say, let’s see if we can’t find someone that can help you stay in that ecosystem there, that whole world that you’re already in that may not be my agency, might not be the best fit for that.
Or it could be that your agency does say, you know what? Hey, you’re brand new to your business and you have no web presence. You think you want to sell online. Maybe we start you with an equity store and see how this goes and give it six months and see if you’re selling, and then we decide if we need a bigger presence online, things like that, in which case, you may want to do that internal in your agency and because that’s a client that you could grow into something else. Or you may say, I only do WooCommerce, but that doesn’t mean you should take every client that comes to you. Like I said, you should evaluate what they need, decide if it is a great fit for them, and if so, move forward with it. If it’s not, don’t just do a disservice to them.
Send them where they should go. If you don’t do that, and I do agree that some agencies, that’s their total focus and that’s great. I think some agencies, they’re one to focus, then you just stick with your one focus and that’s great. My agency been, we’ve always kind of been diversified anyway, but we do have particular areas that we are more, I would call us expert level in than others. And if there are things that we don’t do, I have no problem sending someone I might know. If I have a good recommendation, I’ll recommend them out to someone. If I don’t, I’ll say, this is what you need to try and find. I don’t know anyone who does it. And so I think as builders out there, it’s a good decent way to run an agency. It’s all about delivering the proper solution to your clients, whether that proper solution gives you more business or not.
Zach:
Yep. Yeah. I mean, there’s another agency in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois that if I had somebody that was using something like Hybris or wanted to use Hybris, I would send them over to that agency because that’s one of their specialties, and that is the right move in those cases. And even that company is a part of Capgemini now, but they’re still doing SAP Hybris work and they’re still doing high-end Magento work. And if I had somebody that was looking for that, then in a heartbeat I’d send it over there because they’re really good at what they do. There’s a reason they’re one of the larger agency vendors at IRCE every year, right? Because they’re good. So it’s all about developing as an agency owner those relationships so that when you have something like that come up, you can say, oh, well, I may not be the right fit for this, but I know who is. And in that way, you’re still serving your client, and even if you’re not the one that’s doing the work, then you still have a client that’s really happy with where you sent them, where you knew you could trust to send them. And that’s a huge thing. It is because that Goodwill comes back because when they’re talking to their store owner, friend who really wants WooCommerce, then they’re going to turn around and they’re going to send that project to you because you sent them to the place that they were best fit
Robbie:
For 100%. I truly believe that Karma,
Zach:
Absolutely.
Robbie:
And Karma is not only in our personal lives, it’s in our business lives. That’s why I say you just need to be kind to people. You need to give good solutions to people, the best to your knowledge. And just because it’s the best of your knowledge doesn’t mean it’ll be the best solution probably, but it’s the best solution. And that that’s the best you can do, I feel like, is you just have to make a real honest answer to your clients, to their needs. And if you don’t have an answer, that’s also an honest answer. I’ve had people who needed certain things and I’m like, this is what you need, but I have no idea how to do it myself, as well as I have no idea who to send you to.
Zach:
You hear this, fake it till you make it thing a lot, and guess what? No. There are times where that makes sense, right? There are times where it’s okay to admit to the client that you are going to have to learn pieces of it to get it done, and they know that that’s a risk factor and you tell them that upfront, but fake it till you make it is not a real business strategy.
Robbie:
No, it is not.
Zach:
Because that’s just going to be faking it till you tick your client off.
Robbie:
Yes.
Zach:
Right.
Robbie:
Now, I do say what you said though. You can be honest with clients. If you really want to try something and you don’t have the experience, you should be honest with that client about that and say, look, this is something we haven’t done. We have these skill sets that should apply to that, but we haven’t done this and we’re willing to take it on. But you have to know that it could take us longer or it could whatever. I might have to hire an outside contractor and pay a little more on that. And so if it’s a long-term client, a lot of times they’re like, that’s fine. We’re willing to go along this ride with you, and then you may increase your skillset internally, and so you can do those things. But like you said, you have to be honest with a client. Don’t tell the client you can do it when you’re going to have to turn around and open up YouTube and figure it out. That’s never a good way to you. You’re going to feel so uncomfortable anyway. It is not going to be a good project. So I think that’s probably our best takeaway I think that we can give people out of this is just be a kind person. Try to give your best solutions out there to your clients, and I think your agency will go great that way because it is all about how you treat people and how you act is going to be the way your success goes.
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