Selling Yourself: Making Money with DV
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Client Retention: A Foundation Stone
Retain your clients. It has been truly observed that American firms in general are not good at this. Ours is. We contact old clients to see if that show we did a year ago is still current and useful. Yes? Good. We always want to be sure our work is still serving your needs over the long haul. No? Need an update? Product now obsolete? Need a new program? Excellent! Will Tuesday be OK for a preliminary meeting to discuss your needs?
We call this "program maintenance". Stay in touch. This is yet another good reason to give a client your best work and a square count the first time around.... Virtually all our clients are repeat clients. Again, and again, and again....
Welcome complaints. They are a gold mine of feedback on how you can do better. Engage and respond to the criticism. Don't "handle" it. Show the client that what he wants is what you do. He just might be right, and you just might be wrong. Crazy, I know; but it's just possible.
Client Development
We also pro-actively "develop" clients. I love it when first-timer conversations begin with a sheepish, "I don't have much of a budget, but...". We try like hell to find a way to do their job decently for their stated budget. Over time, we develop their tastes and budgets step by step. We educate them, and bring them along as far as they want to go. They may have an affair from time to time for one reason or another; but if you're delivering true value, and have made repeated Quality Sales, they'll be back.
Client Development, and Client Retention are super-critical foundation stones.
Trade Shows
Do trade shows as an exhibitor. Even if the trade show is about a different field than video production. Especially if the trade show is about something else. You'll be the only one. Think of all the other exhibitors as the potential new clients. The show's "public" attendees are a bonus. Small shows are best. They're friendlier and more informal.
Not every trade show will tolerate "unrelated" businesses. I suggest you point out to the show's management that, "of course we belong here. Look. This TV program we did is exactly in this field. And this one, and this one.... We are important support suppliers to this entire special marketplace!" Don't take "no" for an answer. Appeal. Squeak till they grease your bearing. Sign up early. Show managements are less picky about the exclusion rule when the list first opens. As the show fills up, they get careful. If they refused you, try them again right before opening day. Maybe they didn't sell out booth space, and they'll be glad for the fee -- related or not.
Set up early, and stay late. (Pop quiz: Why?)
We do a nice, low key, very professional booth. Two different endless tapes of maybe three minutes on monitors perched atop four-foot Greek columns (from the set shop). Sound is not too important. Play it low. A nice booth backdrop made from blow-ups of program still frames, and some "behind the scenes in Hollywood" production candid stills blow-ups. A side literature table with maybe some "tricks of the trade" display items.
At stage center, a low, small coffee table with four bright red director's chairs. Some literature. No big messy piles. Open and walk-through. No "them-and-us" counter top barrier. Come in. Rest your show-weary feet for a minute. We won't bite..... Maybe we'll have coffee and fig newtons if the show would allow it....
Keep some VHS reels and special extra informative Lit-Paks out of sight to present by your own personal hand to the Truly Interested. That way they'll feel Truly Special.
That's A Wrap!
OK, troops. That's the story. I'd like to hear what works for you for a possible sequel article. I'd also like to hear what you hated about this article.
Spam me directly at MoovyMagic@aol.com. Remember what I said about complaints? They're gold, man... Solid gold....
Bill Barrett, 53, lives quietly in the remote hills of Connecticut with his patient and forgiving wife of 26 years, Kathleen, and three cats -- one of which is named Sony. He started out as a grip over eighteen years ago; and OJT'd into video engineering at a major corporation, and finally into special effects. He now specializes in complex Ultimatte, Computerized Motion Control, Engineered Action Props, and other "classic Hollywood method" special effects.
His friend of 23 years, and equal partner in Studio One, is Eda Sherman who also lives quietly in a nearby town, with her equally patient husband, Doug, of even longer years, near the old abandoned insane asylum. She only has two cats; but they do have one dog, one son, and one daughter.
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