Number sixteen: No Plugin Talk
Good day, I'm Troy Dean from Video User Manuals and Agency Mavericks, and this is the 101 Ways to Elevate Yourself and Demand Higher Fees, a practical guide for WordPress consultants to start attracting better quality clients, work on better, more interesting projects, and get paid better fees. Now, let's go elevate.
Number 16, no plug-in talk. That's right. Don't talk about WordPress, or plug-ins, or themes in the initial client meeting. Why? Well, a few reasons. First of all, at this stage of the game, we don't know what plug- ins we're going to be using. We don't know what technology we're going to be using. We haven't designed a solution yet because we're still understanding the client's problem, and what their success factors are, and what it is they're trying to achieve. So, I would avoid getting caught in a conversation about the technology.
If a client says, “What CMS are you going to be using. Do you use WordPress?” I would say, “Hey yeah look we love WordPress. It's definitely one of our preferred solutions, but at this stage I don't know enough about this project. I really need to get these notes out of this meeting and go back and talk to my colleagues. Then I'll come back with the right solution, but I'm not really sure what technology we'll be using at this stage.”
I don't like to get caught in conversations about plug-ins, because It's not really up to the client to make these decisions. It's not up to the client to suggest which plug-ins to be using. That's your job. That's what you know. It's not what the client knows. When was the last time your mechanic told you the brand of the machine he was using to do a wheel alignment on your car? Or, when was the last time the dentist told you the brand of drill that he's using to do your root canal? Never. You're there to pay for an outcome. The professional is there to design the solution to give you that outcome. So, don't get caught in a conversation about the technology.
In the next episode I'm going to talk to you about what you should do before the initial client meeting. Until then, go elevate.
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