Networking, not working!
The thought of attending networking events usually fills me with mild dread, wondering whether all other attendees will be everyone-else-knowing veterans, thus setting me out as a must-not-be-allowed-in outsider. Even though I’m relatively chatty, I’m a polite type of chap, who doesn’t feel right muscling into others’ conversations, so I quite often (rather stupidly) put myself at arm’s length at these types of dos. That aside, I recently girded my loins and attended an event in Leeds that was organised by the Yorkshire Mafia. It proved to be one of the better experiences of its kind, being friendly, non-cliquey and well organised. It struck me though as more and more people asked me what I do, that I wasn’t answering their question very well.
To set the scene, I’m a web developer by trade, but I’ve been concentrating on SEO and social media marketing increasingly over the past couple of years, so much so that this branch will soon possibly constitute the main proportion of work. Here’s how the incoming Q&As went:
Early Incoming Conversation
Attendee: “What do you do?”
Me: “I’m a web developer, but I also do SEO and social media work.”
Attendee: “Oh, is that web sites and things?”
Me: “Yes, we build web sites, and we also work to get sites up the search engine rankings.”
Attendee: “Search engine rankings?”
Me: “The aim is to get the sites onto the top pages of Google and other search engines when certain search terms are typed in.”
Attendee: “Oh, you get people to the top of Google? We need to get to the top of Google! Can you help us?”
Incoming Conversation in the Middle of the Evening
Attendee: “What do you do?”
Me: “I work in search engine placement – I’m a web developer.”
Attendee: “Oh, is that web sites and things?”
Me: “Yes, we build web sites, and we also work to get sites up the search engine rankings.”
Attendee: “Search engine rankings?”
Me: “The aim is to get the sites onto the top pages of Google and other search engines when certain search terms are typed in.”
Attendee: “Oh, you get people to the top of Google? We need to get to the top of Google! Can you help us?”
Incoming Conversation at the End of the Evening
Attendee: “What do you do?”
Me: “We get people to the top of Google.”
Attendee: “Oh, wow! We need to get to the top of Google! Can you help us?”
Now this isn’t meant to be some kind of in-depth study, but it does throw up some interesting points. Obviously not everyone has the same reservations as I do when it comes to making flashy claims, because the truth is that not every site will be able to “get to the top of Google”. There are many variables involved, none more so than the commitment of the client. In a nutshell, the process is a time-consuming one, and as such necessitates some on-going financial outlay – the greater this is, the higher the placement. There’s also the issue of the niche competition who are also trying to achieve the same goals, together with numerous other factors.
Several of the people I chatted with seemed to light up when the “top of Google” phrase was mentioned (either by me or them), as they immediately understood its importance. Strange then when that light dulls once a monthly monetary figure is placed on it. I’d like to point out that I didn’t discuss any of our charge-for-service rates on the night; this last statement refers purely to non-event dealings. We’re certainly not expensive for what we do, sitting somewhere in the average pricing bracket.
It’s even stranger when a potential client explains that they can’t really afford the requested monthly payments, and if we were to tell them how to do it, they could do it themselves. This has actually happened on more than one occasion. One time I retorted with a smile and asked them to share the secret of their success with me as payment in kind. They didn’t see the irony! We didn’t lose a potential client, we shed a potential pain!!
I may be focusing a little too sensitively on this subject, and please tell me if you think that’s true, but all of this leads me to ask the question “how do you sell yourself?” Do you stick within ethical boundaries and risk being misunderstood or underselling yourself, or do you make potentially dubious claims to give people the information that you want in a way that they can fully understand it?
Chris Gray