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Testimonials
"Yeah, we love it! Thanks so much, I'm really happy with this and I think it was a great idea."
Jose Reyes
Turbulence
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"It's awesome. I have looked for something like this before and didn't find anything that really fit with our business, so I'm thrilled."
Ronnie Roper
One Design
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"TimeFox is awesome – I'm very pleased with the ease of use, the number of ways to review the data, and mostly the service – your follow-up and assistance has been exceptional."
Oren Switzer-Tal
Marshall Fenn Communications
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FunctionFox
is committed to helping smaller creative companies improve their business. TimeFox, our web-based time and project-tracking tool, is designed to help smaller advertising, design, marketing and PR firms manage their business, and do more with their valuable time.
This month our feature article is about understanding our prospects better. Every company is always looking for its next new business opportunity, and how we can best go about getting it. We hope you find "10 Things You Must Understand About Your Prospects" enlightening.
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Feature Article: 10 Things You Must Understand About Your Prospects
TimeFox Tip: Status Report
Advertising and Design News
FunctionFox Referral Program
Contact FunctionFox
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10 Things You Must Understand About Your Prospects
by Ilise Benun
founder of Marketing Mentor
1. Your prospects need you. Do you imagine that by promoting yourself, you are intruding on or interrupting your prospect? Are you thinking, "They won't want what I have," or "They've probably already got someone." Well, as Stock Photography Guru, Rohn Engh, likes to say, "At this very moment, your prospects are waiting for you." Whether it's true about a specific prospect is irrelevant; if you approach each prospect with that frame of mind, you'll make a better presentation.
2. Your prospects want to look good. Things are kind of scary out there. No matter the industry, from construction to graphic design, things aren't the way they used to be — not for you and not for them. So what they want from you, over and above what they're asking for, is that you make them look good; that's your real job.
3. Your prospects are, well, lazy. That means you have to do some of their work: help them find you, help them contact you and then, of course, help them work with you. The fewer obstacles they have to surpass, the more likely they are to follow through, and the more likely you are to get the work.
4. Your prospects have got a lot going on. Don't lose sight of their big picture. In the office, there are interruptions galore. They can't get anything accomplished, their desk is a disaster area, their voice mailbox is jammed, their e-mail is stacking up. In a word, things are out of control. You are just one of the many things they are trying to focus on. Now try to ask: why aren't they calling me back?
5. Your prospects act on impulse. We all do this: we see something interesting, we get excited, we call for information and when it comes, we put it in a pile. Determine as quickly as possible if you're dealing with an impulse inquiry and waste as little time as possible with them. But don't write them off entirely; just put them on your quarterly mailing list and let them come back to you. Real needs and desires will stand the test of time.
6. Your prospects need to pigeonhole you. Although you hate it, let them do it; in fact, help them. Give them a box to put you in, and a label to put on your box. (I'm speaking figuratively here.) There's plenty of time to tell them more later about your full range of services.
7. Your prospects may not know what they need. Listen to them and provide a solution to their self-defined needs. Offer a few alternatives for them to choose from. If necessary, explain, without trying to persuade, why what they say they want might not be the best thing for them. Then, let them decide.
8. Your prospects need time. It's not always a put off. Believe them when they say they have to think about it, or that they have to sell the idea to someone else. We all need time to think, time to get ready, to adjust, to clear our plate. Give them the time they ask for, and then keep in touch, reminding them that they were interested. And remember that some things will never come to fruition. That's life.
9. Your prospects are people. Your relationships are not with companies; like it or not, they're with human beings. And relationships are more important now than ever because, with everyone moving around, you better believe they're taking the Rolodex (or Wizard) along.
10. Your prospects are just like you and me. Don't forget: you are a prospect to someone out there too. Which defenses do you use? How do you want to be treated when someone is marketing to you? How often do you want someone calling? How much freedom and time would you like to have to think about a product, to ask questions and to make your decision? How do you want to feel about the process when it is over?
Hoboken-NJ based consultant, Ilise Benun, is the author of
Stop Pushing Me Around: A Workplace Guide for the Timid, Shy and Less Assertive and Designing Websites for Every Audience.
She is also co-founder of Marketing Mentor, a one-on-one coaching program for designers and other creatives.
Sign up for her email tips here:
http://www.marketing-mentortips.com/index.html
Copyright © 1999-2005, The Art of Self Promotion, All Rights Reserved.
If you have an article that you would like to share, please contact us at 1.866.369.8463 or email
info@functionfox.com.
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This month's TimeFox Tip focuses on the TimeFox Status Report. The Status Report can be a company's most effective tool in a weekly production meeting as it shows the status of all active projects, which person is responsible for those projects and when each project is due. By creating custom statuses you can analyze projects stage by stage. For example you could report specifically on new business, high priority projects, projects that are ready for billing or whatever other aspect of the job you want to track. Once everyone has a single easy-to-follow report, showing what stage each project is at, your production meeting time could easily be halved!
In TimeFox go to Setup>Status Options to customise project statuses. Then use Reports>Status for a snapshot report like the one shown above.
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I.D. is now accepting entries into the 2007 Annual Design Review.
Since 1954, the Annual Design Review has recognized the best in product, furniture, graphic and environment design, from the iconic to the obscure. Throughout the years, this annual showcase has chronicled the evolution of design and highlighted its impact on our material and visual culture.
Each year, the featured work is chosen by a jury of leading practitioners, who, along with I.D.'s editorial team, focus the abundance of submissions into a clear survey of the state of design. The resulting overview is published in the July/August issue of I.D. Magazine.
Deadline is December 1, 2006. Entry forms can be downloaded from
www.id-mag.com
PRINT recently launched a new website
(www.printmag.com),
designed in collaboration with Design and Technology MFA students at New York City's Parsons The New School for Design. Led by instructor (and PRINT contributor) Andrea Deszö, 15 students spent a full semester reworking the site from top to bottom. Consulting weekly with PRINT's editor-in-chief Joyce Rutter Kaye and then-art director Stephanie Skirvin, the students divided into small teams to compile research on the site's audience, user experience, community-building capabilities, and other features. By semester's end, the group zeroed in on a single cohesive, flexible, user-friendly design that visually complements the printed magazine's redesign last year by Abbott Miller of Pentagram. Currently the PRINT site features winning entries in the magazine's Business Graphics competition, a "top five" list of editors' picks, and web-exclusive coverage of "Designism," a panel discussion held in September at the Art Directors Club in New York.
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If you refer someone to FunctionFox, and they purchase a TimeFox subscription,
we'll give you a month's subscription to TimeFox! Refer 12 new customers,
you'll get a whole year's subscription on us!
Don't miss this chance to pass the word and save money on your subscription!
Here's how: Ask the person you refer to enter your name/company under 'Referral (Client or Friend)'
when they sign up for a demo at
www.functionfox.com/demo
or tell a friend at
www.functionfox.com/referral_program.
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For a TimeFox Demo, go to:
www.functionfox.com/demo
To arrange a guided tour of TimeFox, please send your request to:
info@functionfox.com
To order a TimeFox subscription, go to:
www.functionfox.com/purchase
If you would like your company to be featured in a TimeFox
newsletter, on our website or in our promotional package,
please send your request to:
info@functionfox.com
You can opt out of the About Time Newsletter at:
www.functionfox.com/newsletter/no_thanks.asp
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