Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-zxbty-144ccf0
That Solo Life: Episode #206 Biting Our Tongues and Minding Our Business
From unrealistic expectations to news that, well, isn’t, there are times we need to help guide our clients back from the brink and times we need to bite our tongues and mind our business. In this episode we talk about when to say, “No way!” and when to let it go.
Transcript
Michelle Kane (00:02):
Thank you for joining us for an episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen. We're here. It's another episode. Woohoo.
Karen Swim, APR (00:20):
Hey Michelle. We made it into another week and I am grateful for that.
Michelle Kane (00:25):
Me too. It's always good to kick a day to the curb and go into the next one, <laugh>.
Karen Swim, APR (00:34):
Love it.
Michelle Kane (00:34):
And, and I think we're going to have a little fun today.
Karen Swim, APR (00:37):
Yes, we are.
Michelle Kane (00:39):
We're going to talk about when clients have unrealistic expectations. Now I know what you're thinking. That never happens. What, what could you two possibly have to talk about, right? <Laugh>?
Karen Swim, APR (00:51):
Haha.
Michelle Kane (00:55):
But you know, it's we say this a lot. A big part of our job is education. You know, helping our clients realize what exactly it is they're getting when they engage with a PR pro. And at the same time setting and managing realistic expectations for success. And sometimes that kicks in just fine. Sometimes they still have these lovely expectations.
Karen Swim, APR (01:24):
100%. Yeah. And so sometimes it's more than unrealistic expectations. Sometimes they're just downright cuckoo <laugh> , I can't think of, of a more professional term. Forgive us today. <Laugh>
Michelle Kane (01:46):
Right. That's right. I know. It's been a month already. Yeah. Like, they want the Rolls Royce for the price of a Honda. You've seen the graphics, right? With someone scribbling with their Paint app saying, you know, looking for a graphic designer, that kind of thing. Or,
Karen Swim, APR (02:05):
Or, and I think, here's one of the things that really comes in when you have clients that are just being unreasonable. There was a survey might have been a couple years ago, and the survey showed that it was offered by, I think, Bridge Global Strategies. And it was a survey about people who work in PR - in agencies, corporations, independent contractors, just all kinds of PR people.
These were people that had experience. So almost a hundred percent. It was like 94%. More than 94% had 10 or more years of experience. And then more than 67% had more than 20 years of experience. So these are seasoned professionals. And then they measured - it was all about failure. And it said that 85% of people admitted to having failed at one time or another. But here's the interesting tidbit - 57% said when asked if the failure was tied to not setting PR goals or setting unrealistic goals at the start, 57% said yes. And I think that that's really important because that's more than half of those surveyed. Now, some of the other reasons for failure, the top reason is the budget was too small and the client wasn't paying us enough for hours to accomplish the goals. That is so common.
Michelle Kane
Huge.
Karen Swim, APR
And then, the number two reason was the client or company saw itself, or its product as really unique, but it turned out that it was not very well differentiated from competitors. And so we know that all of you are nodding your heads, this happens all the time. And it's a big part of what we have to continue to re reinforce with clients and continue to educate. I have been doing this for more than 15 years as well, nearly 20 years. And I would agree with all of those things. And as seasoned as I am and as thoughtful and meticulous as we are during the prospecting pro process and the onboarding process, we still have to remind clients of what PR really involves. Yeah. People truly do not, first of all, understand the amount of labor that goes into getting the results that we get.
And it starts when we're putting together strategic plans because we don't just go, “Hey, thanks for being a client and now we're just going to go out pitching.” There's a lot of things that have to be in place before we do that. And I don't think clients understand them. All of those things are for your benefit, dear clients. They're not because we don't know how to do our jobs, they're for your benefit. Us taking the time to put together a strategic plan helps us to have a document that aligns goals. It helps us to concur on what the challenges are in your company, in your industry. It helps us to affirm the trends that we're seeing and affirm that those are the trends that you're seeing. It helps us to make sure
