"Give a person a fish, and you feed Them for a day. Teach a person how to fish, and you feed Theme for a lifetime. "
A problem to solve
Early last year my family decided to move house. One of the reasons for the change was to be more in touch with nature. That's why we came to live in a village near Madrid.
The new house has a small garden with lawn. Initially, the family covenant distribution tasks was that my son and my husband would take care of the garden. Everything went smoothly until it was winter. Too cold and little time to devote to the piece of green land, made the grass was turning yellow and it seems increasingly neglected and abandoned.
Seeing that the situation worsened with each passing day, I decided I had to find a gardener who take us out, at least temporarily, off the hook.
not know how to sell
As I do whenever I need something, I searched online gardening companies and came across one of my locality. I phoned and a man answered with little enthusiasm that it would pass by my house to make a budget. After a few days, came to my door and nothing cordial tone, take a look after about two minutes into the garden, told me to send the quotation by email.
His language was so frugal, I asked no questions designed to discover what he really wanted, or comment on the possibilities of the garden, and unkind treatment as I had left little desire to see him again. It was almost as if he had had to apologize for calling him.
After about five days, I received your mail budget. I thought too expensive considering the lack of empathy and zero value I saw in your service.
The question I asked myself was: Why should I pay someone that amount if you are coming with a dog's face to work and not even interested in knowing what they really want?
Perhaps, I thought the man had another job and the landscaping was just a hobby, or perhaps already had many wealthy clients and I really did not care. If these were the reasons, no objection but what if you really need the money?
I do not know if the man offered, or not, good service, but the truth is that with no ability to persuasion left me eager to discover their potential abilities.
His visit was as poorly written resume, you send the company without the accompanying letter, which clearly shows you no interest and lack of it.
is knowing what to sell?
When you're trying to sell your work is not to say a price and expect to be answered; show him this is why the potential customer is worth to hire you and what you can offer added value over other potential suppliers .
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your work as gardening, cleaning, plumbing, take dogs for walks, do accounting or engineering project. This is especially true if you want to charge a high price.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of cases, the prospect does not know what your needs because it lacks the necessary information even to ask the right questions. Therefore, when trying to sell your work, your homework should be try find out what you can offer that person .
In my case, it would have been, for example asking if I wanted a temporary duty, or continuous, if she was willing to spend on plants and some decoration material, if he could invest in an external control for irrigation.
How will you know all this and the price you can collect if you ask the person concerned? is as easy as asking and yet the man did not ask me anything, just said he wanted to do in the garden.
A second attempt
Having seen, I decided to consult with another company. This time I pulled one of those leaflets thrown in my mailbox. If someone takes a flyer on a mailbox, "I say I-will be interested to sell and earn some money right?
Choose a company that had an appropriate name, something of "Leaves ......" and the role was green. Also put something like "Maintenance of gardens from 50 euros" . Well, I thought a company with few resources but who cares at least to differentiate the color of the flyer and price. I saw some interest by marketing at least and I liked it.
The great scholar
I called the mobile phone appeared in the paper and told me that a gentleman kindly agreed to spend a couple of days to see the garden. When it came, came accompanied by an assistant gardener sour and unlike before, gave me all kinds of explanations: that I ought to do, change, put, planting and pruning.
- Well, I thought, seems to understand the subject.
Note: when you explain something with patience and detail you're giving the potential customer know what you know about the matter and, therefore, you are giving confidence about the product or service you offer.
When he finished giving me suggestions on what could be done with the garden, I asked the price for doing the first job: cut the grass and fertilize the soil.
- I do in a minute in the car, "he replied and went to his car.
After a few minutes returned with a paper with the price broken down into different tasks. This time it had to wait 3 days. It seems efficient, I thought.
The price for the service did not seem cheap, but if I solved the problem, certainly worth it. So I accepted his offer without haggling.
Two days later came the gardener with an assistant who left doing the work while he was in search of material. When the assistant was already almost over, the head gardener again to appear and I explained that they had paid and shrubs pruned without additional charge and I would also schedule irrigation to spend as little water as possible, all at no extra cost. So far their "marketing" seemed perfect, but for the price I was charging I knew it was not free.
- Fantastic! I said, but warned him that it was very difficult to program, there was to know that not everyone could do it.
- Do not worry - I said we put it with the booklet (which I left).
appeared then a second assistant who presented as an expert in irrigation scheduling.
Before they left, I told them not to forget to clean the earth that had fallen into, the path of the driveway.
- Do not worry, he insisted, we will collect it.
Before leaving, he told me that he had placed the risk at 7.15 in the morning for work only after a few minutes to save much water. Finally, we agreed that I would call in early March for another job . And so every month a new task, until you get to have everything in place and care. Contenta
I was thinking that when hot days come, the whole garden would be bright.
The great disaster
The next morning I got up, as always, to give my first lectures on Skype and, at about 10am, I went to the first floor to exit. I noticed a noise that I heard from the lounge and from the second floor was not heard. It was as if it had been raining. How strange! - I thought. If you are completely clear day. I look out the window and see half the garden flooded! Automatic irrigation water left in streams for several of the sprinklers and had been dating from 7:15 a.m.!
I ran into the garden and shut the key step. God! thank goodness I work at home, "he said.
If I had left home early in the morning and had not turned up at night (like most people) that could have been a great flood. Excuses
just decided to phone ahead gardener and after explaining the incident said:
- Look, the water has been wasted and I have more than paid for the following work we agreed to do.
tried to excuse himself by saying that the irrigation system was broken. I clarified that it was impossible because before my husband had scheduled and had never been any problem. In the end, I apologized and told me that he would spend the next week. I told him it was not necessary, which would fix us.
Later, I realized that the cleaning had made the earth, in the driveway to the garden, wet it was simply because the water dries, they were dirt stains on the pavement. Should have been scrubbed, but did not.
What was the solution?
I have very clear what he had done had been at the scene of the gardener who had filled the garden.
customer would have offered make the next scheduled work for free to compensate for the damage, especially considering that was sold as an irrigation expert! With the completion of the work of clearing free, I would have ensured customer satisfaction and so call me again.
Note: No advertising more effective than "word of mouth." Think about what you do when you get a good professional in any field? "Ask friends or acquaintances if they know anyone? Right? It is logical because the references that provide our circle of friends or acquaintances are genuine skip the misleading and will it really matter "does a good job" worth it ", etc.
However, the gardener in question did nothing about it. Just got her first money with the new client that was me, and before the first problem decided to wait five days to come forward without offering anything in return. Result: total loss of confidence on my part. Moreover, not only recommend it to family, neighbors or friends, if not also if someone were to ask me I'll give negative references.
See how there is also a problem of not knowing how to finish off the tracks? It is not only to take the money, it comes to solving a problem because a buyer initial gain 100, with a tailored solution, becomes long-term in 1000 or 2000.
gardener If I had remained with me, assuming I would have paid an average of 100 euros for each one of his monthly, at the end of the year had won 1,200 euros. That's about the money left to win by not offering a solution when the problem occurred.
If you think short term is 100 euros. If you think long term is 1,200 euros.
Do you see the difference between profit in the long and short term?
The real problem is not that I've lost me as a customer, but their behavior will be repeated all over the place because he knows nothing of customer service. Consequently, leaving to sell and win is multiplied exponentially.
Interestingly, the incorrect attitude of the gardener "irrigation expert" is not self-exclusive, small businessmen or traders. Is extended to medium and large companies, in some cases through ignorance and other cases (large companies) and only solely because they are monopolies.
All, no doubt, we can make mistakes. We here at the blog and in our academy as well. But we know to rectify is wise and, above all, it is wise to rectify in time to compensate for damage.
Note: If you are a customer of ours and one day think that we have not treated properly in our school, please tell us and send us a link to this post.
One of the major causes of unemployment
wrong is true that the employment policies of governments, the global economy until oil prices are factors that influence the high rates of unemployment, but it is also true that there are other underlying causes that lead to unemployment
These causes are:
- The lack of training and experience
- The inability of people to provide a service or product quality
Note that you as a person no individual can influence employment policies, or the economic crisis, but you can take the initiative to train you and strive to sell quality products and services.
Notice how in the story I told someone I was asking me to solve a specific problem: "fix the garden."
did not want to learn gardening, or teach me how to manage irrigation: simply wanted to pay someone to do something that I did not want to do. Notice also how, in theory, is a problem that many people can solve, and yet, when the truth is very few people qualified to do so. Even for clean, there are hundreds of thousands of people and yet very few people who wipe.
Why is it important to know the problems facing the labor market as self-employed?
For ever more self-employed who have to survive on their own and with very specialized skills.
Why believe this?
for two reasons.
One is the unstoppable and rapid advancement of technology. come
new technological advances that will probably change again, soon, all markets. Check out this article about 3D printers in The Economist and for this video to see how the 3D printers. More on the topic in English.
If you do not understand the article on 3D printers in English I tell you that The Economist suggests that since such printers are becoming cheaper, it will be possible to make any small objects in a house, shop or office, with a very tight unit cost, less pollution and without having to resort to the factories.
do not know how long it takes to impose this technology and eventually disappear if the factories as we know, but it is important to note that the new turn in the global economy may be just around the corner.
The other reason is the fragmentation of the economy .
This fragmentation means that both products and services have to be done in a more and more specialized to compete. Given the large number of offers, consumers will increasingly imposing their tastes on the market and want a certain type of shoes, clothing, courses, travel, television, cars ...
seems clear that the only way to deal with these changes is being able to "fly with your own wings." Then I give concrete examples of how.
I stand to get a job or earn extra money
In this context, getting earn extra money is not as difficult as it seems. Look around and see how it is full of niche markets that others leave because they work well below what is desirable. In the kingdom of the blind, my friend, the one eyed man is king.
You may think that if you work for a company, or you plan to work for this sales, marketing and niche markets do not apply. Let me tell you you're wrong.
In each job are those elements, but dressed differently: you sell your work, you compete with other workers in your position (and therefore need your own marketing) and your lack of quality service, or those working with you, create market niches that others can use to advantage. Pongo
examples of quality far below what is desirable that I myself have experienced:
- Bank: Nearly all banks treat you like a mugger in power, and the truth is that when it comes to charging fees and cashing in, the robbers they are.
- small neighborhood Deal: can not print a bill for almost a month because they broke the printer, sent to the wrong email or send it.
- online courses: Both the vendor strives to win the commission turns lying on the type of product and service provided to you as a customer, with the serious consequence that you get to thinking you've been scammed.
- phone companies: They try to sell you anything and how it is and where you want your care or saber, or disappear.
- Construction: that do not close doors, cracks in unexpected places, shoddy material for which you paid a lot. To get some compensation, it does not call them, you have to go to trial. Orthodontists
- : They put a device orthodontic such poor quality that goes down every week. When asked for a solution, yes, they change it for the same or adjust it several times giving to understand that was your fault.
- software companies: Changing computer and try to download the software again tell you that your password has expired and try to charge you for something you've already paid and force you to do several steps completely unnecessary because they already have all your data. Why do you accept? Because the company in question is a monopoly .
Look, for example, as the company Apple sweeps in a market which has no competition, no need to be a monopoly.
The good news is that you do not need to be Apple to find a job and earn money, just need to train you, practice and try to always give you the best of yourself.
Why say it's not so hard?
Because the labor market is full of people who do not read anything that does not look at anything that does not learn, or want to learn, no adjustments, no effort and has no interest in progress. ; What we do have is greed or laziness, or both together. And so it goes.
Sometimes, however, this is only ignorance, not knowing which way the shots.
a few examples of activities that you can start making money:
- Creating websites and blogs. Very often they send me websites or blogs, created by individuals for me to make them available on the blog. Sometimes the initial idea is not bad, but there are two or three pages of Google ads or advertisements of "put your advertising on this page." Vale put something but putting full page ad is completely counterproductive. Sometimes, put comments with a link to your creation for all "The blog to learn English," hoping to have readers.
Trivia: The last straw was a blog full of advertising that fed on my updates (feeds ) and other popular blogs, that is what I came automatically published on his blog and its owner did not have to bother to write and pocket money would enter "jets" for your checking account. Result: when it was reported, Google closed the account.
In the FAQ (Frequent Asked Questions) put it clear: for a given blog or website advertising money needs thousands of visitors. Miles. Result attempt almost no content posts: waste of time.
Moral: Do not make a blog hoping to win money. Do it because you like the subject and perhaps with effort and determination, you can live it, not by advertising, but because they indirectly yourself known as an expert in the field that is your passion.
- Have a catering service. not necessary to have a blog, be on Facebook or an account on Twitter to make money. Ni even need a business card or office. No. What you need is to have customers. Remember that I called the gardener because they took a flyer in my mailbox. Therefore, if you like cooking you can start offering takeout. Must first offer it to known and try to spread the word. Here an example of an English woman who saved his family from bankruptcy by making cupcakes.
- Sewing: There was a time when I was little, my family went through financial difficulties. My mother began to sew and sell leather jackets. He always gave good sewing when she was in trouble, he picked from what I could. It was a success because we really did it very well. She started selling to friends and acquaintances and then started asking stores. With what we ate won four in a year.
- Paint: If you are an artist you love to paint, get inspired Geninne's blog. Look at how well and how does it all has become something that can be a hobby into a business. What attracts many visitors Geninne? First, because what is beautiful (quality) and second because it gives gifts: boxes, cards, stamps. Now also organizes courses. A great example to follow.
To conclude, I want you to remember that this is not to have three races, two masters, and know five languages. We're talking about all sorts of jobs, from cleaning a house to conduct an engineering project, and an attitude to the customer / buyer that makes you infallible of treating it as you would like to be treated.
Sometimes it seems to me to teach English is for me an excuse designed to teach how to fish because what good is English if you can not fish? ******************
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THANKS: Roberto Reboredo and I especially thank for their help with the material of the Unit 23 Dan Darrow, Andrés Iribarren, Adrian M. and Alberto Lamela.
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