“I feel your pain” is a phrase that many people associate with Bill Clinton (although I haven’t been able to track down the reason). Now I would like to use it too. Earlier this year I got the opportunity to sympathize even more with my clients!
As many of you know, I just finished a major kitchen remodel in our house. In February I hired a contractor who had come highly recommended by a friend. After we paid him a substantial deposit, he came and did a few days of work, then took off with our money. During the few days he was here, he managed to:
- Connect a makeup air duct to the heat vent
- Install hardwood in the wrong place, and leave a huge bump in our floor by putting the flooring over some scrap wood
- Construct a door frame out of drywall without studs behind it
- Install light switches with live wires hanging out of the wall
…and those are just the highlights. The damage caused by the work he did do was about as bad as the stolen deposit. In short, an absolute nightmare.
In the middle of this nightmare, I was sharing with a friend how I felt:
- Upset, because I had been burned by a dishonest and incompetent contractor
- Confused, because I did not know the best way to proceed from there, and
- Fearful of making another wrong decision.
And as I was sharing these things, I realized that this is probably how many potential clients feel when I first meet them.
The fact is, many of the people I meet are also upset, confused and fearful. Many have also been burned by an unethical or incompetent web developer. They are confused, because they don’t know what to do to make their website successful, and they are fearful of making a wrong decision.
I know it is of little use for me to say, “Trust me; I’m honest,” when people have been burned in the past. However, I CAN say, “I feel your pain.” I really do understand how it feels!
I can also say, “Come see what we have actually done for other clients just like you, to actually make their website work for them.”
Happy Labor Day everyone!
To your success!
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