Is DIY impacting your business? Heidi Sloss

Is the DIY Mentality Killing Your Business?

Business 1 Response »

May 072013

Is the DIY Mentality Killing Your Business?

Are you in an industry that has been hit hard by the pervasive ‘do-it-yourself’ mentality? The industries I work with are struggling with this to some degree: real estate agents, mortgage brokers, travel agents, insurance agents, interior designers, landscape designers, website designers. More and more consumers believe, often mistakenly, that they save time and money by doing it themselves, when frequently, the opposite is true. Do your prospects think that they can do your job better than you and save money while doing it? If so, then you know exactly what I mean.

Instead of thinking of this as a threat, I challenge you to think of this as a marketing opportunity. As I defined in my best-selling book, Fortune is in the Follow-Up®, “marketing is building a relationship with a prospect, or a great referral source, until they feel comfortable enough to do business with you.” If your prospects think that they are saving money when they do your job themselves, then it is time to use this as an opportunity to talk about the value you bring to the table. One way to do this is to articulately state why people should do business with you.

Last week I was in Las Vegas, presenting to travel agents. The travel industry has been hard hit by the do-it-yourself mentality. I challenged the audience to come up with reasons why people should hire them. If you search for articles and videos, there are hundreds out there, showing how using a travel agent will save consumers time, money and hassle. And yet, not enough agents share this information on a regular basis with their past clients and prospects. It is a missed opportunity for travel agents, and possibly you, if you are not sharing with your prospects how valuable you are to them. Are you able to save your prospects time, money and/or hassle? If so, then it is critical that you start to share this information with them–early and often!
As I challenged the agents in my audience, I want to challenge you too. Create a list of 10 reasons why someone should hire you. Think about it, if you can’t articulate, clearly and succinctly, why your prospects should hire you, how will they know who you are, what you do and most importantly, how you can help them? I suggest that you create your list and then use it on your website, when pitching to prospects and in conversations while networking.
The other issue with the do-it-yourself mentality when it comes to running your business is not only does it mean that your prospects are trying to do your job, but you too may be caught up doing someone else’s job. In other words, in the course of running your business while trying to keep your costs down, are you doing someone else’s job? Are you trying to save money by doing your own bookkeeping? Or website creation and maintenance? Or getting a loan for buying/renting/selling property? If so, then you are doing to other business professionals what your prospects are doing to you.
My advice is to stop immediately and instead hire professionals to do their job. They will save you time, money and hassle. BUT most importantly, using professionals will allow you to get back to what should be your main focus: building relationships with prospects and referral sources. In other words, you are worth more to your business marketing it than you are as the chief cook and bottle washer, doing it all yourself, and not doing what really needs to be done by you.

Stop the do-it-yourself mentality when it comes to running your business. Hire competent professionals who will save you countless hours and boatloads of money. And perhaps you can figure out a way to work together on some joint projects or success partnerships.

Yours,

Heidi BK Sloss
Marketing Strategist & Follow-Up Expert
Best-Selling Author of Fortune is in the Follow-Up®
hsloss@heidisloss.com
www.heidisloss.com
650-248-1545

PS: By the way, here is an informative video to watch on the travel industry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPC57YHhGo Please note, I receive nothing if you choose to use a travel professional.