The ‘recession discount' and other fairytales

There's a new beast in town. It's short, hairy and smells a bit rancid. It snaps at your ankles and leaves slimy trails on your office floor. It doesn't speak, but rather grunts and grumbles. And just when you think you've shut your door and left it out in the cold, it pops out from behind the dustbin and bears its rotting yellow teeth at you.

It's the Recession, and it's being used as an excuse, far and wide, for customers and clients to request bizarre (and often enormous) discounts for the same work you've been doing brilliantly all this time. This, ladies and gents, holds about as much water as an old garden bucket. So here's a look at how it unfolds and how to handle it...

1. How it unfolds

Helen's story

I was requested by my client, a PR company, to write four substantial pieces for a parastatal tourism concern. They offered R6000 for all four, at 1000 words each. My fee when I was contracted was R3 a word. I stuck to my guns, pointing out that this would mean a lousy R1.50 a word, and declined politely, saying that I would do only two of the pieces, at my usual R3 rate. Within a day, they agreed and a few days later, they wanted a third story, "at your R3 rate". The lesson: Stick to your guns. You're worth it, and they do have the money!

Sarah's story

I had a client who asked if I would give her a 'special rate' for a job she wanted done. She had just finished telling me about her cruise on the QE2 after a holiday in the UK and her new Merc, one of the first with a remote ignition. She hadn't really had a chance to drive it yet. Poor dear. I declined, and never worked for her again.

Tim's story

There's a huge nationwide concern I've done some work for. They'd loved it. So I was chuffed when a different person from the same company called for a quote on a similar job. I went in conservatively, because I wanted it. A few days later, I got a call from the contact, to tell me that my quote was higher than their budget and they'd like a discount. “What sort of discount?” I asked, thinking that as I'd worked for them before, I'd knock 5% off. “Forty percent,” she answered. In my shock, I asked her to repeat herself several times, spluttered an explanation about why this wasn't feasible for me and put down the phone feeling like I'd had my pockets picked.

Vanessa's story

Lately the call for a ‘regular customer' discount has been unreal. So I humour the client,"Yes, I understand. We're all struggling at the moment. I know you're a small business too. Yes, we have to stick together". But in my head I'm thinking, contacting me once every three months does not really qualify you as a regular customer. So I proceed to give him a slightly inflated price and with a "But for you...", I lower it back to the normal price. Problem solved.

In all three of the above instances, the client has a bit of a cheek. Your prices are your prices. You're providing the same service now that you were last year this time - except now, your overheads are higher and life's costing you more.

As you can see above, some companies don't put up with this nonsense. But there are a couple of ways to a) analyse whether or not being hardegat will work for you in the short-term and b) compromise if required, without losing face.

2. How to handle it

First things first: context.

Is the current economic climate killing you? Are you battling right now, and desperate to quote on, and get, every job that comes your way? If so, ‘giving in' to the client may work for you and get you the thumbs-up you're hoping for. But please, if you are going to comply, be sure to give the client a good reason** for the discount - not just the bleeding recession!

Alternatively, are you pretty busy? Perhaps not as busy as you were last year, but plodding along, getting most of the work you quote on, covering your costs and being able to breathe when you climb into bed at night?

If you are, consider the fact that recessions create vacuums and that smart businesses are those that step into the gaps left by scared businesses. If you can grit your teeth and uphold your prices, you'll benefit in the medium-term, because customers will learn to take your professionalism, standards and rules seriously.

Please also keep in mind that (and I've polled widely on this in my field and other industries) the target audience may be more cautious about spending - quibbling over costs, asking more questions, reading the fine print - but those clients who are serious about the product or service are still spending. It just takes a little longer.

In this regard, patience is truly a virtue, and while you're being patient ask yourself, “Is this a sincere client, or is he/she wasting my time?”

Tip: if you're not comfortable offering discounts, but you do want to give clients a little something extra as a ‘thank you' for spending their money with you, offer an extra set of free changes to a copywriting job, a spare set of prints with a photography job, an ‘anytime email follow-up service' with a consultation, another month tacked on to a contract...

** Secondly, give a reason

Call it an NGO discount, a ‘regular clients' discount or a volume discount. Call it anything you like, but don't undermine yourself by nodding your head gormlessly and hacking 10% off your quotation.

Say to the client, ‘No, I don't offer a recession discount. But as you're a ________, I can offer you my __________ discount. That's the best I can do for you, because I want to be able to put as much of my time/resources/effort [pick one] as I can into this job. I don't want you to lose out.' And put it in writing, on the quote, in bold letters, just above the pre-VAT sub-total.

Disclaimer

Now, I have to admit that I've used the recession myself in recent months - when negotiating overseas travel costs, getting quotes on vehicle graphics and complaining about shoddy treatment at a Parkhurst restaurant.

But, and this is a biggie, I haven't done so to guilt-trip suppliers into giving me better deals. No, I've used the R-word to unsubtly nudge people into giving me better service.

You'd think this self-evident, wouldn't you? Sinking economy, widespread retrenchment, massive panic; ergo, great service, big smiles, huge effort, nice work... Sorry for you. It seems that the opposite is, in fact, true.

Here's a tip: while the Big R is no reason to start slashing at your bottom line with a rusty machete, it is a reason to offer never-before-seen levels of service, delivery and reliability. Now more than ever, clients need motivation to unload their precious loot onto you. Yes, they're probably going to spend it anyway, but they'll do it quicker with the guy who goes a bit further.

www.tiffanymarkman.co.za

Re-entering the job market: self-marketing and résumé writing

Suffering from a recession-era retrenchment? Been unceremoniously ousted from your job? Latest casualty of ‘Last In, First Out' syndrome? Massive dent to your ego notwithstanding, a retrenchment can mean huge stress and even family trauma, on top of the urgent need to find yourself another job. A nicer job. A better-paying job. And hopefully, a more ‘you' job.

This article is dedicated to helping you to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and follow a set of simple steps to re-entering the job market, including self-marketing and résumé-writing. The former should, ideally, happen before the latter - so that you approach updating your CV with more self-knowledge, greater inspiration and better words than you had before.

[Note: if you still have your job but you have to oust others from theirs, or you're spending time around the-tragic-and-recently-retrenched at present, this article is a must-read for you.]

1. Find your niche

Too many people believe that a brand starts and ends with a pretty logo and a nice business card. Not true. As a job-seeker, your brand is you. And you can't find your dream job without putting yourself out there. After all, it's your skills and abilities that people will be paying for.

So, as a person re-entering the job market, you need to create your brand. There are five elements to consider when deciding on how best to express ‘Brand You', and here they are:

• What are your core strengths?
  
• What are your own goals?
  
• What are your passions?
  
• Does your brand fit your personality?
  
• What makes you uncomfortable?

2. Establish your true value

When you've been on a job interview, you want the company to come back to you with a contract in one hand and a thumbs-up sign in the other. But that doesn't always happen. Sometimes when you follow up, the company says, “Sorry for you. Application unsuccessful.”

This puts you in a tricky situation. On the one hand, it may not have been the company for you. On the other, you need a job and your self-esteem's just taken a bit of a dive. So now what? How do you keep going, with a clear sense of what you're worth? Here are a few tips:

1. Become a shameless self-promoter
   
   The people who get the best jobs are usually those who know how to punt themselves - who put themselves out there with a good dose of (sometimes fake) self-confidence and work on building their brand. Here's how you start:
   
   Complete the following sentences, as if you were your own mother/father, writing about you...
   
   _____________ is an absolutely brilliant _________________ who can add ________ to your company. Hire him/her now and watch as _____________________________________.
   
   
2. Chew on other ideas, like freelancing
   
   In any given profession, freelancers sell or contract their work to clients, rather than being employed. Freelancing means using your skills to accommodate your work/life balance. It opens up the potential to steer your career in a direction that suits you. It's also about working at your own pace and taking responsibility for your future.
   
   On the up-side:
   
   
   1. You're your own boss: this can be extremely enjoyable and very satisfying.
      
   2. You have more freedom: freelancers can, mostly, choose when and where to work.
      
   3. You're more marketable: by moving from company to company and sometimes contract to contract, freelancers can develop varied experience, impressive CVs and good contacts.
      
   4. You pay less tax: freelancers who take good advice can reduce their tax burden.
   
   But the best part is that freelancers tend to earn more money than permanent employees. I promise. There's also a delicious turnover of people, working environments and cultural diversity, so you don't get as bored as quickly. I promise. Of course, if freelancing were such an easy way to earn a living, everyone would do it - which would defeat the purpose entirely.
   
   On the down-side:
   
   
   1. There's less security: freelancers are not protected in the same ways as employees.
      
   2. There's more uncertainty: there are no guarantees of new work, money or benefits.
      
   3. There's more hassle: because you're running your own business, there are forms to complete, rules to obey and accounts to keep.
      
   4. You're on your ace: as well as the possibility of being lonely, being your own boss means that nobody pays you when you take a holiday, you're a new mom or you're sick.
   
   My take? No matter what the additional stresses of going it alone, it tends to even out when you face less traffic, less office drama, no leave forms, no retrenchment risk - and most of the profit!
   
   
3. Master the crucial art of networking
   
   A key part of marketing yourself is making professional contacts who can support you, advise you, collaborate with you - and refer you to job opportunities. How to start networking?
   
   
   • Participate in appropriate Facebook groups.
     
   • Join online social networking forums such as Twitter, MyGenius or LinkedIn.
     
   • Join professional industry organizations.
     
   • Speak to people in your field and in related fields.
     
   • Go to conferences that are relevant to what you do.
     
   • Give business cards to absolutely everyone.
     

3. Discover what you like

• What's your favourite movie? Write down the title. Is it an action, a comedy, an adventure, a romance, a sci-fi thriller, a courtroom drama, a historical saga or a smart foreign flick?
  
  
• What are your favourite TV channels?Write them down. Do you watch TV to escape or to learn? Is your best show mindless or meaningful? What programmes really excite you?
  
  
• What kind of art are you attracted to? Write it down. Photography? Modern art? Classic painters? Look around your home or your office - what pieces appeal to you most?
  
  
• What kind of music do you like? Are you into hip hop, reggae, classical music, jazz, golden oldies, pop, foreign sounds? Listen to the radio and note the stuff that gets you going.
  
  
• What outdoor environment inspires you? If given a choice, would you rather be sitting at an outdoor table on Sandton Square, on a picnic blanket at Zoo Lake or on a remote mountaintop in Nepal? Do you feel alive when you're scuba diving with sharks or strolling lazily around an organic market? Where do you feel closest to yourself and most peaceful?

Your professional self is connected to your creative self. Review your notes about your favourite creative endeavours and places; you'll be surprised what they reveal about your career path.

[Disclaimer: the insights you gain from the above interrogation are not meant to appear in your CV. In other words, don't put a sentence into your Personal Profile or Interests section that reads, “I love long walks on the beach and Dirty Dancing.” The intention here, in case you haven't gathered, is to uncover professional avenues you haven't considered before, because they were linked to your hobbies, not to your ‘real job'. If you can - and so many of us do - make money out of doing something that really excites you, you're in for a happier life.]

4. Update your CV

When applying for any job, you'll have to present a résumé to the interviewer or prospective employer. This should be a concise, clear summary of your overall qualifications, including your skills, experience and other info that allows your personality to stand out.

But you probably haven't gone through the job-seeking process in a while, much less given thought to your recruitment prospects. And if you've been busy, you haven't kept your CV updated. So you don't know what ‘they' want to know, and in what format.

Below is a generally accepted standard of the data a CV should contain:

• Personal and contact details - the obvious stuff
  
• Personal profile - a 4-5 line sales pitch on ‘Brand You'
  
• Educational qualifications - working in reverse chronological order
  
• Additional qualifications and memberships - to highlight your all-roundedness
  
• Work experience - keep it simple and be honest (again, in reverse order)
  
• Interests -to show what a capable, creative individual you are
  
• References - only list people who'll absolutely rave about you
  

But above all, remember the fable of the plumber - and know your own worth:

A lady had a blocked pipe and called a plumber. He arrived, she pointed to the pipe and he kicked it. The water started running. He said, ‘That'll be R450', to which she replied, 'How can you charge me R450 for fixing this pipe? All you did was kick it!' And the plumber answered, “I'm not charging you R450 for kicking it; I'm charging you R450 for knowing where to kick it.”

www.tiffanymarkman.co.za