Recently I started offering Facebook Ads for free for various prospects. The reason I was offering for this is to validate my skills and take them to the next level.
I knew I was good, but before I started launching ads I wanted to know I was elite.
Instead of focusing on cash, I’m focusing on providing value to people. The cash is a side-effect of giving people solutions to their problems.
I knew that if I could offer Facebook Ads that get excellent results for clients that word would get around that I’m “the man.” More importantly instead of chasing down clients I’d just launch Facebook Ads to get my own clients.
The results that I ended up getting blew even me away. For example, one software development agency is getting leads at about $1.69 per lead. At a ridiculously low close rate of 1-3%, that means they’re essentially printing cash off the internet!
But… there was a problem with this agency. Their sales team, management, and operations were all a mess.
When leads started coming in, they violated every rule of marketing. They didn’t immediately send emails to the leads, send follow-up emails, call them, and try to focus on giving value.
They didn’t properly update me with metrics such as “48.62% of leads are duds.” As I write this 50+ leads still have 0 data… Meaning that despite days after receiving the leads, they still have not contacted the leads.
Today I got a message: some of the leads didn’t even remember the ad, or who the agency was; the sales team wanted to suggest some ad copy to try!
This made me so angry, and well it’s inspiring this post as this trend has been happening a lot in my life.
Back to the agency: just yesterday I sent them an Email saying that if they do not contact these leads with an automatic email auto-responder and a call within 24 hours there’s basically no point in contacting the leads because they will forget us.
Was the Email even read…?
When I got that message this morning, and this client has been a bit of a source of frustration recently, it’s like “NO SHIT!”
Do you remember what ads you saw on Facebook 5 days ago? No? Yeah, what a surprise!
So this client hasn’t been the only one like this. There have been others, that don’t do basic things like get a “CRM” software. For my non-business friends, you basically need a CRM to stay organized otherwise you’ll likely fail in business.
Obviously doing work for free is attracting low-quality clients, and so I’m glad that my skills are validated to the point that I can now charge- I’m also getting more attention from other prospects, so within the month I won’t have to work for free on this anymore.
I didn’t want the money- I wanted the skills because the skills get the money. But now let’s get to the point of this post, in two parts.
Great Work, Stupid Clients (or Bosses)
If you do great work for stupid clients, then they will think that the work you’re doing is bad.
I’ve currently got a service feedback form and currently I have 10/10 responses. My work is exceptional, and $1.69 leads on Facebook is generally unheard of. Facebook themselves even rated my ad 10/10!
A lot of you reading this aren’t business owners, so this applies even if you have a bad job.
It doesn’t matter how quality your work is- if you’ve got a bad job or a bad client, they are always going to blame you for their problems.
So this client is getting exceptional results. Leads at a wonderful price. I’m certain no one else will be able to produce this. But their sales team is so bad that they can’t close the leads, and then the sales team is blaming me for “too many duds…” despite the fact I told them to expect a 1-3% close rate.
But here’s an example of when I had a job: I worked at a pizza restaurant once, and it was a similar thing. They were so disorganized and a mess, there were always problems.
I quickly learned that my hard work wasn’t going appreciated like it did in my previous job at a Greek restaurant (which I only left because I was moving to a new city). In my previous job I received a ton of praise, rewards, bonuses, raises, etc.
In the pizza restaurant they were too disorganized for my good work to go recognized, or anyone’s for that matter.
When I put in my resignation, the manager gave me a high-five because she had also! She proceeded to offer me wine & beer, which I accepted. And that was the first and only time I ever drank on the job, but that’s another story…
Do you remember how nervous you were on your first job interviews? When I look back on how nervous I was, it all seems silly. Not only do they need to screen you, you need to screen them!
If you feel your self-esteem suffering from your job, or that your work quality is always dismissed, or that you can never get it right, maybe it’s not you… Maybe it’s just that the client or job is shit!
When picking a job, it’s important to select a client or boss that actually values you.
You Can’t Help Failures
Something else I’ve been learning in my life is that you can’t help people that are destined to fail.
I think I saw a YouTube video where someone suggested only doing business with business owners that were already making a ton of money. Me and a friend observed that our best clients were businesses that were already successful. Start-ups were chaotic, disorganized, mean, and the pay was not as good.
You can of course work in a start-up or something like that, but the point here is that YOU can’t help someone that is destined to fail!
In my case the client simply will NOT succeed. It doesn’t matter if I get 1,000 leads for them for just $100. They are too disorganized, and I’ve paused the ad campaigns until they can get their shit together.
This applies outside of business also- if someone doesn’t take your advice, stop giving advice.
I believe one of the purposes of life is just to enjoy it, in whichever way you do. If someone doesn’t want to be helped, let them be and go be happy with some other people.
In my case I’ll be now charging this free client, as my skills are validated, and I’m 100% okay if they leave. There are other prospects in the pipeline that value me, and I have other clients that value me to the point of flying me out to parties in Texas (which happened a few months ago!).
Find Winners To Win With
What is a winner? It’s not someone who has money, girls, the mansion, cars, and epic lifestyle.
No. I’m sick of that Instagram bullshit. Too many fakes be showing this epic life, acting like they’re about to give Ted Talks on business when they’re actually poor as fuck (yes, I have an acquaintance who failed in business for years and now is about to give a Tedx talk about being successful).
A winner is someone who is genuinely growing. Generally speaking the winners WILL have the results, but not always.
I classify a winner as someone who is moving up- someone who genuinely is growing and becoming successful, willing to improve, and able to take criticism.
We see lottery winners all the time end up poor and destitute. Why is that? It’s because they are not winners in their heart, and so they lose it all.
In this way it’s hard to figure out who’s a real winner and who’s destined to fall down, but you’ll get better screening people in time.
I say be optimistic and assume the best, but expect the worst.
Do It Yourself!
This is part 1 of a 2-part piece. Part II can be found by clicking HERE now.
Done.
-Michael
