A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready to leave the house early for SBA Awards in Nashville. I was excited because I had nominated Angel Carrier, owner of the Tennessee Pour House, for SBA Woman Owned Business of the Year, and she won!
On my way out the door, my three-year-old Lane, kept telling me “Daddy, Daddy, I go a boo berry up my nose!”
He’s three. He says crazy things like, “I’m Spiderman”, “I washed my hand, weally I did”, and “I like Mommy better than you.” I just thought this was one of those things. I finally said, what do you mean little buddy? He says, “Come here. I show you.” He leads me over the board game, Operation, and said, “Dis one, see”, and he points to it. I notice all of the game pieces are still in there…minus the grapes in his chest.
Me - “Lane, did you put the grapes up your nose?”
Lane – “Yep. And it huwts too. See?”
He leans his head back to show where has stashed them.
So my wife and I are now in a real life version of Operation. I’m holding his head and she has the tweezers. She’s crying, he’s screaming, and I’m late. Needless to say, we didn’t make much progress.
So an hour later, a couple of well-trained nurses pluck the grapes out within a matter of seconds. They were professionals.
Oh, and I missed the SBA Awards. Sorry Angel.
It did make me think of small business owners and the problems they solve. So many times, your customers have grapes up their nose and they don’t know how to extract them. Heck, they don’t even know they are grapes. They think they have blueberries up there. They could try to fix the problem, however, they usually make the problem worse. That’s where you come in with a unique skill set and a long set of tweezers.
Make sure your clients and potential clients know:
- There is a proven return on investment of using your services. Show them the money than can save by using you to solve their problem.
- You can take care of their problem immediately. They won’t be burdened with their problem and have it hanging over their head.
- You are going to do a much better job than they could ever do. Ever. If they want it done right and not have to re-do it, they should hire you. This is where good referrals come in handy.
And if necessary, show them the tweezers.
