I’ve been thinking a lot lately how marketers and social media “experts” or consultants talk to their clients before they have the client in the fold.  Given today’s economic climate, it’s a delicate fine line in the ways we talk or “pitch” the client with a solution.  Since I have been having a lot of those conversations of late, I have been told in equal parts, “man you don’t understand”, “wow you get it”, “what are you talking about”? and “you know nothing about our challenges.”

These are serious times, and rolling in touting social media is completely missing the mark.

So I decided to create a short list that both we the marketer/social media/seo-sem practitioner should read or remember before we have any future conversations with potential clients and prospects. Trust me this is purely subjective.

• People still don’t get it, never assume they do.
• There’s always a disconnect somewhere.
• People are hurting, don’t underestimate how much.
• Life gets in the way…
• They really might not have any money but that doesn’t mean you can’t help them.
• You don’t know their pain, don’t pretend to.
• You don’t walk in their shoes.
• They need what you have, but you need to speak their language.
• They need what you do but might not know it, help them understand.
• Be respectful

You know, a lot of this is common sense but I think sometimes we want so much to get the project and get the deal that we forget who we are talking to. We end up forgetting the tremendous challenges that not only do we face, but that our potential customers are facing.

Essentially what I’m saying is that it’s always a challenge to get a new client or a new customer, but now more than ever, we have to understand that these are not normal times. I’m going to explore this more at length because i think it’s a topic that will eventually make us all better at what we do if we can understand the challenges facing our  current and potential clients.

The 10 points above, make sense in any economic situation but they resonate more today December 9th 2008.