In the business of Joomla! some have the A+ customers and others have clients from hell. This is an oversimplification of course but I’m talking in general terms. Unless all your clients are the A+ ones then you need an ongoing strategy to attract better clients. Spending a lot of time with clients from hell will greatly impact your ability to get the A+ clients.
This is just one of the points in my upcoming talk for JoomlaDay Chicago in August. I delivered this message at JoeJoomla's Session at J and Beyond 2012 in Germany. My presentation in Chicago will be different since I have had the chance to watch the video from that presentation. Observing it from a listener’s point of view has shown me a few places where it can be better.
I learned this along the way…
You don’t have to be the very best technologically to be successful and to acquire the best clients. I made a career out of getting great clients from companies that were technically superior to the ones I worked for. I explain how I did this in my talk.
So expect to have fun and learn some things at my session. Here’s the video from J and Beyond:
We work hard so we might as well have fun when we can
My presentations tend to be fun. After all, we work hard so we might as well have fun when we can. The J and beyond presentation was like that. Thomas Kahl, Managing director of VMX.Pro GmbH & Co. KG, and VirtuemartExpert, was in the audience for that session. Thomas is a highly skilled and respected Joomla!/Virtuemart developer and he had this to say about the session;
Joes insights about how to get A+ customers was
absolutely interesting ~ Thomas Kahl
"Next to all the technical topics of the JAB12 sessions, Joes insights about how to get A+ customers was absolutely interesting. With some funny examples, Joe reminded the audience of some very basic truths that everybody should keep in mind when working with customers. The end result is that you have the customers (from hell) you deserve - if you offer A+ service, the A+ customers will find you! Thank you for reminding me!"
What qualifies me to speak on this topic?
There are many different roads that you can travel and arrive at the community known as Joomla. I spend a lot of years as a professional salesman prior to becoming involved with open source software. My background is in design, advertising and sales promotion. I also worked in the printing industry and made the jump into the digital world before the general population embraced the Internet. At that time many of the smartest people in high tech didn’t understand the impact the Internet would have on their businesses. I was fortunate that the companies I worked for had really talented people doing cutting edge work. This made it easier for me to successful.
Going to J and Beyond had a huge impact on my business. I met Jonathan Neubauer from CNP Integrations while I was there. We sat next to each other and talked over a meal. This is Jonathan in this picture here below on the right that I took with my iPhone that night:
