Ruth Kaufman - Award-Winning Author and Romance Writer

Ruth Kaufman is the author of My Life as a Star, My Life as an Extra, My Once & Future Love, The Bride Tournament, Follow Your Heart, At His Command and other books.

Do you have enough irons in the fire?

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The Gainfully Unemployed and freelancers know the importance of keeping as many irons in the fire as possible. Given the state of the economy, this practice becomes even more important. Incoming leads and projects may taper off as budgets are cut. So we need to have more “outgo.” We need to consider provide additional services and step up self-marketing to maintain and increase our contacts, clients and earnings.

I and the actor/freelancer friend I work with are taking this to heart. Here are just some of the things we’re doing to get our names out there and grow our businesses.

Marketing:

  • Make sure Web site(s) are current and promote you and your services as best they can.
  • Enhance marketing materials–resumes, demos, stationery, fliers, etc. Now you can send them out again.
  • Use social networking sites to expand your contacts: Facebook, LinkedIn. You never know when a friend of a friend will have a project. But don’t overdo! We probably all have at least one person whose statuses we’ve chosen to hide because they update too many times a day or complete too many quizzes. I suppose I’ll have to start Twittering at some point, but there is a limit to how much time one can/should spend online.
  • Add additional agents or agents for additional media, such as print.

Increase outgoing submissions:

  • Frequently troll the Internet for projects.
  • Apply for at least 3 jobs/projects/auditions each work day. These combined with any incoming auditions/opportunities should yield 20+ new irons in the fire every week.

Offer additional services and save on services you need:
We’ve assessed other things we can do that we haven’t been offering or promoting and are defining those services and rates we’ll charge.

For example, I’m expanding my freelance writing/editing business (need any documents written or edited, faithful readers?), and already had a new client thanks to an author friend who extolled my talents at a writing workshop. I’ve gotten quotes/testimonials from other clients but still need to get my marketing materials in order.

  • If you’re a computer whiz, can you start designing Web sites? Offer classes/training on how to use a computer or certain programs? What makes your approach unique?
  • If you need a new site or changes to a current one, can you design your own via sites like Weebly.com (my friend can, I’m still trying to figure it out)?
  • Barter with friends to save time and/or money.

Stretch the $ you have: Small savings add up fast. These examples may seem obvious, but I know people who don’t take advantage of them:

  • Gas prices in my area currently range from $2.89 to $3.11. That’s .22 saved a gallon.
  • Use coupons and buy things on sale. I recently saved $22 on one trip to Jewel.
  • Learn what’s cheaper where, and shop those stores when you’re in the vicinity.
  • Eat leftovers. Many restaurants serve huge portions, with many more calories/fat grams than we should consume in one sitting . Why overeat or waste food?

What can you do?

Doing What You Say You Will

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As our economy deteriorated, I posited that one factor might be poor customer service. Shoppers are likely to spend less money at and might stop patronizing businesses that provide unsatisfactory assistance. (You’d think vendors would ensure that their employees were well-trained, especially in these difficult times when customer rentention is even more essential.)

IMO a related problem that’s frustrating and inhibiting consumers is people who don’t do what they say they will. I just hired a name brand cleaning service to do a move out clean, and specifically requested that they wipe down the kitchen cabinets. But visible fingerprints remain, plus you can clearly see swoop marks where they stopped wiping 6 inches from the top of the doors. And it’s clear they didn’t even touch the inside of the freezer. Yuck.

Because I respected their brand, expected them to do what they said and do it right, I didn’t stay and hover over them. Now I have to call and complain. They didn’t do good work and I have to pay someone else to clean. Not only will I not hire this company again, I won’t recommend them.

Another recent example: a salon offered 20% off certain services. But they charged me the full amount. I wasn’t as diligent as usual, being in a pleasant fog from a most relaxing facial, and forgot about the discount. Now I have to call them back to get it. Has it become the consumer’s job to remind businesses of their pricing? Or do they hope we won’t notice mistakes?

It seems that doing a great job the first time around and providing satisfactory follow up have become the exception, not the norm. Maybe sales and service people don’t think they’re paid enough to care. Maybe some companies are so huge that bottom-of-the-food-chain employees think what they do doesn’t matter. Maybe they’re demoralized because their managers don’t do what they say they will.

Think how good you feel when a transaction goes smoothly and on time. When it exceeds your expectations. Or when someone makes a mistake, but accepts responsibility and goes out of his way to compensate.

Perhaps this is a “pay it forward” issue. If I do what I say I will, then you will, then he will…

Why our economy is failing

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Our economy is tanking, and consumers are paying the price in time, frustration, and money. Aside from the mortgage crisis and the high price of oil, here’s why:

Poor customer service!!!!!

On the phone: How frustrating are customer service phone lines…where, if you have enough graduate degrees to figure out how to get to a live person, you still have to press or say a zillion commands the overly soothing voice won’t understand?

And if you get an actual human, unfortunately chances are you won’t be able to understand him or her very well.

The newest wrinkle: fake friendliness, which they think makes them seem like they care but actually wastes more time. In recent dealings with a credit card company, cheeryisms like, “How are you doing today?” made the call twice as long.

In store: how rare is it to want help, and actually find someone who knows the products? Even at Nordstrom, which prides itself on customer service…one item I wanted had to be shipped from another store. I received a different item, with another shopper’s receipt. Couldn’t get the box picked up for weeks. The actual item I ordered never surfaced, despite numerous calls to and “I’m sorrys” from an assistant manager.

For many Chicagoans, one word exemplifies the problem: Macy’s.
There are still people protesting the changeover from Marshall Field’s…a recent news story told of a man who bought one Macy’s share so he could attend the shareholder meeting. Learn more: here.

One bright note: at a recent trip to Ulta, an employee was helpful and knowledgeable about the benefits of various flatirons. She seems to be the exception to the rule.

In home: A Certain Cable Company. Need I say more? Last summer, a neighbor and I each spent hours on the phone to resolve very frustrating, persistent service outages (particularly so because I work at home and couldn’t send files when I wanted to) and scheduling repair visits. And because they don’t have dedicated service reps, often I had to re-explain the whole situation. I couldn’t get them to show up when they said they would or at all. I think he got them to show up once, but then the required follow up visit to our building never happened.
I complained and got them to let me pay 1/2 for 6 months…then fortunately my building changed to a different provider.

In general:

–Almost every time I shop, no matter when I go: long checkout lines at most stores.

–What’s on the shelf: How many times do you go to a drug or grocery store and the product you want isn’t there…because it’s out of stock Do you have the patience/time to track down an employee and see if they have what you want? I don’t. More and more, it seems groceries are carrying fewer national brands and filling aisles with their own products.

The frustration of shopping these days often outweighs the enjoyment of acquiring and using new products. You’d think retailers would want us to shop more…what can be done?