19 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
19 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Common sense appears to be not so common...

by n00b
16 replies
Warning upfront: this post is a vent.

I had a doctor approach me about 6 months ago to have me set up a blog for him. We got to talking and he actually wanted a lot more than that, he wanted a whole online marketing program setup and maintained around this blog. The total upfront fee was $3000 and then $600 a month maintenance.

Well, I get this all setup for him and he tells me he's really happy with it and he keeps paying me $600 a month like clockwork. Problem is I can't get him to blog to save my life, it's like pulling teeth. I tell him to just email me his blog posts and I'll put them up for him. He is adamantly against this for some reason :confused:, he wants to actually go in and post himself which is fine, I was just trying to make it as simple as possible (plus do some editing since apparently doctors do not need even a rudimentary knowledge of spelling and grammar to get their medical degree; this guy has sent me emails that looked like a kid just randomly picked words out of the dictionary and after consulting my assistant and husband we still couldn't figure out what he meant). So I write down specific step by step instructions, even make a video for him to show him how to do it. I also set up the email post feature in WP so that he can email his posts and they will instantly be posted just in case his refusal to allow me to post them was due to a fear that I might not get around to it in a timely fashion. I also let him know that at anytime he is more than welcome to email me anything he wants posted to his website and I'll do it.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Here comes the clincher. Before I reveal this last part, please keep in mind that this is a surgeon that people routinely trust with their lives. We expect these people to be above average intelligence or at least have some degree of common sense.

This whole time he has been posting regularly on his free Blogger blog :confused:. Of course he can do what he wants, but I don't understand why you pay $3,000 upfront and $600 every month for something you don't use. I'm completely baffled. I've talked to him about this multiple times. He doesn't want to email me his posts (he says it's too much hassle) and he says he'll just post himself to the blog he paid me $3,000 for, but he never does, instead he has the time to post to a free blog that he setup. BTW this free blog is not ranked for any of his keywords (or at least not in the top 100 results) whereas the blog he's paying for is on the front page of Google above the fold. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I would be inclined to say that maybe he has a problem with me that I've never picked up on or he doesn't like the site I did for him, but then why does he keep paying me? BTW, he writes out a check and mails it to me every month, so it's not like it's a $600 recurring credit card charge that he's just forgotten about. I also know for a fact that he doesn't read the monthly reports I send him because I purposefully ask questions in them to see if clients actually read them, I know if they respond to the questions I ask then they're reading it (they're specific questions, not generic at all).

This is hands down the most bizarre client I've ever had and I've tried to wrap my head around it and it just doesn't work. The whole thing just gets even more disturbing when you realize that this guy is a surgeon. If this is the type of common sense he employs in business and in life in general, what kind of common sense does he use in an operating room? (I know that sounds harsh, but it really does get you to thinking, how can some of these people get medical degrees? Was there a place on campus that was just handing them out and I missed it?)

Anyway, I'm just venting here. I guess you can lead a horse to water (or in this case he can pay you what an average American makes in a month to lead him there) but you can't make him drink. Apparently he just likes to look at the water and then turn around and find some somewhere else to drink.
#appears #common #sense
  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    Sounds to me like a dream client in a way - no maintenance and you make 20 bucks a day from him! See if he can refer you to 19 of his surgeon friends and you'll be making a pretty nice living yourself!

    Seriously this is bizarre, perhaps he's in need of a business expense to write off. If you get tired of him please feel free to refer him to me, I'd happily take him on as a client! As for employing him as a surgeon though...



    Bill
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1477160].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      umm, unless I am missing something I don't find it bizarre at all. It might be just human nature. He's accustomed to blogger. He doesn't have a whole lot of time to devote to learning something new outside his field. So when the moment comes when he wants to write he just goes back to what he knows. I know this is odd to Imers but I've had some awesomely brilliant people teaching the PC/internet to who can blow your minds with mechanics but they turn to mush when they are out of their comfort zone. IF he is a surgeon you can't question his smarts so its something else.

      Why not just let him be? He pays well enough. Let him post the way he feels comfortable with and then move the content from the blogger to his new blog. Email feels unnatural to him probably and he also might be keenly aware he doesn't write well and doesn't want to immediately expose it to someone he knows writes better than him.
      Signature

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1477208].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
        Actually the below is a good idea, why don't you ask him if you can transfer his stuff from his blogger to his blog.
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        Let him post the way he feels comfortable with and then move the content from the blogger to his new blog. Email feels unnatural to him probably and he also might be keenly aware he doesn't write well and doesn't want to immediately expose it to someone he knows writes better than him.
        Guys I admire this lady she obviously has ethics, she's being paid well on a regular basis and it sounds as though she wants to give value for her money. Kudos to her

        Kim
        Signature
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1477641].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
      Originally Posted by mywebwork View Post

      Sounds to me like a dream client in a way - no maintenance and you make 20 bucks a day from him! See if he can refer you to 19 of his surgeon friends and you'll be making a pretty nice living yourself!

      Seriously this is bizarre, perhaps he's in need of a business expense to write off. If you get tired of him please feel free to refer him to me, I'd happily take him on as a client! As for employing him as a surgeon though...



      Bill
      I'd already has an assessment like this by the time I finished reading the original post, then got to the second and here it was already posted, in a really nice way.

      Would you prefer clients who want work done every day, but don't like to pay? And yes, common sense is definitely misnamed; it is extremely uncommon. Enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

      best wishes,
      lloyd
      Signature

      Do something spectacular; be fulfilled. Then you can be your own hero. Prem Rawat

      The KimW WSO

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1477618].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author SurviveUnemployment
    Doctors are screwy when it comes to this stuff. Fine with me as long as they can slice me open and do their thing when I need it.

    I feel your pain -- I'm going through something similar with a brain surgeon right now. Go figure.
    Signature

    The best link-building strategy you never heard of...

    Article Spinning Is Not a Crime    !

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1477165].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author steveniam
    Let him do what he wants. Just make sure he keep paying you the $600 a month maintenance.
    Signature

    Looking for internet marketing resources?

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1477588].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    Set up the RSS feed from his Blogger post to go to the 'official' site.
    Signature

    - Stop Wasting Time & Money on Traffic!
    - You Can't Improve What You Don't Measure
    - Why You Should Create Separate Desktop and Mobile Google Adwords Campaigns
    Connect with me on LinkedIn
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1477651].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    You can only advise him ... not force him. Take your money, do your job and let it go.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1478640].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I also know for a fact that he doesn't read the monthly reports I send him because I purposefully ask questions in them to see if clients actually read them, I know if they respond to the questions I ask then they're reading it (they're specific questions, not generic at all).
      For $600 a month, he shouldn't have to worry about the site at all. If he's unhappy, he'll quit paying. Stop trying to involve him in something he has delegated and isn't interested spending time on himself. Make reports short and to the point and if he doesn't read them, so be it.

      His blogger is different as he created it, understands it and enjoys it. He hired you to do the other site and is paying well for it. Testing him to see if he reads reports is ridiculous. Stop looking for validation - just do the job.

      Ask to use some info from the blog, write posts yourself and submit to him for approval (if he wants - otherwise, just post them).



      kay
      Signature
      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
      ***
      It actually doesn't take much to be considered a 'difficult woman' -
      that's why there are so many of us.
      ...jane goodall
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1478791].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author n00b
        To clarify a few things:

        I can't use his RSS feed because on this blog he posts about his practice, his sister's wedding, why he thought his football team lost last night, cutting edge medical procedures, etc.

        He also doesn't have any type of schedule as far as when he posts. I've asked him if he could just email or call me and let me know when he's posted so I can take it and post to his new site and so far nothing has happened with that.

        He is also adamant that I cannot write any posts for him to approve because I'm not an M.D. I'm also not allowed to do any editing, even grammatical, for the same reason. (Side note: I'm also only allowed to call him by his name followed by M.D., he says using Dr. is not as prestigious.)

        He's also fairly young, he hasn't hit 40 yet. He did tell me that he couldn't email me his posts because he'd have to copy and paste them and he doesn't know how and doesn't want to get his kid to do it for him all the time. Still don't know why he can't email me to let me know he's posted. He manages to email me plenty of other weird stuff.

        This post wasn't so much to fix a problem, but rather to marvel at how odd some people are. It just seems pointless for me to be promoting a site that essentially has no content except for his office location. I totally understand him being comfortable with Blogger, but then why hire me to create a new blog? Why not have me promote his Blogger site? This is just the first time I've been hired to create and promote a blog that isn't being blogged on.

        Oh well. It does feel kind of weird taking his money, but I guess if I ran a membership site I wouldn't worry about how often my subscribers logged in, as long as there were no complaints. I just know there's no way I'd be spending money on something and not using it.

        Glad my post made a few of you smile .
        Signature

        Please checkout my 2 favorite non-profits:
        Help a third world entrepreneur through Kiva.org
        Give a kid the world at laptop.org

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1479347].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author n00b
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        For $600 a month, he shouldn't have to worry about the site at all. If he's unhappy, he'll quit paying. Stop trying to involve him in something he has delegated and isn't interested spending time on himself. Make reports short and to the point and if he doesn't read them, so be it.
        I don't really care if he reads the reports or not, that's really just for my own information. I've found some of my clients don't read them because they may not understand them so I sit down with them and go over it. He was also very insistent that he gets monthly reports about his sites (he said that was one of the reasons he hired me over others he had talked to) because he wanted to make sure he wasn't wasting his money.

        I was just trying to show that he takes no interest at all in any of this and it is just really baffling me when he's spending so much money. I guess it's like being a personal trainer and having a client that shows up every week and during his hour session he just sits in a chair reading a book. I think you'd feel obligated to let him know that he'd get better results if he decided to...you know...workout. You're glad for the money, but that doesn't keep you from being confused just the same.
        Signature

        Please checkout my 2 favorite non-profits:
        Help a third world entrepreneur through Kiva.org
        Give a kid the world at laptop.org

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1479372].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author RMC
          Hahah...sounds familiar. Although odd, the lesson is not about common sense... nope there's a better marketing lesson.

          Here's an example much like yours.

          One of my family members ordered $500 worth of nutri system maybe a year ago.

          Long since stopped eating it..boxes still piled up in the cabinet. Yet like clockwork it still shows up every month. And mind you this is not something to just ignore. It's a GIANT box. Meanwhile the last batch has been sitting on the front porch for a week.

          And the real lesson...

          The value of money is a relative concept and in sales and marketing we should be careful not to impose our limited perspectives on our actions.

          Sometimes $500 to some people is like $1 to others.

          It's like the $5 a week allowance you got as a kid seemed the world to you. You'd do anything to get it, dishes, laundry, yardwork. But eventually you got a job and maybe you were making hundreds of dollars, or a thousand a month. That $5 wasn't a big deal anymore.

          Or the idea that one company could be shut down for a $1M in accounting valuation errors, while another company can file it as immaterial expense because they do $50B a year.

          In business this is a very important idea, because you need to learn to rely on statistics and numbers as much or more than your opinions of how markets react to pricing, etc.

          There's a supply/demand curve for every market, and there's always going to be a group of people that will spend more than another. Pick your spot on that curve relative to your margins, and do the marketing required to sustain that perceived value to that segment of the market..sit back and enjoy.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1479493].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Technista
    He's a creature of habit. I have a doctor client who is the same way. He is so focused on his practice that he doesn't want to take the time to learn a new system.

    It's his money to throw away. At least he's paying you!

    T
    Signature
    Atlanta Website Design
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1478732].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author KathleenHobbins
    I love this story. It just goes to show you how irrational and unpredictable people are. It reminds me of the stories you hear about kids getting fancy, shiny and expensive new toys for Christmas or their birthday -- and they ignore the toys and play with the box. Well, the box is fun. And fun is what they wanted for their birthday.

    It sounds like your client thinks the box is fun. Or shows his importance in the medical community or his meaningful intentions as a medical communicator or how technologically savvy he is. He's less interested in what comes in the box.

    I wouldn't attribute any of this to his skill or seriousness as a surgeon. I attribute it to his nature as a human.

    Thanks for the story.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1479653].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author n00b
      Originally Posted by KathleenHobbins View Post

      I love this story. It just goes to show you how irrational and unpredictable people are. It reminds me of the stories you hear about kids getting fancy, shiny and expensive new toys for Christmas or their birthday -- and they ignore the toys and play with the box. Well, the box is fun. And fun is what they wanted for their birthday.

      It sounds like your client thinks the box is fun. Or shows his importance in the medical community or his meaningful intentions as a medical communicator or how technologically savvy he is. He's less interested in what comes in the box.

      I wouldn't attribute any of this to his skill or seriousness as a surgeon. I attribute it to his nature as a human.

      Thanks for the story.
      That is the PERFECT analogy! I never thought of it that way.

      Funny thing is I was that kid! Unwrapping the presents was the best part, followed by popping the bubble wrap and building a fort with my sister with the boxes .
      Signature

      Please checkout my 2 favorite non-profits:
      Help a third world entrepreneur through Kiva.org
      Give a kid the world at laptop.org

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1479889].message }}

Trending Topics