1 thing on "fastlane book" that bothers me.

[mrdanilodiaz]

Hi Guys,
I'm new here and just finished reading the book.
The book really inspired me.

One thing that bothers me is about the topic on "Look Big, Act Small"
It is quite unethical to create a fake "about us" page just to make your business look bigger.

I'm not sure if I should follow this advice.

 

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[Anon3587x]

One thing that bothers me is about the topic on "Look Big, Act Small"
It is quite unethical to create a fake "about us" page just to make your business look bigger.

Instead of focusing on what bothers you; why not focus on what excites you!

 

[Dutchy]

EVERYONE has a somewhat different opinion of what is ethical and what isn't. Pretending you are bigger than you really are by having things like sales@company.com, info@company.com, technical@company.com all linking to the same guy behind his computer screen to me isnt unethical...in fact it helps organising with knowing what customers are seeking (ie by logging into sales@company.com you can see your sales, with technical@company.com you can see (potential) customers' technical queries.

But saying things (as dicussed with Mr. Bat up here ) like "as featured on CNN, BBC, Wall Street Journal", etc etc IS misleading to a high degree in my opinion because you are making the (potential) customer feel/assume that you have direct contact with these corporations whilst in fact they may have never heard of you.

So I think what MJ meant (or at least how I am looking at it) is make sure you can follow through or FIND A WAY to follow through on certain things like if for instance a company asked you if you can supply 10,000 units, tell them yes and FIND A WAY to do it.

Now that being said, even that can be seen as unethical by people becasue you are acting very confident in an aspect you may not have a clear vision on. But to that I say, that in that sense you have found your customer, now you need to fill that need of this paying customer.

It's a fine line.......

 

[Anon3587x]

But saying things (as dicussed with Mr. Bat up here ) like "as featured on CNN, BBC, Wall Street Journal", etc etc IS misleading to a high degree in my opinion because you are making the (potential) customer feel/assume that you have direct contact with these corporations whilst in fact they may have never heard of you.

Lesson learned.

 

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[Dutchy]

SHHH! I don't want that to resurface lol. Ironic enough, I grabed those images from another member on this forums website who clearly had not been featured in any of those corporations.

The difference between me and him? I admitted I hadn't been featured there and openly discussed it here; hence, everybody blew my a$$ up!

In the end, I'm definitely not doing it again.

Hehe, nothing to be ashamed of considering you changed it! Everyone makes mistakes dude, some just don't rectify them and that's the problem.

 

[BrucetonGuy]

I think what the "Look Big, Act Small" is referring to is credibility. If someone looks at your site and sees (as previously mentioned) info@mycompany.com, or sales@mycompany.com, or customerservice@mycompany.com, then your site has more credibility regardless if info@, sales@, or customerservice@ is all done by you.

 

[JEdwards]

I have this doc friend that thinks he is going to be the next "doc" guy on TV.

He said look over my website for me. He had video's, He had testimonials.

Then he had a contact me at ....@gmail.com.

Blew the whole image.

 

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[theBiz]

when your actually advertising to thousands of people per day looking big is super important, remember the old sales trick, "let me transfer you to the account manager", and the super sales woman gets on the phone to close.. its the same thing, look like you have many employees, your really busy, etc. It works and everyone should use it to their advantage.

 

[DeletedUser394]

It is quite unethical to create a fake "about us" page just to make your business look bigger.

I'm not sure if I should follow this advice.

First off, ethics are largely subjective. What may be unethical to you, may not be to me, and vice versa. I personally see absolutely nothing wrong with it, and the first time I read that particular section I remember thinking 'Hey, that's a pretty great idea!'

Second, the book isn't some kind of religious doctrine that you have to follow 100% to become successful. While there is a definite advantage (by customers taking you more seriously) by following that particular piece of advice, no one is forcing you to, and you can of course succeed without it.

Good luck to you.

 

[ZDS]

Bless me fastlane for I have sinned.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

One thing that bothers me is about the topic on "Look Big, Act Small"
It is quite unethical to create a fake "about us" page just to make your business look bigger.

The additional names on that page actually started off as an inside joke between me and my employees. And yes, some may view it as pushing the borderline of ethics however I wore many different hats in my business and those names represented all that I did. One day I was doing CTO work. The next day I found myself putting out fires in Customer Service. Then the next, I was doing something for Graphics. It simply represented the different hats I was wearing and instead of 4 employees, looked like I had 8. It also helped me screen out telemarketing bull shit. If I thought it was unethical I wouldn't have done it. It served as a defensive mechanism to competitors and telemarketers, occasional laughs in the office, and branded the business as twice the size. I viewed the tactic as apart of marketing and branding. If you think there are ethical issues with it, then ignore the tactic.

I can respect that.

 

[Jonleehacker]

I like Tim Ferriss' advice on this topic.

He said on your business card don't put Director, CEO or President as your title, put something like Marketing Director.

Every small business owner calls themselves CEO etc, but only a bigger company would have a Marketing Director, or Sales manager.

Great tip.

 

[Dutchy]

I like Tim Ferriss' advice on this topic.

He said on your business card don't put Director, CEO or President as your title, put something like Marketing Director.

Every small business owner calls themselves CEO etc, but only a bigger company would have a Marketing Director, or Sales manager.

Great tip.

I almost forgot about that! Great tip indeed....

 

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[SuccessInMind]

I like Tim Ferriss' advice on this topic.

He said on your business card don't put Director, CEO or President as your title, put something like Marketing Director.

Every small business owner calls themselves CEO etc, but only a bigger company would have a Marketing Director, or Sales manager.

Great tip.

Rep speed for the good advice. I have to ask though, what if they ask who your CEO is? Is that when the jig is up and you say it's you?

 

[Jonleehacker]

Rep speed for the good advice. I have to ask though, what if they ask who your CEO is? Is that when the jig is up and you say it's you?

Haha, then you tell them the CEO is Art Vandelay

[video=youtube;2ZVs7oAHVjg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZVs7oAHVjg[/video]

 

[James Fake]

I think it depends on who you customers are (big corporations or little guys or mid sized businesses).. For the most part; honesty is the easiest to manage, lol. You don't have to sit there and try to remember what you told a customer before.

For example; in my About Us page; it's just me and the programmer listed. But with something like my site, where interactions is mostly website related; as long as the website works and someone answers their occasional customer service emails, they probably don't care.

I'll usually do my research on a company before I deal with them, and if I find out I've been lied to; it's a big turn off.

 

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[77startup]

Hi Guys,
I'm new here and just finished reading the book.
The book really inspired me.

One thing that bothers me is about the topic on "Look Big, Act Small"
It is quite unethical to create a fake "about us" page just to make your business look bigger.

I'm not sure if I should follow this advice.

Business is cut throat. If something like that bothers you your competition will tear you apart. Are you sure you want to enter business?

 

[Giles]

Tim Ferris also advocates looking bigger than you are in his book 4 hour Work week. At first I didn't agree with it but really if it increases sales and doesn't harm anyone I am all for it.

 

[mrdanilodiaz]

I really appreciate all your advice.
I have decided and will follow MJ's tactic.

Thanks :smug2:

 

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