The Ins and Outs of Recommendations for Business Service Providers, Part II

In my last post, I talked about the things you should consider when asking for recommendations for a business service provider. You want to think carefully about who’s recommending that service provider and why.

Once you’re satisfied that this service provider could be a good fit, the next step is to interview them. Not sure what to ask? Read on to learn which questions to ask to assess their fit for your business.

The Second Component: The Service Provider

In my last post, I used this example: you’re an accountant who’s turned to your colleague, Sonya, for a recommendation for a content writing project. Sonya recommends Craig from her networking group.

Before you reach out to Craig, you want to do your homework. You want to ask if Sonya has ever worked with Craig, if he’s written for your field, and if he’s got client testimonials.

Let’s say Sonya hired Craig to write for her website. She was very happy with his work. These are green flags—it means she can vouch for him, she’s a walking client testimonial, and he’s written for your field.

Are you ready to hire him? Not quite.

Let’s say you want him to write customer case studies. Here are some of the questions you might want to ask:

·         “How do you make case studies compelling so that prospects will consider my accounting firm?” You want to hear how Craig centers the story on the clients, not on how you helped them. Case studies resonate when the prospect can see themselves in the place of the customer; you want them to say, “This service can help me, too.”

·         “What’s your workflow? What materials do you need from me to get started?” You want to know how Craig works with clients and more specifically, how he works.

·         “What’s your turnaround time? What’s your bandwidth for this project?” You’re not only asking how long it will take, but if Craig can handle this project by a given deadline.

Notice how none of these questions touch on pricing. Yes, pricing is important. Yes, you have a budget. However, what you want to understand at this point is if Craig’s approach to writing a case study aligns with your expected outcomes. If he’s not answering the questions to your satisfaction, it doesn’t matter how much he charges because he’s not going to deliver a final project that satisfies you.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of questions to ask a content writer—I’ve chosen a few to get you started. If you’re not sure what kinds of questions you should be asking a potential service provider, talk to members of your network. They’ll be able to give you advice.

There’s one more component to think about: the person receiving the recommendation (you). In my next blog post, I’ll talk about the impact you have on the success of recommendations.