SintETICA
The ethics we face everyday divide into two distinct parts.
FantomETICA (pathetic, hermetic, frenetic) in which the potential customer tells us phrases that we do not like and do not share, because they cause us to waste time, money, and patience.
SintETICA, which is summarized in 10 simple RULES of GOOD LIVING:
Clear agreements, long friendships!
Just work for now then we’ll see...”
Just work for now then we’ll see...”
Would you like us to tell you this at the beginning of a project? No?
If you’re one of those customers who says "Just work for now then we’ll see", forget about it immediately, because we don't like the lack of a clear agreement either and we believe that the financial element to be one of the elements that must be established before beginning a project.
The more you spend, the less you spend!
“You are so expensive, I thought it would cost less”
At the moment of making a purchase decision, people's thinking fluctuates between two poles: “I want the product” and “How much money do I have”. When you think that our price should be lower, you are thinking with your mind focused on your budget. So we ask you for a single commitment: to understand what the investment you are making consists of and also to remind you how much it bothers you when your customers tell you that your product is expensive, and you think about the hours of preparation, research, experimentation, which you do not include in the price and which nobody pays you for. Instead of getting angry, we prefer to explain how we can be useful to you.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!
“But couldn't you do it differently?”
Sure we could! We could make the website “strange”; the brochure could be made poop-coloured because the customer deals with waste; we could also write slogans that make you roll on the floor with laughter, but maybe then your customers would laugh at you too. If you’ve seen the hip communication style of an innovative Japanese start-up operating in the IT sector perhaps you can’t copy their style, because you build wooden houses, grow organic saffron, or sell cars. We won’t tell you when to plant your vineyard, how to choose the fabric for the clothing you make, or which suppliers to deal with, so let us help you protect your brand...even from yourself. You can be wrong once in communication, but keeping on that same path is a bad idea. So ask us as many questions as you like, at least as many as we’ll ask you. And then choose your path.
Speak little, listen a lot and you will never fail!
"Let's get together for a meeting..."
For us, having a meeting means having a brief get together with the client to discuss a specific agenda. You leave meetings with a clear understanding of “WHO does WHAT, by WHEN”. All other modalities are not meetings, they are summits of the crisis unit of the interior ministry and we are not special riot agents. Adjust accordingly.
‘Quick’ and ‘properly’ do not go well together!
“I need it done yesterday...”
We take deadlines seriously, so we consider imaginative concepts like “I need it now” a neat little trick. If you’re part of the large group of people who leave quotes to languish in drawers and only remember to dust them off the week of August 15th or Christmas Eve, you are not our ideal customer. "I need it done yesterday" means that the project has already started in confusion and, if there is no organization, there will be no result. We agree on deadlines with you, we work quickly and we also perform miracles, but a journey back in time does not work for us, so please don’t ask.
He who explores all avenues will encounter many dangers!
Give me a quote for...”
Giving an estimate is a job. Ours is the most fun job in the world and we approach it as a game which we play very seriously. When you play, there are rules and you only enjoy yourself if you respect them. Playing by the rules means knowing how many players are participating and playing with their cards facing up. We have played the game of quotes for this and that, after which the customer just goes for the cheapest. We have played it too many times and we’re no longer interested. Our estimates have a value and a cost, which is deducted from the total investment when the project is started. So everyone continues to play while still having fun.
Forewarned is forearmed!
I prefer it more like this and like that...”
Are you familiar with the concept of a target? The fact that you only listen to polyphonic music from the 14th century and eat dried roots picked during the new moon does not make you the ideal target audience for marketing to large numbers. You like Kathakali dance, but maybe your clients get bored watching a dancer move one finger every ten minutes. Unless you are targeting to a specific niche, in which you are the only expert, in which case we will listen to you very carefully, your communication does not need to please you, rather it must be effective in achieving your goals and speaking to your audience, telling them WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU DO. Please let us do our work and judge us by the results.
A nod is as good as a wink!
“I need a business card...”
A tramp shows up in your company. He approaches the reception with his worn shoes creaking, while a stinking aura emanates from his tattered clothes. He rummages with his dirty hand in a greasy bag and takes out an elegant business card, in fine ivory laid paper. Of course it will affect you, but unless you’ve decided to shoot a video that goes viral on YouTube, reflect on the fact that the business card, (or the brochure or the catalog or the social networks or the site itself) are only one of the indispensable elements that make up your coordinated communication. We know how to make business cards, but we won't help you if we do this for you. We prefer to establish an ongoing relationship with you and take care of all the details. If you like shortcuts, I’m afraid we won’t give it to you. The entire communication strategy however, yes, of course.
If you go to the country, you’ll find customs!
"I want to sell to everyone..."
We state now for once and for all: the ‘everyone ‘target market is an urban legend. The only person who managed to reach the everyone target was the minister of health, who managed to piss off the whole world with her bad communication on Fertility Day. But you operate in a wonderful parallel science fiction reality, which does not exist on earth. In the real world, if you want to sell, invoice, earn, you have to aim, choose, argue, and hit the potential customer in the heart with our communication. Each person is part of a complex and structured system of relationships, belonging to different cultures, countries, and traditions. Forget the ‘everyone’ target and answer our questions, tell us who your customers are, what they think, what they love, what they hate, what they want, and what their problems are. We'll take care of getting you talking to them.
A sin confessed is half forgiven!
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The unspoken part is the dark side of the relationship, i.e. what you don't say. If what you don't say is based on the free choice to share only certain elements of your business, we respect that. If it is a question of weaknesses in the product or service, we prefer to know it in order to decide along with you how to handle ourselves in responding to criticism or complaints. If, however, the unspoken concerns unethical positions or aspects of illegality, know that we can also choose, and we will not help you, because good communication improves business and we don’t want to put our professionalism at the service of unethical activities.
