So, pull up a chair and let's talk about the consumer on ActiveRain. As many of you may already know, the consumer has arrived. They are reading and they are commenting on our posts. I personally have several that are regular readers and participants on my posts and it is a wonderful thing. It's one of the reasons we are here. This is not a passing trend and as time goes by it will be happening more and more. When you check to see whose logged on, on any given day, there are usually a couple of hundred non-members reading. Now I believe the majority of these are just members that may not be signed in and are just lurking BUT you can be sure there, are many that are consumers, checking us out.
So, with that in mind, we must welcome them. I have seen quite a few instances, over the last few weeks, where a consumer commented on a post only to get slammed by other members. Why? Why would you do that? This is a site where the consumer should be welcomed, with open arms, and brought into our world, where we can teach them and show them that we are professional and that we can handle the tough questions. In fact not only should we handle the tough questions, we should welcome them. This is our opportunity to shine. Not to be defensive and slam them because we disagree with what they say, or how they say it. My Grandma used to tell me to mind my Ps and Qs. Whatever the heck that means.
The consumers, that have showed up my Blog, have normally started out with major attitudes, towards us and our profession. So what? If I had to deal with most of the so called "professionals" out there, I too, would have a major attitude. It's our job to turn them around. I have done so 100% of the time. They become my E-mail buddies, my friends and possibly future customer/clients. My goal, is to help them anyway I can, to understand what it is we do and to change their negative opinion of our profession. If you don't think that can happen, then read the comments on this post with CandyBags or this post discussing Range Pricing or this one, where we are having a great discussion about how we charge for our services. These are all perfect examples of turning the consumer around. They now have a totally different attitude towards our profession. Remember in our business, everyone is a consumer.
Toby Boyce, wrote about this same issue, a while back. I couldn't find the post where he had the nasty comments to a consumer, from another member. I think he may have deleted it.
Anyway, the point is, we have an excellent opportunity here on ActiveRain to make a difference. We can change the consumer's perspective of our industry. We can educate them on what we do. And most importantly, we can build value for our services.
So please, watch what you say and watch who you say it to. Disagree, debate, have heated discussions but respect the person, always. You never know who's watching.
This post goes out to the consumers, my friends, CandyBags, Stan, Mikey, Mark Nadel, Ryan, John R., TaylorMA, NYCJanet, L. Raymond and all the others who are reading, learning and commenting. Welcome to my Blog. Pull up a seat and sit a spell. All of your comments, opinions and frustrations are welcome on my Blog, at anytime. How may I help you?
Maybe, we can learn something from each other. Maybe, we will all be better people from our discourse. Let's do our best to understand each other.
Hello, John Q. Consumer. Welcome to our world.
TLW & BB.. I've decided I needed my own Gold Star graphic to hand out when it was deserved. I have to second Laurie Manny. For those who have not gone and read the entire Bloghound post, I encourage you to do so. Don't skip any comments, it must be read in whole to truly appreciate what BB and TLW did to turn the tide and make difference. 
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