Or you can think about it in terms of asking yourself if your website is your competitor’s best friend.
We are often asked to evaluate current websites in order to offer an estimate or even offer suggestions for improving an existing site. I find this a wobbly road to follow as often there are egos tied to the current site and so anything we say can be distorted toward a criticism that is unwelcomed rather than an observation for room to improve. The other pitfall is that since we are in the business of creating and designing websites our opinions and observations could well be perceived as a sales pitch.
We have worked with companies who either think their sites are just fine the way they are or are unwilling to commit budgets to improve. I have written about how the search engines have changed radically and so an outdated site might not get the traffic desired but what I haven’t really emphasized is why your website is such a critical piece of your business.
If you meet someone at an event, someone refers your company to a colleague, a prospect is gathering information on possible vendors, your sales or telemarketing team is reaching out prospects, you want or have done an email or direct mail campaign – or any host of other triggers that brings you to mind, the FIRST thing that a prospect or target will do is go to your website! The very first thing that they see – your very first impression is your website.
So ask yourself – would you put a salesperson on the road to visit accounts and prospects who is wearing a suit from a by-gone era, showing coffee stains on his or her shirt and carrying a plastic bag instead of a brief case? Would it be acceptable if that salesperson didn’t know what makes your company a standout choice over your competitors or about your products or services in detail and couldn’t answer basic questions? Would it be alright if someone called into your customer service department and were put on hold for several minutes only to be told that their question couldn’t be answered at that time but that if they send an email someone will answer or respond in a couple of days? No?
Then I offer this suggestion so that you may take an objective look at your website and review it for at least appearance and function. Take the following steps and review your website – your biggest piece of collateral, your first impression and touch point – to see how well your company is being represented. You may not be ready to examine structure and coding for best practices and SEO tactics but at least you can review your site to see your site as others see it.
1. Pull out your job description for a sales person
2. Pull out your job description for a customer service representative
3. Pull out your employee review for both the sales person and a customer service representative
4. Pull out your training manuals for both your sales staff and your customer service staff
5. Interview your website for a sales position
6. Interview your website for a customer service position
7. Give your website a performance review as a salesperson
8. Give you website a performance review as a customer service person
9. Now go to your car – start the engine and drive to your biggest and most important account
10. Upon arriving go to the person who decides what companies they will work with and say to them “we are conducting performance reviews and your feedback is critical, would you mind giving me 30 minutes of your time to tell us how you experience us?” Ask them how the phones are answered when they call, how their sales and customer service representatives are performing, how about your billing and collections departments and then ask them to bring up your website and tell you what they see and think.
How did it go – is it time to fire your web site? Maybe you just need to redress your site or update some functions. Either way, don’t lose sight of the point that your website is your FIRST impression most often and even if it is a follow up step and the second impression, don’t let it be the impression that kills the deal!
Entries tagged as design
Friday, February 12. 2010
When Your Website is Your Enemy
Monday, February 8. 2010
The Experience
When we engage with prospects and clients what it really comes down to is the experience. We pay so much attention to the marketing, the website design, the brochures and yet, what about the actual experience?
We hear and read stories about extraordinary, over the top customer service that explains how some companies grow to mega businesses. The amazing story of ZAPPOS or the over the top customer service and experience at Disney, and we nod our heads because we have either experienced it or we nod our heads as a barrier thinking that this doesn’t relate to our business.
Each business has a culture, a personality, a structure, a process, and a channel. How often do we review the interactions that any outsider would experience when encountering our companies? From initial contact to the collection call… every touch is an experience.
This came alive for me as I am still relishing the amazing meal I had last week while in Tampa on business. Part of my time away I was evaluating our price structure, our service offerings and other aspects of our company as we move forward in 2010. Taking an evening break, I went to the famed steak house Bern’s. I knew I would get a great meal and heard they had an outstanding wine collection so I was psyched to have a treat. What I had instead was a dining experience. A real dining experience that took nearly 5 hours.
Yes it was expensive and depending on the bottle of wine ordered or the country or origin for the caviar you might select you could control the amount of the total tab but once you are caught up in the experience, well reason might just go out the window. The waiter was more like a guide than a salesman or waiter, his attentiveness to answer questions and offer assistance guiding you through a wine list that reads like the novel War & Peace, was helpful. The wines ranged in price from $45 a bottle to $10,000 and up a bottle so there was plenty of room to satisfy anyone’s pallet and pocket. There was no selling, no up grading, no promoting of side dishes. Instead there was an engaging conversation that allowed the waiter to uncover our particular tastes, appetite and of course spend level comfort zone and then he made some recommendations accordingly. He got to know us and therefore tailored his suggestions to meet our desires.
Beyond the table experience, we were offered and we took part in a tour of the kitchen and of course the wine cellar. The wine cellar holds one of the largest collections of wine in the world ranging from some of the more familiar to some of the rarest. Row after row, floor to ceiling we were guided toward some of the more interesting bottles.
Once the tour ended and our after dinner stroll through the kitchen and wine cellar we built up the desire to experience even more. So we were escorted to their desert room upstairs. Here there is a maze of private alcoves built out of wine casks, to sip exotic coffees, ports, sherries while experiencing the most decadent of deserts.
Five hours later, a bill that could have paid for a weekend vacation including airfare, we did not have a moment’s regret. The experience had been well thought out, orchestrated, rehearsed and perfected from beginning to end and all designed to take you from a good meal, priced accordingly to an experience unlike any other you might have known and a price tag to match.
The receptionist, waiter, table staff, tour guides all of them knew the history and story of the restaurant and even after a long hard evening of work, each played their role with a sense of personal pride that conveyed that they knew that they were a part of something very special and wanted to share that with others.
I came to several conclusions after this experience. First no matter how creative our designs and marketing strategies are, if our client’s aren’t creating an amazing experience – well we might be able to get them in the door but it is up to them to keep them. If our client’s don’t have an amazing experience with us then will they contract us for more, rave and promote us to their colleagues? And of course, what makes an experience with us different from our competitors? How will prospects know that they have engaged with something very special and want our team to be a part of their team? What are we leaving to chance?
Time to think about the experience of doing business with your company. How do you make it so extraordinary that prospects can’t wait to engage and customers can’t think to negotiate price or shop elsewhere?
We’d love to hear from you about what you are doing in your company and how you have experienced ours.
We hear and read stories about extraordinary, over the top customer service that explains how some companies grow to mega businesses. The amazing story of ZAPPOS or the over the top customer service and experience at Disney, and we nod our heads because we have either experienced it or we nod our heads as a barrier thinking that this doesn’t relate to our business.
Each business has a culture, a personality, a structure, a process, and a channel. How often do we review the interactions that any outsider would experience when encountering our companies? From initial contact to the collection call… every touch is an experience.
This came alive for me as I am still relishing the amazing meal I had last week while in Tampa on business. Part of my time away I was evaluating our price structure, our service offerings and other aspects of our company as we move forward in 2010. Taking an evening break, I went to the famed steak house Bern’s. I knew I would get a great meal and heard they had an outstanding wine collection so I was psyched to have a treat. What I had instead was a dining experience. A real dining experience that took nearly 5 hours.
Yes it was expensive and depending on the bottle of wine ordered or the country or origin for the caviar you might select you could control the amount of the total tab but once you are caught up in the experience, well reason might just go out the window. The waiter was more like a guide than a salesman or waiter, his attentiveness to answer questions and offer assistance guiding you through a wine list that reads like the novel War & Peace, was helpful. The wines ranged in price from $45 a bottle to $10,000 and up a bottle so there was plenty of room to satisfy anyone’s pallet and pocket. There was no selling, no up grading, no promoting of side dishes. Instead there was an engaging conversation that allowed the waiter to uncover our particular tastes, appetite and of course spend level comfort zone and then he made some recommendations accordingly. He got to know us and therefore tailored his suggestions to meet our desires.
Beyond the table experience, we were offered and we took part in a tour of the kitchen and of course the wine cellar. The wine cellar holds one of the largest collections of wine in the world ranging from some of the more familiar to some of the rarest. Row after row, floor to ceiling we were guided toward some of the more interesting bottles.
Once the tour ended and our after dinner stroll through the kitchen and wine cellar we built up the desire to experience even more. So we were escorted to their desert room upstairs. Here there is a maze of private alcoves built out of wine casks, to sip exotic coffees, ports, sherries while experiencing the most decadent of deserts.
Five hours later, a bill that could have paid for a weekend vacation including airfare, we did not have a moment’s regret. The experience had been well thought out, orchestrated, rehearsed and perfected from beginning to end and all designed to take you from a good meal, priced accordingly to an experience unlike any other you might have known and a price tag to match.
The receptionist, waiter, table staff, tour guides all of them knew the history and story of the restaurant and even after a long hard evening of work, each played their role with a sense of personal pride that conveyed that they knew that they were a part of something very special and wanted to share that with others.
I came to several conclusions after this experience. First no matter how creative our designs and marketing strategies are, if our client’s aren’t creating an amazing experience – well we might be able to get them in the door but it is up to them to keep them. If our client’s don’t have an amazing experience with us then will they contract us for more, rave and promote us to their colleagues? And of course, what makes an experience with us different from our competitors? How will prospects know that they have engaged with something very special and want our team to be a part of their team? What are we leaving to chance?
Time to think about the experience of doing business with your company. How do you make it so extraordinary that prospects can’t wait to engage and customers can’t think to negotiate price or shop elsewhere?
We’d love to hear from you about what you are doing in your company and how you have experienced ours.
