Gold Coast Web Expert

In business, especially when you start, it can be a case of desperately getting the money in. No attention is paid to the long term planning.
In our recent business review we identified e-commerce (via our own web sites) as a critical component of our long term growth. As we set our goals and budgets for the coming month, we tended to focus more on that side of the business and didn’t allocate as many resources (i.e. marketing money) to other parts of the business.
It soon becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
And that’s how a business can easily structure itself for long term growth.
I was reading the newspaper today when I came across some research that indicated that the British Internet shopping market grew by 36% last year (grossing $12 billion).
For the first time women are spending more than men. And spending by those over 55 increased by 130% to $2.2 billion.
All the signs are there that e-commerce is here to stay. How will it look in 10 years time? What can you do now to take advantage of this very obvious trend?
Brendon

Okay. What is your brand?
Everything. Your brand is everything. From your uniform to the way you answer the phone to your packaging to your ads. Every single thing your business does is part of your brand.
It impacts on how your customers see you now and in the future.
Me? If this web site is the only contact you’ve ever had with me, then this site brands me in your mind. You have perceptions about me from this interaction. Hopefully they’re good. Maybe you don’t like my writing style and your percepotion is negative. Whatever the case may be – I’m branded!
Which is why you should stop your marketing completely.
What I want you to do is this…..
Get everything right. Make sure that everytime your customer interacts with you they get a great experience. No problems, no errors, no mistakes, no dislikes.
Because the last thing you want is this:
Your marketing works great. Thousands of customers flock to your business. But………………………..they all get a bad experience. That’s bad news. Real bad.
That hurts you as a brand. And that hurts your business now and in the future.
Get your brand right before you market. It could be the best thing you ever do.
Cheers.
Brendon

I’ve written about this before in the SitePoint Tribune newsletter and copped a hammering from readers disgusted with me for even bringing it up. In that instance I quoted from a survey that found that more attractive people get paid more and get more respect from workmates.
It’s a universal trend – overweight people get less promotion, tall people get paid more on average, better looking people are assumed to be smarter, etc.
I’ve just been reading a similar study that found that even parents discriminate on the basis of the attractiveness of their children.
Click here for the article.
It’s Simple
It’s simple. In business, if you want to win more jobs your personal presentation (cleanliness, grooming, dress, etc) must be fabulous.
If you look bad (unclean, badly dressed, etc) you won’t win as many jobs.
Don’t send me any hate mail!
Cheers
Brendon

With our web site work especially, I ask for the client’s budget. I never used to. But I do now. And I do now because the client gets the best job possible at the best price possible if they give me the budget.
But many clients don’t want to provide a budget because they assume we’ll just charge what that budget is, and make the biggest profit possible.
Here’s 2 great reasons to ask the client for the budget:
1. If they give you their budget, you can structure your proposal to give them as much as possible for their money. Then, if you quote on things they don’t want, they can simply take them off. That way, they might get way more than they thought they could.
2. You need to ensure you don’t spend 10 hours on a proposal for a $20,000 web site for a client who has a budget of $200. That wastes everyone’s time.
Develop the trust of your client. Provide testimonials. Keep in touch. Give guarantees. Do great work.
A big part of business is trust. You won’t grow your business without it.
Regards
Brendon

I had a business adviser in the office today. This guy works for a client.
In general chit chat before the client arrived I asked him where his office was.
“Well, as a fundamental aspect of our direct strategic initiatives, my partners and I identified a key dependency as being able to fully integrate in our skillset and modus of operations directly into our client’s competencies. Further to this, and inasfar as this related to ensure protected value, we decided that the most effective usage of our resources would be a non-traditional alignment of our physical presence into a diverse, yet communicating operation free of the traditional restrictions normally associated with dedicated ‘corporate’ space.”
I said, “So……you work from home?”
“Yes.”
Don’t be embarrassed about working from home. In fact, don’t be embarrassed about working from anywhere.
Your value is in your skills, not your location.
If you act embarrassed, you’ll look silly. If you act confident, people will envy that you work from home.
Regards
Brendon

I was flipping through my book tonight as I was waiting for a call to come in. I came to a client story that I wrote about. I’ll repeat the story here and then tell you what happened after (what happened after is not mentioned in the book).
I’d pitched an add-on sale to one of our old clients for whom we had worked with on numerous web sites. The addition to the web site I was recommending wasn’t hugely expensive but was, in my view, enormously beneficial to the client.
But he said “No.”
As usual, I asked “Why not?”
The reason was that the site budget was at its limit and they simply couldn’t allocate anymore. Okay then. That’s easdy fixed.
I gave the client the add-on for free. Is it right? I have no idea, but I’ll try anything once! Here’s my reasoning.
Every single recommendation we make is based upon a rock-solid belief that it represents the best solution for a problem the client faces. We believe each recommendation we make will provide our client with a terrific benefit.
We cared
I told the client all that. I told him we very genuinely believed that he would benefit greatly from what we were recommending. We wouldn’t want him to miss out on the benefit just because he didn’t have the budget at the time.
Being in business isn’t about bleeding your clients for as much as you can. It’s about giving them the absolute best value that you can so they come back for more and more and more. With the full confidence that you’re a quality operator.
If you’re genuine, it shows. And clients will appreciate that you care.
=======================
Here’s the end to that story.
The client has supplied us with more work and more referrals to friends and associates than you can poke a big stick at. Was it all because of that one incident? Probably not. But I’m sure it helped.
Give your clients the best. You both deserve it.
Regards
Brendon

I’m real busy at the moment. My flight back from Sydney got in just over an hour ago. I had a million things to do when I got in. I’m real tired and ready for bed. I have clients waiting for things and I cannot believe how busy we are.
To top all that off, Jo is on holidays. Makes it even busier.
Still reading???? I would have stopped after the heading!
Go on, admit it…….you don’t care about how busy I am, or how tired I am, or how hot. You’re here for information. And that’s fine.
As someone providing you with a product (information via this web site) I need to be completely focused on you. And meeting your needs. Basically you’re thinking “What’s in it for me?”
Customers don’t care about us
Customers don’t care about us as businesspeople. All they are interested in is what you can give them. And it’s on that point we have to be ruthless.
* Let’s make it easy to find us and our business.
* Let’s make it as easy as possible for our customer to get the exact information they need before buying.
* Let’s make it as easy as possible to buy from us and our business.
In other words, let’s talk about them and their problems. And then give them exactly what they want. because if we do, we’ll be successful.
And before I go, I’ll talk about how we can make things as easy as possible for our customers to buy.
2 words: Visa ads.
Without being rude (!!) – you just know I’m about to be rude now! – just how stupid are those businesspeople who get on those ads and say proudly, “We don’t accept American Express.”
What they are basically saying is this. “I ain’t that smart. So what I do is put obstacles in the way for people who want to buy from me. I make it hard, tough and damn difficult. I say to a good percentage of my customers – “Nope. I don’t want your money.””
That’s not making it easy for your customers to buy from you. That’s just being stupid.
Have a good one.
Brendon

I was recently reading a magazine that one of our client’s was featured in. The magazine also carried an article on a successful businessman (worth $200 million). It was an intersting read.
I’ll be doing some public speaking later on this year, and one of the speeches I’ve prepared concerns perseverance. This successful businessman talked about it extensively.
But when should you stop and close down your business. Is it futile to continue on with the same old, same old if your business is in the toilet and sinking deeper every minute? Surely there must be a time to stop and think “This is crazy. I’m losing heaps of money, maybe I should shut up shop.”
And then there is a time to go on
And hereiun lies the issue.
As an entrepreneur you have to believe totally in your business for it to succeed. There are no half measures. If you didn’t have total faith, then you wouldn’t have started the business. You have to keep going!
The only time to stop is when they carry you off in that little wooden box!
Maybe more people would be successful if they didn’t have that stubborness or belief. But then again, maybe less people would be successful if they quit at the very first sign of trouble.
This is one of those questions there is no real answer to (But I’ll say that you have to fight, fight, fight to the bitter end! You believe in your dream and have to keep going!).
Brendon