Gold Coast Web Expert

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.
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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

‘Cheers’ was a fictional bar in (I think) Boston that was the scene of an American sitcom a few years ago. As the jingle went, at ‘Cheers’ “…..everybody knows your name.” Customers love it when people remember their name. It makes a very psoitive impression.
I was interviewing some staff of a business recently and it just happened that they had previously been customers of the business, then went elsewhere and then came back to remain loyal customers. They both then went on to become staff members.
My question was, “What made you return and stay as a customer?”
Both responses were the same. “Because when I walked in the staff remembered my name. And that’s when I thoiught this is a business that cares and a business I want to deal with.”
Many people dismiss the simpole things in marketing and business as having a big impact. But it’s the little things that matter.
Do you know your customer’s names? What about their parterners? Or children? Or hobbies? Taking an interest means you care. And a caring business will sell more than a non-caring one.
Cheers!
Brendon

I’m giving the following examples not to say that we’re better than anyone else, but just as an example of what a customer focus is.
To be successful you need to meet your customers needs. Might be price, might be quality, might be service. You’re in business for the customer – so do everything you can to meet that customers needs.
On Friday morning I asked, on behalf of a client, for some graphics from my clients graphic artist. The answer I got back was that the person in charge of that account had left for the day and was at a conference. And because another artist had alread left for the conference the business was 2 down and too busy.
“We’ll send them Tuesday”
We needed the files urgently and the graphic artist pretty much said, “Doesn’t suit us. We’ll send them Tuesday.”
Today (Saturday) I visited a client and downloaded a piece of software onto her computer and showed her the basics of using it. It took me an hour and a half.
But my client really needed that software on her computer. And if it wasn’t put on today it would be another week before she had the chance to give me access to her computer. No biggie really.
Our business is customer focused. We don’t get it right every single time, but we have to have a commitment to making life as easy as possible for our clients. It’s not rocket science.
Our clients wants solutions, not problems.
If sending your employees off to a conference means you’re clients will suffer, don’t do it. If you have to go in on a day off to help a client, maybe you should.
It’s all about the client.
Brendon

Yesterday I spoke with an ad rep for a major Australian cinema chain regarding a 12-week advertising run in a major Australian city. After a chat the rep has sent through the proposal.
And what a bunch of crap it is! How do these people sell any advertising?!
Firstly, the emailed proposal spells my company name wrong. And then on the next page it spells it wrong again – this time is a different spelling mistake.
And the proposal – 1 page – almost no information other than the rates. There is nothing here that positions this chain as anything other than second rate with appalling customer service skills.
The proposal gives me the number of screens, number of ads shown, any inclusions and the price. Under ‘Additional information’ I have this:
Admissions: 896,000 for 02/03 (latest figures although there was an increase last year)
What a waste of an opportunity to demonstrate how the cinema advertising could meet my needs. That needs to be something like this:
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Viewers;
The cinema attracted 896,000 paying viewers for the financial year 2002/03. The admission numbers for the 6 months ending December 31, 2003 have increased a healthy 6% on the same time last year. At current growth rates we anticipate just under 950,000 into the cinema for the year. (Have up to the minute information!)
For the dates you have mentioned as being appropriate for your client our statistics indicate your ad would be viewed by 250,000 people. Our forecast demographic information for this period is blah, blah and blah.
Interestingly, the upcoming releases will appeal to the same demographic that you identified as your market. Further to that, we have some ideas already on how you could leverage your investment to gain the greatest exposure possible.
This could include:
* Provide you with A4 & A2 size posters of your ad (you can use these for general advertising/display – build a strong connection)
* A trade night where you and 30 guests/customers come along to a complimentary movie (with reserved parking, enjoy wine and food prior to the start, and complimentary popcorn and Coke!
* 30 free tickets for you to dsitribute as prizes in the business
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Basically, tell me how my significant investment will provide me with the benefits that you know it can. And then quantify those benefits.
The only other bit in the proposal was this:
Additional Artwork and Voice Over: $1,045
Don’t tell the prospect the cost until you demonstrate the benefits and value he will receive. Try something like this:
Brendon, as you are aware, quality creative results in more recognition and sales to you. Our highly experience team (they have over 52 years experience in cinema advertising alone) thrive on the challenge of producing outstanding creative to meet your exact needs and generate recognition and sales.
David Smith is widely acknowledge as one of the best voice-over men in Sydney and his voice would provide a nice fit with your target market. Barry Jones’ is a brilliant copywriter who has worked on campaigns with Telstra, Tailored Consulting (!!) and Coles Myer. Our research of the unprompted recall of Barry’s work is consistently above that of the competition and we can tie that back to about a 20% increase in sales.
This expertise is available exclusively to our clients. Of course we tailor the package to meet your exact needs – to give you a ballpark figure $1,045 is the average spend on creative.
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If you are selling a big ticket item – such as web sites – then give the prospect the information he needs to make a decision. The bigger the price the more information.
Regards
Brendon