Gold Coast Web Expert

A mate of mine runs a successful web development business. One of his team (let’s call him Tom) answered the telephone the other day from another web development business – one of the largest ones in the state. It was a wrong number.
“It’s John Doe here from XYZ Company. Is that ABC Pty Ltd (I made both those names up) – you’re interested in having a web site done?? We’re a web firm and we are trying to get hold of the brief.”
Tom: “Nope, you’ve got the wrong number.”
End of call.
Now Tom recognised ABC Pty Ltd as a decent sized business in the city. He picked the phone back up, contacted Yellow Pages for the number and made the call.
“Hello, it’s Tom here from Our Web Business. I understand you are interested in having a web site developed. We do web sites. Could we make a pitch for the site?”
Sure they could, was the answer. Tom got hold of the brief. The business made the pitch. And they won the job!
What are the odds of that happening?
The lesson is that opportunities present themselves anyplace, anytime. You have to grab the opportunities as they come.
I’ve just re-read that and it sounds like I made that story up! But I didn’t. I got it first hand from the guy who owns the business, and I knew it was true because he couldn’t stop laughing the whole way through telling me.
Brendon

We won a nice job on Tuesday for a $6,000 web site. The new client wanted it completed as soon as possible, so we quickly registered the domain name, set up the hosting and briefed our designer and programmer on the requirements.
That took a couple of hours of our time on Tuesday afternoon.
On Wednesday at 10.30 am the client rang to say he had changed his mind and wasn’t proceeding. And despite our efforts, they couldn’t be convinced to continue.
The next day at lunchtime we had a call from another designer who wanted the domain details and passwords because he had just won the job and wanted to make a start!
Mmmmmmm……..so the client lied to us, wasted our time and cost me money.
What should I do?
The answer, and as I write this I’m not too sure this is the right thing, is nothing. I can’t afford to let the negativity of an incident like this stop us giving the best for our other clients. I gave the details to the designer after checking his credentials with the ex-client and moved on.
On reflection (as I write this) I probably should have let the client know I was aware of his lie and let him know my dissapointment with his business ethics. After all, we did this:
* completed the extensive proposal (took us 8 hours),
* had a couple of meetings to ensure the best solution for them, and
* paid for the domain name and hosting in good faith prior to receiving the deposit cheque.
And then he’s probably taken our detailed proposal to the nearest designer and received a lower quote.
Business is all about ethics and integrity. Lose those and you’ve lost.
Regards
Brendon

We are currently completing a marketing strategy of sending out a two- (2) piece mail campaign (day 1 is an introduction letter, day 5 is a promotional card, day 9 is a telephone call) to see if we can generate some new business.
The phone call is the tricky part. Make no mistake, it is hard to ring up someone that you don’t know and sell your services.
But think of it the way we do. Be relaxed. We’re ringing someone to say “Howdy, did you receive our letter and card? We do web development, could we come on in and have a chat about the services we provide?”
That’s not exactly the script, but it’s not hard sell and it’s not high pressure.
We come across the occassional person who isn’t pleased to receive the call. Not pleased at all. But that’s okay. If they are rude or aggressive then they are not the sort of people we’d want to deal with. No problem there. Take them off your list.
Cold calling is hard work
Cold calling is untargeted. It is hard work. And it has a low success rate. But it can get you new clients.
Don’t try and sell over the phone – just make the person aware of your product or service and try and get either a meeting or a request for further information.
By doing that you won’t find the calls so intimidating. And you’ll therefore make more. And be more successful.
Brendon

One of the local newspapers here is doing a story on our web division. The photographer was just here a minute ago to grab a photo to run with the story.
We had to make a quick decision on who would be photographed and in what context.
After a quick discussion it was decided to have Jo and I in the photo.
That decision was based on this:
1. Our target market is generally my age (I’m 38 – 39 on November 21 if you want to send me a large gift!) – or a little older. My age provides some degree of “They have experience” thinking.
2. We have a fairly even mix of male and female clients. Having Jo in the photo (and seated) gives her the credibility as someone of authority in the office. Many people perceive the younger Jo as being more ‘cutting edge’ in design and that’s often a positive.
3. Many of our competitors in web development run their businesses from home. Many of our market perceive offices as providing a greater degree of professionalism. The photo was taken in our boardroom.
4. Perceived risk – how could we reduce it (Photo: I’m wearing a nice shirt with cufflinks, and a sports coat that is buttoned. Jo is sitting at the boardroom table with a laptop open, I am standing beside her. Jo’s chair is a high-back leather chair.
What that tells the viewer is:
a) We have a boardroom – means we have offices.
b) We dress well – first impressions are critical.
c) The furniture is good quality – aids the perception of us being sucessful.
It’s the little things that count in presenting yourself to your market. We do everything we can to create a very positive first impression, because there is no second chance to make a first impression (that’s such a dopey cliche, but it doesn’t stop me from using it!).
And first impressions can be the difference between a sale or no sale.
Hope you have a nice day.
Brendon

I thought about this over the weekend after responding to a couple of people who emailed me to criticise an article I had written. I get a lot of feedback about the articles (and my book) – most good, the occassional bad.
I like receiving both because, if it’s constructive criticism, it helps to identify how I could write a bit better.
But 2 emails I received on Friday were just a couple of people having a complain about not much and then doing a bit of name calling. I spent probably 1/2 hour writing back and explaining my position.
But I won’t be doing that again. These people weren’t genuine in their criticism. They were insulting, boorish and immature.
I wasted 1/2 hour responding to these 2. That’s 1/2 hour less at the beach or at the pool or at golf or with my family or reading a book or responding to other emails.
I realised on Saturday that I have a choice. I could repsond to these aggressive emails, or I could hit the ‘Delete’ button.
Sure, there will be a consequence for hitting ‘Delete’. I’ll list them:
1. I’ll have extra time during my day
I really can’t think of any more!
We can all choose to deal with negative, boorish people. Or we can choose not to.
We all make choices that impact on every part of our life every single day.
Where have your choices gotten you so far.
Where will your choices take you in the future?
Cheers
Brendon

We had some friends for dinner a few years back. During the course of dinner I said something particularly stupid. (Yes, I’m sure you’re shocked at that!)
My daughter Laura, who was about 7 at the time, turned to me and whispered:
“Daddy, why don’t you think about things before you say them?”
Melbourne IT should snap up the services of Laura…..and here’s why.
Melbourne IT is one of Australia’s biggest registrars of domain names – a top level one. We register, on behalf of our clients, many, many domains with these people.
There are cheaper registrars around.
But I’ve stuck with Melbourne IT for years because we know their interface so well, and how to manage our client’s domains with the minimum of fuss.
But we’ll be changing. And we’re changing because they don’t think about what they are doing.
We recently registered a domain name for a client. We are listed as the Technical Contact for that domain name.
Today I received an email to that domain name address from Melbourne IT trying to onsell services – such as domain name forwarding. That’s fine. No problem with that. But then they went a step further.
Melbourne IT have used the contact information I gave them in registering that domain to recommend another company for the development of the web site!!
“HAVE A PROFESSIONAL WEB SITE BUILT FOR YOU.
We recommend XXXX, by XXXX for only A$599 you will receive:
* A four page professional web site designed for you that can be expanded or upgraded to suit your needs
* 12 months web hosting
* An easy to use interface to update your web site
* An email address
* Check out an example of a web site recently built by XXX for a customer on the standard A$599 package: www.XXXX.com.au.”
So, as a web developer I now have one of my “partners” recommending an opposition firm to the very same clients whose details I have given them! Crazy.
Why don’t they think of things before they do them?
I’d guess that the majority of people that register domains are businesses like ours doing it on behalf of clients. And I’d guess a good % of these people won’t be using Melbourne IT from now on.
The lesson here is that we all need to think about the possible implications of the strategies we use. Sure, it might be nice to generate extra income by recommending a web design firm. But not if it alienates a good % of your current customers.
Cheers
Brendon

Attention to detail and personalising your customers experience can be a very positive thing. I’ll give you a little story of what happened in our office on Friday that impressed me and the client.
A client came in for a meeting. She had been in before.
Instead of offering her a “Coffee, tea or cold drink?”, Bianka said “It’s a coffee isn’t it, with skim milk and 1 sugar?”
The client was amazed that Bianka had remembered her drink preferences from 3 months ago. She was mightly impressed. And so was I.
But it turns out that Bianka hasn’t actually got such a good memory. Bianka’s just smart. Every time a client comes in and has a drink, their preference is noted down in the database. And then referred to when that same client comes in next.
How can you personalise your customer’s experience? Little things matter and they matter a lot. Because people want to feel special – and anything we can do as businesspeople helps our cause.
Brendon

Our web division completes quite a number of web sites. We have 12 on the go at the moment.
One of the more time consuming aspects of that part of the business is developing detailed proposals for potential clients to consider. By the time we meet with the client and establish their wants and needs, then move on to strategy, tactics and how we might develop the web site, our costs can be quite significant.
I’ve been trying to think of ways to provide the quote without needing to provide the exhaustive proposal (a document that takes up to 6 hours to develop). I can often make the pitch for the web site in a 20-minute conversation – and be a lot more effective than a document.
So that’s what I have just done
I’ve talked to the client about the web site wants and needs. I then quoted the price.
I then told him if that sounds like the best solution for him, then let us know and we’ll move forward and develop the full proposal so that what he receives is well documented. After all, it makes no sense to spend 6 hours on developing a proposal that might get a cursory glance and a quick “No”.
Now this isn’t the perfect solution, but it is a start. Better for the client, better for us. Cheaper for the client, cheaper for us. Everyone wins!
Is what you are doing the best way to do business? Or are you doing it just because it’s what everyone else in the industry is doing?
Brendon

This blog came to mind because of some emails from John. John and I have started reviewing some copywriting for his business.
John came up with some fantastic headlines, one of which was something like:
“We told our supplier to GET STUFFED!”
I love those sort of headlines. In your face, provocative and usually amusing. But, unfortunately they don’t often work.
You see, there are some different people out there in the world. The main reason you are reading this (if you read regularly) is because you are a no BS sort of person, you are successful, you are a decision maker and you get things done with no fuss.
And when we researched our ‘best’ clients (in terms of great to work with and profitability (for both of us!)), we found that the sort of profile described above was our best client. And that’s why our marketing is generally simple, plain, no BS – just the facts.
Because that’s the sort of marketing that attracts our best clients.
Tailor your marketing to meet your market. It can be tricky to identify exactly what it needs to be, but it’s worth spending some time on it. If you get it right it can mean terrific success.
Now BUZZ OFF dopey!!!! Just kidding!! 😉
Brendon