Gold Coast Web Expert

I’ve spent a lot of time in the office lately. Writing my book, then catching up on some things, then waiting for a few deals to fall into place.
As I often say, sitting behind the desk working on the computer is about the worst thing I can do for my business. I’m the guy who makes the sales – as you probably are.
I need to be out and about, meeting people, pressing the flesh – when I move from deal to deal things happen.
When I sit in my office, with my feet on the desk and type away – that’s when my business slows right down. Move and your business will grow. Let’s rip off the Nike slogan and say together………..’Just do it!”
Regards
Brendon (from the www.tailored.com.au site originally posted July 2003)

Hello. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

I’ve started this blog after writing regularly on web design/development business marketing for a few years now. I’ve written mostly on my business web site at Tailored Consulting but felt it was time for a change – the Tailored site was losing its focus and people coming to visit weren’t sure whether they were going to get information about my web development business or tips on how they could run their own.
So this site has been set up to be devoted solely to web designer/developers looking for some practical, hands-on and real marketing advice.
My Background:
I guess my business background really started when I was about 18. A friend and I had holidays at the same time and decided to start a gardening business. I can still remember our newspaper ad said we were ‘Experienced, reliable and hard-working’.
From there I graduated to owning a courier business (excellent business to own when you’re only 21 – makes you measure absolutely everything). I then had a marketing business for a while.
I sold that and went back to Nursing – the profession I graduated from in 1988. In Nursing I’ve pretty much seen it all. I’ve worked in Emergency Rooms, Palliative Care Units, ICU’s, on Ambulances, in lock-up Psychiatric Wards, I’ve spent long nights helping people through the worst trauma imaginable, I’ve managed Resuscitation teams……….. I’ve seen and done lots I’d never wish upon anyone else.
I ended up managing the hospital where I worked After Hours. From there I started doing a few marketing things and found, to my surprise, that I was okay at it (I’d done a little education for it being part way through my Associate Diploma of Business Marketing at the time).
Shortly after that I was offered the job as Marketing Manager at one of Australia’s largest Private Hospitals. Only catch was the hospital was 2,500 kms away from where I lived. So up I came to Queensland, Australia.
After finishing off the contract – it was for 12 months that ended up going for 15 months – I moved on to start my own marketing business (Tailored Consulting). The hospital changed hands (not because I left!) at the same time.
The marketing business went very well for us from the very start. The aspect of the business that grew the most was our web design section. More and more clients wanted web sites and we happily helped them achieve that.
The last 7 years has been devoted to the web development business. During that time we’ve developed hundreds and hundreds of sites for hundreds and hundreds of different clients – from huge Government Departments to 1-man businesses.
3 years ago we took the plunge and did what only a few web developers do – we developed an e-commerce site for ourselves. That was somewhat of a success and we added that experience and expertise to our repertoire (we now run 3 e-commerce sites).
* 1 1/2 years ago I wrote a book called ‘The Web Design Business Kit’ that has done okay. Sales are well over the $1 million mark now and, from the feedback I’ve received, the kit has helped many web designers/developers manage their businesses a little better. And for that I’m thrilled.
* I also write the letter for one of the web industry’s highest circulation newsletters. The ‘SitePoint Tribune’ goes out to 130,000+ subscribers.
* I have a radio gig where I speak on all things Internet on ABC Coast FM.
I guess because of my marketing background we’ve always done okay at generating new business. It’s our biggest strength and something that comes pretty easily.
And I’ve always enjoyed writing and helping others so I guess that’s how the book, the newsletter and this blog have come about.
The Personal Stuff:
I’m 38 years old living on the Gold Coast, Australia with my wife (Mel) and three children (Laura 14 yo next week, Jack is 12 and Harry is 10).
When I’m not working I’m trying to keep fit, trying to play golf or trying to keep up with the boys on a bushwalk.
Contact:
Like I said before, I’m here to help you market your web design/development business if you’d like a touch of advice.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me at brendon@brendonsinclair.com.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be moving over all the web development business marketing blogs, articles, free reports, etc. We’ll do it fairly slowly – just 10 at a time, which will give you a bit of time to read our old, archived entries without having to search way back. Hope you find something of interest.
Regards
Brendon

We are having new letterhead, promotional cards and newsletter templates printed next week. We signed off on most of the artwork today.
Maintaining a consistent, quality image to your customers is very important. Every transaction has a perceived risk and every aspect of your business must work to reduce the perceived risk of doing business with you.
The various documents being printed all had variations of our address on them before sign off:
1136 Gold Coast Hwy
PALM BEACH QUEENSLAND 4221
1136 Gold Coast Highway
Palm Beach Queensland 4221
1136 Gold Coast Highway,
Palm Beach, QLD, 4221
We need to maintain an absolute consistency in everything we do – this aids our branding (people will remember us far more easily), it also shows that we take care of the little details and it presents us as a quality firm (obviously not to a huge degree, but every little bit helps).
Having said that, no one actually ever says “Hey, I noticed that you use a consistent style across your range of documentation.” And there are exceptions, of course – like when you need to abbreviate due to space restrictions.
People will notice sloppy work
But people will notice if your communication material is sloppy, badly written and mistake ridden. Get it consistent and keep that style. It will impact on your branding, your marketing and your success.
So, make it Qld, Queensland, QLD – it doesn’t really matter which one. But choose one and use it everytime (unless of course you don’t live in a place called Queensland. That would just be silly!)
Regards
Brendon
(from www.tailored.com.au post July 2003)

I played golf with a client today. He thrashed me (and if you’re reading this David, I only let you win because you are the client!………………I wish!). He managed to fall in for the narrowest of wins………………..12 shots.
In just about any sort of business, spending time (such as playing golf) with your client in a relaxed and social atmosphere is always a good thing. And it’s a good thing because business is about relationships.
If you build a close relationship with your client you will be more successful. Not maybe. Not sometimes. Always. You will be more successful.
Play golf for one reason only
I play golf with my client David for one main reason. It’s fun. He’s also a great guy to play golf with, he’s funny and we have a lot of fun.
David has also given me a lot of business over the years, and has referred plenty of new clients.
The cynical amongst us will look at me playing golf with David as a purely business-driven pursuit. But it’s not. It just happens that it turns out that the more golf I play with clients the more work we get. The more I develop the relationship with clients’, the more successful we become.
It’s getting to know your client well – that’s the key
And that’s the key. If you get to know your client well, then they have a real sense of who you are and where you’re coming from. They will be far more likely to deal with you. People like dealing with people they know and like. It’s that simple.
Let’s say my mate David needs some media work done (we’ve never done media work for him before). He knows we do media work (I’ve mentioned it during our long chats on the golf course). Do you think he would ask me to do his media? Of course he would.
What about if I said to him, “David, bad luck on missing that 3 foot putt! I have some ideas for some PR strategies for your business over the next 3 months that I think could be sensational. Do you have some time on Tuesday to get together?”
He’ll say “Yes”
What will he say then? He’ll say “Yes”, of course. And he’ll say yes because he knows I’m a no BS sort of guy who knows what I’m doing. And he knows that because we have developed a relationship and he knows me better than a person making a cold-call to him in his office during the week.
Business is about relationships. Take some time to develop decent relationships with your key business people. It’s good for business and it’s a good way to get to know some good people.
Regards
Brendon
(from www.tailored.com.au post July 2003)

Now this is the beauty of the blog. Instant info!
I’m sitting here reading a marketing magazine (the creative genius behind it called it….’Marketing’. I actually love the name. Perfectly descriptive and you know exactly what it is about). Anyway…..
…..in the back of the magazine they have the usual classified ads. One such ad reads something like:
Top 5 reasons why this ad is effective
* It shows who we are
* It tells you what we do
* The ad contains a cute image
* It tells you how to contact us
* It ends with our logo
Whoever designed and paid for that ad needs a good talking to!
Your ad needs to do this:
Grab ATTENTION!!
Make an offer
Tell the person what to do next
(Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
Do that and you’ll make sales. Ponce around with trendy, pretty sounding ads and you’ll waste your money.

It’s been another busy week this past week and I’ve done what I try with all my might to avoid.
I’ve worked almost exclusively in the business. I’ve been working away on various projects in an effort to make sure everything goes smoothly and we don’t get behind.
As soon as I do this, the business starts to slow down.
My main role is getting the business. Plain and simple. As soon as I work in the business (rather than on it) the whole business slows.
To get out of the trap we had a quick meeting today where I delegated (gotta love that word!) to Joanne, our manager. I then took the role of leading the development of our marketing strategy for the next month or two.
Here’s what we’ll be doing
* Printed newsletter
* Newspaper advertisments (display in a major national newspaper and local classifieds)
* PR campaign
* Change our “on-hold” phone message
* Sponsorship of high profile charity
* Public Speaking
* Promotional material (“Tailored” caps)
* Survey by us – results distributed to local/national media
* Write and distribute articles
* Get this web site re-designed (being done right now!)
* Networking
That’s the gist of it and, like any marketing, should work. If you complete a marketing activity, then the odds are that you will attract new customers. The key is to DO SOMETHING!!!
What if the prospect doesn’t like your ad or direct mail?
We run an ongoing direct mail campaign to various targeted businesses. These letters are always very targeted – for example we review a web site and send through to the web owner a critique of the site, along with a pitch for a meeting. At the meeting we try and demonstrate the benefit of dealing with us.
One of the people who received a letter like this rang me to complain about the letter – “How effective is your web site? We’ve had a look at your site and, based on our experience, think it isn’t providing a big benefit.”
Those 2 sentences are quite aggressive, but I don’t know if they are worth a complaint!
The point here is that marketing is a numbers game. If you send 100 letters out in a Direct Mail campaign, you may well receive some complaints. Take those complaints on board and learn from them, but don’t lose sight of your campaign objectives.
Will we stop using the letter we sent that attracted the complaint? Nope, we’ve used that letter before with great success – so our numbers tell me that the copy works just fine.
Marketing is a numbers game. Send 100 letters. Get 4 sales. Sell $1,000 worth of your product. Make a profit. Now move onto the next thing. Good luck!
Regards
Brendon
(from a post on www.tailored.com.au posted July 2003)

Speaking of ads…..
….You need to measure the success of your advertising campaigns in an effort to ensure you know what works (and do it again) and what doesn’t (stop doing that).
Forget brand awareness, forget likelihood to buy, forget any other marketing jargon except for this point.
The one and only thing you really need to measure with your advertising campaigns is:
Did your sales go up? If yes (and by more $ than the advertising cost), then it worked. No if’s or but’s.

The good thing about having small children is that you can generally teach them to say whatever you want. In my case the question is, “Am I good looking?”
Each and every one (makes it sound like I have 100 children, but I only have 3) of my children respond with “You’re a hottie Dad!”
That’s despite the fact that I look like Shrek!
Business is rocking along at the moment with new clients coming in all directions. We are currently doing something like 15 web sites, have picked up some decent sized and interesting marketing jobs, as well as some great PR work. With all this business coming in, we have lots of meetings with clients.
And I’ve noticed something very interesting. What have you noticed Brendon? We’ll, I’m glad you asked. I’ve noticed this:
I dress better when I know I’ll be meeting with clients or potential clients. I usually dress well for the office, but with the finishing off of my book (it’s now at the printers) over the past few months taking long, long hours I found that I was not dressing quite as well as I could.
When I dress well, something happens.
I feel like I’m in a costume. Well, not really a costume, but I feel a little like I have a part to play – an expectation to meet (that’s the phrase I was looking for!).
When I dress really well I am treated differently. I certainly feel different. And I act differently. Because there is an expectation with my appearance I’m perceived differently. I feel more confident. And, partly due to my appearance, it’s as though I am somehow more credible and believable.
It’s as though, when you think (even us Shrek-looking people know we don’t look that good!) you look great, you can draw some sort of strength or confidence from yourself. It’s as though it is coming from an external source (your clothes or appearance) when it is really coming from you.
What about you?
When you look and feel great, do you feel more confident? More in control? More optimistic?
I’d be willing to bet that you do. Come on and join me in looking your absolute best each and every day. Then grab that enthusiasm and confidence that comes with it and make the best of yourself, your business, your life!
Try it for a week and see how you go. You could be amazed by the results.
Regards
Brendon
(from ww.tailored.com.au – posted July 2003)

For any web designers/web developers reading this, of the 15 web sites we are doing at the moment, we have got the leads almost exclusively through word of mouth. 14 out of the 15 have been referred by family/friends/clients.
* We won another site today – referral.
* We’ll get another one tomorrow – referral.
* Then another one early next week – newspaper ad.
* Then another one I’m 90% sure of winning- referral.
That will be 19 sites in a couple of weeks, 17 being referred by others.
If you are a web developer, generate as much word of mouth business as possible. It’s the best (and cheapest) way to get a new client. How we mainly do it is:
a) keep in regular touch with our clients and ask them for referrals
b) send newsletters to clients/prospects/friends/etc letting them know of any successes, what we are doing now, etc.
We also reward any person who sends a prospect our way – maybe a bottle of wine, dinner or a show.
And I’ve had some interesting chats with non-businesspeople who see that as a bribe. I think that’s a crazy view. If someone sends a friend to my business with a terrific recommendation to use us, that person is putting food on my table, heat in my house and paying for the roof over my head.
I want to say “Thanks friend! We take great pride in providing a great service and I appreciate your recognising that and helping us to succeed. Here’s a bottle of wine as my way of saying thanks.”
It would be rude not to says “Thanks.”
So, ask for referrals from clients, friends and family. When someone helps you get a client, say thanks. It’s good manners. My mum taught me that.
Regards
Brendon
(posted on www.tailored.com.au July 2003)