Brush Up Your Website (Now that you Really Need those Customers)

When times were good, many of us got complacent about sales and marketing.

How many times did you hear, "I don't need more customers. I have so many clients I'm turning them away."?

So now is a good time to re-evaluate your sales and marketing plans, and a great place to start is the Web.

Benefits Sell, Not Features

This is something that tech-savvy salespeople often need to be reminded of. When you’re both passionate about CE and well informed, the temptation to barrage your client with wisdom can be overwhelming. Stick to listing the benefits of your work, and not the details.

Do you remember the Far Side cartoon about "What Your Dog Hears"? Recently, an industry colleague joked to me that when some integrators talk, all their client hears is "Blah blah 1080p blah blah Blu-ray blah blah one-hundred thousand dollars!"

When potential clients are browsing your Web site, communication is a one-way street: you don’t have an opportunity to clarify your comments, or respond to their questions.

Since the main goal of your Web site should be to encourage prospects to pick up the phone and call you, you’ll do that by demonstrating that they'll benefit by doing so.

Avoid Jargon

While it may feel unavoidable in a technology-dependent industry such as ours, there’s no need to fill your Web site with integration-related jargon.

I recently worked on the Web site of a commercial security contractor who specializes in hospitals, factories, and other large buildings. The original site was such a convoluted maze of specialized jargon that the only people who could understand it were their competitors.

Now, the site makes it clear that if you need access management and monitoring of 600,000-square-foot physical plant, they’re the experts you need to get in touch with.

Not once does it mention "Three-Way Hot Redundant Computers," "Biometrics," or "Interactive Remote System Management."

Too Much Information

At the same time that you should be focusing on a clear, concise sales message and brand image for your Web site, remember to not only keep it simple, but to keep it brief.

I recently had the occasion to research Web sites related to custom wine cellars.

One common thread among many of them was pages and pages of information: everything from not only the principles of wine cellar construction, but also a concise history of viticulture and grape cultivation.

If that’s not "TMI" I don’t know what is. But let’s not just point fingers at the wine snobs; plenty of CE integrators are guilty of this as well on their Web sites.

Don’t get me wrong, an informed customer is a happy one, and you owe it to your clients to help them make informed decisions.

That said, your Web site isn’t there as a resource to train a new salesperson.

While it might be advisable to have a brief description of your consultation and design process, a white paper on your installation best practices, and a page long essay on T568A & B are probably better suited to your employee manual than your Web site.

Measure Success

When evaluating the effectiveness of your Web site as a sales and marketing tool, remember the expression "what gets measured gets managed." When talking to prospective clients, you’ll learn where they came from, whether as referrals, or from driving past your showroom, or from finding your Web site.

If you’re not seeing many prospects come to you via your Web site, that’s a measurement that may indicate that you need to tune it up.

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