2 December 2011
Often when talking with clients what may sound like an objection or a condition that will stop the customer having a website made may actually be a reason for them to have a site up and running as soon as possible. One of the most common stumbling blocks tripping up the customer on their way to a new website can actually be a spring board waiting for them to run and jump in with purpose.

Often when talking with clients what may sound like an objection or a condition that will stop the customer having a website made may actually be a reason for them to have a site up and running as soon as possible.

One of the most common stumbling blocks tripping up the customer on their way to a new website can actually be a spring board waiting for them to run and jump in with purpose.

What follows is another sales account from a face to face meeting but which could as easily have taken place on the telephone. To be clear, we take a consultative approach, always looking to enter into a conversation about what the customer actually wants from a website.

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Customer. I hear what you say and I sometimes think I should have a website but at the moment money is very tight, I don’t think I can afford to be splashing out on a website design.

Web Designer. I bet you wouldn’t be surprised if I told you that’s one of the most common stumbling blocks I hear from potential customers.

Customer. No I wouldn’t, times have been difficult and could be for a while yet.

Web Designer. Mind you, I bet you would be surprised if I told you that what you’ve just said is the single most common reason that businesses like yours are getting a web site right now.

Let me ask you a question, if you had a website right now, what would you most like it to do for you?

Customer. Get me paying customers who want my services, lots of them

Web Designer. Absolutely right and that’s exactly why businesses like yours are getting a site now, because customers are hard to find aren’t they. The majority of our population use the internet, and there’s only 2 really big things people do with the internet, 1 they look for things they want, maybe information, maybe your services and secondly they talk to each other on Facebook and Twitter. The UK has 30 million Facebook users talking to each other, on average a Facebook member has 130 friends. That’s one of the key reasons people like yourself are getting their businesses a web site, WORD OF MOUTH HAS CHANGED, it’s now travels like a bolt of lighting and across far more people than in the old days.

Imagine if you’d done some work for me that I was chuffed as chips with, I’d mention it on my Facebook page without a doubt, and my Facebook friends would then know about you and what you do. But if you had a website, I’d probably put your web address in the comment and it automatically links up, so my friends can pop into your online shop so to speak and have a look at what you do. You make it easier for people to get in touch with you if they do need your services.

What’s the old phrase, businesses that are easy to find are businesses that are easy to do business with!

My question is really this, times are hard but they get easier with more customers, if you want more customers you need to go where they are, you need to be where they will look for your services and that is on the internet. Do you see what I mean?

Customer. So you’re saying that I’ll get customers if I have a website are you? My mates got a website and he says it’s useless.


Web Designer. I wonder if your friend actually promotes the site, if he’s registered with the search engines, if his content has been graded badly, Google want to put good honest results in front of their users, did your friend write his own content or did he copy and paste it from somebody else’s site?

Customer. I don’t know, does all that make a difference?

Web Designer. Put yourself in Googles shoes, if they don’t provide good results that people can use nobody would use them. If you just copy somebody else’s site, Google will more than likely put greater value on the original and serve it up more than a copy.

But lets not get distracted by what your mate might be doing wrong and lets focus on what we can do right for you and your business.

80% of our population access the internet at least every month in real terms weekly, essentially that’s 80% of this town, 80% of your potential customers, in doesn’t matter how thin you slice it, 8 out of 10 of your customers use the internet and you’re not there to reap the rewards when they are looking for your type of services.

Let me show you how we can develop a cost effective web site that will promote your services, and be where people will look for your services let me see if I can help lift some of this financial gloom by helping you attract the customers who aren’t finding you when they look on the internet.

Customer. Well that would be great, nobody would argue with more customers but at what cost?

Web Designer. Well the cost will be reasonable, that’s for sure but it will depend on what you really want the site to do. I don’t want to quote you for functionality that you don’t really need. Let me ask you, if I was a customer on the phone to you right now, what would you most like me to be asking you for? Is there any part of your work that you’d like more of because it’s more profitable, or maybe because it’s quick work and you can get more done?….

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This account leads into a consultative conversation where the Web Designer knows the customer wants more custom for their services and moves the focus onto the work which might best be promoted.

To capture more business enquiries is one of, if not the most common reason a business will launch a website. A website can, with good design, good content & management, some concentrated SEO & Marketing, create good volumes of new business enquiries.

However this account leads into a very focused conversation allowing the customer to see how they can use the web to target particular services that generate more profit but that’s another article!