I recently got a call from a good buddy of mine. It went something like this:
“hey, can you check out my new website and tell me what you think”
“Ok, yup here it is, um, great, well, it looks nice but it won’t sell anything”
“Well, what do you mean, we just had it professionally designed”
“Well for starters, there is no headline, no call to action and no sales copy”
See, my buddy is a computer network specialist. He has a company that operates locally in his city and provides networking solutions to other companies. They will go in and maintain a network, set up security, set up software and so on in their clients place of business. He has a buddy who is an advertising guy – builds websites and the likes. So here he is with his new website all set up.
The website looks very corporate, tells a litle bit about what they do – describes some of their services.
I said, OK, right now your website looks like all the other websites out there in your field. Why should a client do business with you above any and all other options available to them?
He couldn’t answer. See, this is the USP – the Unique Selling Proposition. What is it that sets you apart – what makes you different, why should anyone do business here? He never defined what he does or what he sells.
Next question, where is your call to action?
“my what?”
What is it you want people to do once they come to your site?
“Oh, well, I don’t know, I thought I just had to put up a nice site”
(oh, please)
See, my buddy doesn’t even have a clear, defined sales process. I said, OK, let’s work backwards here. How do you get new business?
“Well, all I know is that if I can meet with a prospect, there is a pretty good chance I can close them”
OK, now we are getting somewhere.
“OK, so if that is the case, then your website needs to sell a meeting. You need to irritate a problem that your client would have and then offer to solve the problem by coming in to their business and having a free consultation. Your website needs to sell the free meeting. Then you can close them”
Now he was starting to see the light.
See, BEFORE you get started on all of this, you need to take a minute and clearly define your sales process. What steps do you want your prospect to take? Make them easy steps to take, tell them what to do, hold their hand as they do it. Guide them along. If your business works when you have a meeting with a prospect, then any marketing you do needs to be focussed on getting that meeting. Print advertising, website, all need to be targeted towards getting that meeting. The first thing that the prospect should see when they come to your website should be a good headline – one that draws them in and irritates the problem. The solution to their problem needs to be for them to invite you to a meeting, and then make it very easy for them to set up the meeting right there.
If you can sell face to face, then your website needs to set that up.
It is too bad my buddy didn’t ask me for help BEFORE he set up his site. What a waste of a website 
