Speak Your Customer’s Language

I needed help. My web building skills were seriously lacking. I couldn’t build the website I wanted. It was time for a Boulder Craigslist ad. I put up an ad describing what I wanted, and asked for samples of web designer’s work.

Next time, I will be clearer when placing the ad. I was looking for a local designer, but I received more responses from India than Boulder. Yet the actual responses to the ad were what really shocked me. Freelance web designers and even people who own website design companies generally have no clue how to sell their products. I wasn’t contacted by any local web-design companies. If I were in the business, I would be scanning Craigslist daily. It’s a free source to obtain work.

I consider myself to be of at least average intelligence. I am good at some things and hopeless at others. I am a terrible student of subjects I have no interest in. I used to read business books and magazines while my high school and college teachers were lecturing. I cannot build anything and have limited technical skills. I could probably be diagnosed with severe ADD. On the other hand, I am excellent in mental math, can remember any article I have read, and can speak Spanish very well and Mandarin fairly well. The point is, we all have things we are good at and can understand easily. We all also have things we are not so good at and do not understand well. For these things, I call in an expert.

I reviewed previous work from the web designers I contacted. I found a bunch of decent sites with introductions and pages full of flash that took too long to load. Customers are not looking for a Hollywood production. They want information and they want it fast.

I like to find an expert that can at least speak some of my language. I have found a serious disconnect between my language and the language of web designers. I checked xcitepro software. Looks great, but who builds it, and how do you build it? I tried to work with gatorhost and godaddy. Again, I am clueless. I currently have my retail businesses on an easy to use click and build site. I do not try to sell much on the site but it serves its purpose. I need more to run an Internet business, and I need help.

Back to Craigslist. I left my phone number with three web designers yesterday. One emailed back and requested the specs of the website before he would return my call. If I knew the damn specs, I would not need help in the first place. Any questions could have been answered by a phone call. Delete. I have two more prospects left. Neither one called back in a reasonable amount of time. Delete, delete. Back to square one.

The point of this is not to talk about my personal frustration. The point is, we must be reminded to talk to our own customers in the language they understand and can comprehend. This is not common sense advice. Too often, we assume people understand us when they do not.

And if anyone has advice for this special needs web wannabee, my computer is always on…

Sell Your Customers What They Want

Sales are slow. You can blame the economy, or the fact that your location stinks. But maybe the real problem is that you are not selling what people want.

You can enormously increase your profits by doing one simple thing: sell more of what customers want to buy. It is a simple concept, but for it to work, you have to have a system to track sales. Mass-merchants like Wal-Mart and Target have made phenomenal profits by implementing systems that integrate sales and inventory. Let's say a Target store receives a shipment of 24 shirts in the following colors:

Six red
Six blue
Six green
Six white

At the end of one week, the store sells six green shirts, four red shirts, one blue shirt, and one white shirt. An automatic restocking order is then generated for the following:

10 green shirts
2 red shirts
0 blue shirts
0 white shirts

Most stores would only replace what is sold. Target's system increases the par level for hot products, and reduces the par level for slow sellers. It doesn't hurt that they have amazing software that re-orders automatically.

Very few small-business people can afford to implement a system similar to Target’s. However, you can still track what people are buying. Systemize your inventory and purchasing system. Eliminate your slow selling products and increase the fast moving ones.

Customers often have no clue why they make purchases, but even the smallest nuance in a product can result in a sale. Analyze your sales. You may have a line of products that amounts to 20% of your inventory but accounts for 40% of your sales. Increase that line and decrease a slower selling line.

Ten years ago, a local business owner started selling pipes, bongs, novelties, and a small line of T-shirts. The T-shirts were unique and sold very well. She kept increasing the clothing line and decreasing the main line of products she started with. Today, this store is extremely profitable and 90% of the products sold are clothing and shoes. She recently opened a second store with only the clothing and shoes.

Start reaping the benefits of selling what people want. The easiest sale you can make is when a customer chooses a product simply because he desires it. Satisfy your customers' desires and watch your profits skyrocket.

"We don't like to be sold, we love to buy."
Jeffrey Gitomer