It really floors me when I hear that certain people from certain industries still think that a website has no affect on their sales process. I was speaking to an accounting firm the other day and he was adamant that companies do not consider a website when they are looking for an accounting firm. He said it is all done by referrals. I agreed with the referral part, there are certain industries like financial planners, lawyers and accountants where there is no doubt that the initial interest comes from a referral. However, prior to 1994 potential customers did not have another means to research further and do some due diligence on the supplier they were considering. Now there is this little online library of information called the Internet where no company can hide and where prospective clients are definitely going to want to research your company. I met with a financial planning company and I explained how I felt the decision process would go:
- I would likely hear of your company through a referral from a trusted person. He might say I will have him give you a call.
- A person from the company would call me likely ask me to meet to discuss their services.
- At this point a lot of people including myself would do some online research on the firm.
- I would have the meeting with the representative and judge the capabilities for them to take care of my needs.
- After the meeting I would likely do some more research online to see what other competition is out there and what they are offering compared to this financial company.
The importance of a website is especially important if its a smaller firm, larger firms are notorious for having good brands and vague websites, smaller firms should look at this as a level playing field advantage. All companies are equal on the web and you can market your firm very well or very poorly online. For instance if I do not find a website my immediate thought is this firm is not up with the technology and that concerns me. If they have a website and it is not professionally done I would think does their professionalism mirror their website. If there website is very professional and conveys the differentiators that I am looking for in a financial planner then I would have a good feeling when I had my meeting. In today’s environment, every industry is very competitive, you generally only have one chance at the selling process and if you mess up one stage it can mean you do not get the business.
In conclusion, don’t be naive when it comes to online marketing, your prospects are only getting younger and more Internet savvy. Take the web seriously and again if you are a smaller firm this is your chance to even the playing field with the larger firms.
