I returned home from a business trip this past week, and my lovely wife greeted me at the door. Being the nosy woman she is, my wife soon began rummaging through my carry-on and found a half-eaten Snickers bar. She caught me red-handed. After berating me for straying from my diet (and then breaking hers to eat the second half) she noticed a contest on the wrapper.
“Enter your code at snickers.com to see if you’ve won the Ultimate Garage Sale Sweepstakes!” the wrapper instructed us.
Convinced that WE were the lucky winners, we logged on. The home page (at right) reassured us that we were in the right place. But when we clicked through to the contest page, we were informed that the contest had ended.
Well, then…WHY are they still advertising it on their home page?
As sales and marketing people, we are expected to know our products and services inside and out. But with information, pricing, incentives and the like changing on a daily basis…how familiar are we with our own marketing materials? Don’t answer yet…
There is a tale of a man who used the Internet to find a home in a new development. After weeks of intense research, he narrowed his search down to five communities, and drove to each so he could see them in person. But after speaking to the salespeople at each community, he discovered that, due to his extensive research, he actually knew more about the communities than they did!
The man was so frustrated that he took the $50,000 deposit check that was in his pocket and decided to use the money to renovate his existing home instead.
Like it or not, your customers are using the web extensively to research your products. They’ve dutifully read, studied, critiqued and printed almost every page of your site – and your competitors’ sites as well.
Have you?
Be sure to schedule some time regularly to review the web sites your customers are looking at:
- Check your site often to make sure pricing and all other information is correct and complete. Notify your “web guy” (or gal) of any necessary changes immediately.
- Do you syndicate your content on any “partner” sites? Review the information on those sites as well so you know you’re viewing the same listings your customers are.
- Monitor competitor web sites. Are they doing something you’d like to see on YOUR site?
Know thy web site…and you’ll have a better knowledge of your customers!
Tags: email marketing, home building, real estate, sales tips
