Stop Selling and Start Relating

Posted by Chris Shockley under General, Marketing

I was raised in the old school way of selling. Not that I was good at it, I’ve never liked the things that are faked or manipulative. The idea of “working” a person over, intimidating them, scaring them, closing, etc, just never sat nor does it sit well with me.

I have no problem asking for someone’s business, mind you, but I’m not going to sit there and hit them with “This deal isn’t for everybody” or “My boss will be real mad that I’m giving this away” or something.

I guess I’ll never be a good sales person.

Really? Read more…

Is Your Website Easy to Use?

Posted by Chris Shockley under General

One of the oft forgotten things about a website are:

• Humans will actually be reading it and they may not know you or anything about you, your product or your service.

• Your website has one or many actual business goals to achieve.

If you haven’t heard this term yet, you should make sure you try and understand it (or make sure your web designer does).

It’s Usability.

The concept is not new at all. We all like products that are easy to use, easy to understand, that don’t frustrate us and, whenever possible, don’t require instructions.

With the advent of the internet and websites, there are tons of people creating sites and content that have not training in this arena, but because they can, they do. Read more…

Tacoma Bible College Redesign

Posted by Chris Shockley under Web Design

Tacoma Bible College has been a client of mine for around ten years. As the school has grown, so has the need for their website to offer more functionality and resources.

When the president of the school contacted me recently to discuss their new marketing focus and the functionality they are hoping to implement over the next year, it quickly became apparent that a redesign of the look and feel made sense.

Over the past few years the school has been changing its focus from local (people who either knew the school or knew current students) to something regional and, indeed, international. I’ve been told that they may have as many as forty students from Korea this fall.

Because of this, it made sense to take the website’s look and take it to what I call, “The Top Shelf” of the market place. That is to say make sure the site had a best-in-class look, layout and color scheme; clean and professional. This is because the prospective students and their families will be using the website’s of schools to help them make a decision about which schools to investigate before coming into town.

Read more…

What Business You’re REALLY in

Posted by Chris Shockley under General, Marketing

Introduction
One of the things that I try to do is to help my clients shift their thinking. I try and help them see things from a different angle or a fresh pair of eyes.

So, in this article I want to bring to you attention a very important premise around the idea of what business you’re in and the marketing you do. Read more…

How You Can Improve Your Web Site

Posted by Chris Shockley under General

Introduction

So much of the Internet is filled with websites that have been thrown together and posted because someone thought they needed a site. It’s as if they went to a seminar and were making sure they checked it off their list.

I agree, you do need a website. But, what you really need a “good” website; one that conveys your the benefits of your business to you customers and prospects. Notice, that I did not say you need a fancy site or some graphically enhanced masterpiece. A good website is one that accomplishes good usability and the business goal set for it.

Read more…