Crisis is painful, but it can actually be a huge opportunity that forces us to look at things in a new way and focus on solutions. Ideally we don't have to wait until there is a crisis to go through this important process!
When things are going well we tend to relax and ignore obvious problems.
For example, a business that is flooded with new customers, may not have the time or motivation to notice that they are also losing some customers (churn) just because of a very small frustration that could easily be fixed. It's not until the new customers dry up in an economic downturn, that they start to realize how important it is to keep every single existing customer happy.
Or a Realtor that is just lucky enough to be riding the wave of a hot market, may not have ever needed to develop a solid sales pipeline that reliably funnels leads to a carefully designed and optimized website that engages attention, communicates value propositions and motivates taking action today. So when inflation suddenly increases mortgage rates and the market freezes up, they realize they've just been lucky this whole time, and they don't actually have the tools they need to capture new customers in a competitive market.
Every Crisis is an Opportunity
Crisis, difficulty, problems, these are painful, but they can actually be a huge opportunity to force us to look at things in a new way. And when we stop, open our eyes, and give our attention to the problem, we can change our priorities, find solutions, and make improvements. And these improvements help us through the hard times and are amplified in the good times.
Ideally we don't have to wait until there is a crisis to go through this important process!
Crisis also often creates instability and disruption in the market, which can open cracks and opportunities that didn't exist before. Established players may fail. The rules of the game, the needs of the market, all these things may change. So you are paying attention and quick enough to see the changes, you can have an opportunity of a lifetime. Every crisis is an opportunity.
Lean Startup Mindset
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a must read for all businesses that want to create a successful business. It can help you develop a mindset that prioritizes a consistent review of your business processes, in a data driven cycle of strategy, experimentation/implementation, evaluation, and pivot. This lets you continually increase what's working and fix what's not working. This is important whether or not you are in a crisis, and ideally forces a business to act and prioritize an ethos of asking questions and improving, even when things are going well.
Why Your Website Matters
As a company, we have chosen to focus on website development, because there is not another tool that provides better ROI for most businesses. It is an amazing, still-underutilized technology, that should be the central part of every business. Because a website can operate 24/7 as the ambassador of your brand, a permanent presence that can empower existing customers (reducing administrative costs) and provide the best chance of helping new customers encounter and understand the value of what you offer (sales pipeline).
Unfortunately most websites are extremely passive, little more than a business card. And after a couple of years, a website inevitably also looks dated (and neglected). A passive website doesn't engage the extremely limited attention of visitors (who on average will bounce after 30-60 seconds) or earn their trust (with a hundred subtle cues related to design and marketing languge). A passive website doesn't have a clear content strategy but overwhelms visitors with vague information which does not clearly communicate one or two core value propositions, your "elevator pitch", which sets you apart from your competition. And a passive website does not provide compelling calls to action that motivate a person to take action right now.
It is therefore predictable that on average less than 1% of visitors ever convert into leads or sales. And it's little surprise that people view their website passively, because they don't see the value it could provide if it was properly designed and leveraged.
But when the market dries up, and the leads are no longer flowing in like magic, it is shocking to realize that 99+ out of 100 visitors are bouncing. It is even more painful when you realize that these are people you spent a lot of energy and time and money, through networking, handing out cards, meetings, referrals, and maybe even spending money on marketing, ads, social media or SEO.
Every Visitor Has a Story
Every person that came to your website was looking for something. Why did they bounce? Do you not offer what they are looking for, or did they just not know? Are you not as good as your competitors, or did they just not trust you because of a gut judgement? Were they in informational gathering phase or active buying phase and you never gave them a clear reason or button to click to take action?
Every visitor represents a human being with dreams and challenges and needs, and they are hoping to find someone they can trust who will help them achieve their goals. If you aren't converting those visitors, there is a reason. And now is the time to figure which of those bounces are actually a perfect fit and why they didn't realize it!
Whether you feel the crisis now and you desperately need a reliable sales pipeline, or you are too busy to think about your website, it will be worth your time to take a moment to evaluate how your website can be improved.
Where Should I Start?
Can you carve out just 20 minutes this week? Of course. Our free consultation well help you start this process. We can point out the most obvious low hanging fruit that give you the most ROI (many things are even free to implement). And then you'll have a better idea where to go from there. Free consultations through the end of April, will also qualify for $100 in free credit toward monthly hosting/support services (new clients) or any toward any custom project (all clients). Let's get started!
