Everyone knows that to look credible and professional your business should have a website.  However, when you’re first starting out it’s difficult to know what to include so I’ve created the list below of website essentials – things you MUST include from the beginning to get your business going:

 1. Overview of the product/service itself – this is an obvious one but it needs to be really clear from the outset what it is your product or service does and the benefits users can expect.  There also needs to be a very clear and easy way to make a purchase.

2. Contact details – how many times have you been on a website but can’t find a number to call them on for love nor money? You’ll need to include a company phone number and company email address to field any enquiries and make is as easy as possible for your customers to engage with you.  People prefer to call landline numbers but if you don’t have a business landline there are lots of companies who provide virtual landline numbers for a few quid per month.  You should also make sure that your website has links to your social media platforms so people can easily follow you; be sure to include your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other details across the website.

3. Customer stories/case studies – any feedback you get from the people using your product or experiencing your service is hugely valuable.  Try to capture as much in writing (or video/voice recording) as possible and request permission to use it on the website and marketing.  Peer recommendations are so important so you will want to use positive feedback as much as you can.

4. About Us – you use an area like this to provide some reassurance around the fact that this company knows what it’s doing!  It’s here where you can talk about your background and experience and position yourself as a leader in the field.  You can also add links to press and publications if you wish.

5. Blog – this is an area you should use to write about topics which are interesting to your target market, and then post links on social media and in email newsletters.  The objective here is to drive extra visitors to your website who may then buy.

6. A way of collecting contact information – once you’ve encouraged visitors to your site, you need to find a way of capturing their data so you can build a list of leads. You should include a sign up box for a newsletter and maybe offer a free resource such as an ebook in exchange for contact details.  There are all sorts of options using pop-up boxes so you should explore and find the one which works best for you.

There are lots of free website building resources out there so you can have a practise run on a variety of platforms; the main thing is to make sure the website gets across exactly what your customers need to hear.

Creating your first business and first website can be intimidating but if you follow the guidelines above you’ll include everything you need to launch.  Your website is a key element of your overall marketing strategy as it’s your shop window for potential customers – it’s worth spending time getting the content right.

I work with many, many companies who want to use Twitter as part of their business but the individuals themselves are using it for the first time and – quite understandably – don’t know where to start.  There are lots of great guides and blogs out there around using the best keywords in tweets, the optimal time to tweet info, etc. but this is still a bit too complicated for those that are new to Twitter.  I feel what’s needed here is a newbie’s guide to using Twitter for business, so here are my 4 golden rules:

1. Be clear about your Twitter account’s purpose

Before creating an account and publicising it on your website and collateral, have a think about what the account is for and who you want to reach.  It’s a good idea to have a company account which is used as the single point of information for customers; a lot of the time I see the MD tweeting under one name, the Development Director tweeting in another guise and the Marketing team tweeting under a further name which is confusing for your customers.  Decide on what your company Twitter account will provide and plan accordingly.  Also take time to think about who will tweet using that account; putting a human face behind your company account will help your customers relate so be sure to add that info into your profile.  Which brings me to . . .

2. Create a great profile page

Your profile page is your shop window on Twitter so be sure to keep it up-to-date.  It is here where you can add a few concise sentences around what it is exactly that your business provides, your location, an introduction to the person tweeting and a link to your website.

3. Find like-minded people

You will want people to find and follow you and the best way to do that is to find people you are interested in and follow them.  And once you’ve done that you can also start following other people who follow them.   It may be that they are in the same field as you or perhaps in the same geographical location as you, but doing this starts to build a community of like-minded people with whom you can interact.

4. Don’t just broadcast, engage

So you have your Twitter account and people are starting to follow you; the temptation now might be to promote, promote, promote.  My advice – don’t!  A constant stream of adverts will turn people off and they will eventually unfollow.  You need to post relevant, engaging content around the industry as a whole which will compel your target audience to follow you.  You can of course mention your own solutions and the impact they have had on schools, etc. but it has to be a reciprocal relationship.  Be sure to chat with your followers around what’s interesting to them too!

A couple of years ago during an interview I was asked the almost inevitable question “Are you an introvert or an extrovert?” to which I responded “neither”.

The interviewer was adamant that I must be one or the other and it made me question why this should be the case.  It seems to be unquestioned wisdom that the best sales people are extroverts and if you are in least bit introverted then there’s no way you’ll be successful in sales.  However, there are lots of reasons why this simply isn’t the case.  For example, I used to work with a man who’s friendly, outgoing, confident, enthusiastic, great at getting along with people, but couldn’t close a sale to save his life for the simple reason that all that enthusiasm meant that he didn’t listen.  Equally, another ex-colleague of mine was quiet and unassuming but his unthreatening nature and methodical way of working meant he was really rather good at sales – the only frustration being that he could have been absolutely amazing if only he would come out of his shell a bit.

So who ARE best at selling?  Ambiverts.

Ambiverts sit somewhere between introversion and extroversion and display personality traits from both.  And it absolutely makes sense that it is this personality type that makes the best sales people as, ultimately, selling isn’t about foisting your personality onto your client.  Successful selling involves listening to and relating to your client, presenting to them a person they would like to deal with and a company they want to engage with.  The best sales people are the ones who adapt their behaviours to the situation in front on them.

So, which personality type are you?

All too often I hear companies say that the thing they absolutely must to do overcome competition is beat them on price.  The logic being that if we’re the cheapest then we’re the ones the customer will choose, right?

Generally speaking, and unless everyone you are competing against is offering a 100% identical product to you, this simply isn’t the case.  People are looking for value as much as they are a good price.  In the public sector most large deals go through a formal procurement process but, even then, price will only make up a certain percentage of the score.   Customers tend to use the MEAT criteria (Most Economically Advantageous Tender) which also takes into account quality.

So instead of making price the thing you must beat them on and the focus of your efforts, why not try highlighting some of the other things that stand you apart instead.  For example:

• Are you greener or more ethical? Is your product/service locally based or locally made.  Equally, is your service UK-wide or international?
• Is your product of a higher quality, built to last, easier to use, safer to use or approved by a respected organisation?
• Are your staff experts in their field, do they come from industry, are they a large, happy and stable team offering fabulous service, do you offer longer more flexible opening hours and online help?

At the end of the day cheapest rarely means best.  Aim to price your product or service at a price-point that truly represents what you offer and then focus your attention on delivering all the added value your customers will love.

Now this is a dangerous phrase because when businesses say this they are often referring the fact that they feel they have a product that does something or has features that perhaps other products don’t have.  And, based on this, they feel no product compares to theirs and, therefore, they have no competition.  But the phrase “we don’t have any competitors” is a dangerous one for three main reasons:

1. That piece of unique functionality that your product has may seem like the most important thing in the world to you but your customers may think differently.

If they don’t see it as a deal breaker then they will look at all the similar products on the market – so you need to be conscious of the fact that you’re also competing with them.

2.  Even if your product or service is completely 100% unique, you are always still competing for budget.

It may be that your customer chooses to spend their budget on something completely different as they consider it more important to them at that moment.  The challenge is finding a way to ensure your potential customers consider what you’re offering as high priority.

3.  The belief that no competitors exist in your market can ultimately lead to complacency.  

If you feel that your product is the best out there then there’s a danger that the needs of the customer will stop being the priority and you’ll fall into the trap of believing that “the product sells itself”.  To successfully sell you must always be asking yourself ‘what’s important to the customer?’ and making sure your value proposition is based on this.

Ultimately knowing your competition is the key to creating a great marketing and sales strategy and, believe me, they definitely exist!

Almost all the companies I’ve worked with conduct email campaigns in one way or another.  It’s a good idea as it is more cost effective than your traditional print and posting methods and, in many ways, is much more likely to be seen by the right person.  However, almost all the companies I’ve worked with have also had the same challenge: how do I make it more effective?

The way in which campaign success is measured varies from company to company but, in general, you are looking for the number of emails opened, click-through rates and the number of enquiries (and subsequent sales) generated as a result.   Campaigns are usually created by designing an email containing content you think will appeal to the recipient, getting your hands on a target list of contacts and sending the mailshot out to everyone on the list.   The simple idea to make email campaigns more effective?  Don’t press Send to All.

As with all messaging, while you have spent time carefully crafting the content of the email, the best way to tell if resonates with your target audience is to test it.  So instead of sending it to everyone, try 50 contacts first and see what happens.  If you get nothing back, go back to the drawing board.  If they’re opening it but not enquiring, have another look and see if you can change the content to encourage them to click through.  Then try another 50 and see what happens.  When you start to get a result then you know it’s time to press Send to All – you’ll be pleased you took the time to test your message first.

No matter what the question or situation my 4-year old niece will always, always ask “why?”  And she asks this because she genuinely wants to understand what’s going on, what is the reason behind it.  As grown-ups we become experienced in our field and come to know our customers and competitors well and, as a result, we stop asking why because we feel we know the answer – and to be fair there’s a good chance we do know the answer.  But the point at which you stop asking “why?” is the point when you start becoming a less effective sales person for two reasons:

1. Things change; you may be able to able to make a fairly good guess at what’s important to your client right now but never assume – you don’t know what’s around the corner for them so you should ask.
2. You may stop asking “why?” because your experience tells you the answer, but asking questions is so important as it shows your clients you are interested in understanding their specific needs. They may be different or similar to everyone else, but you need to take the time to let them explain what’s important.

So try it, keep asking “why?”  I’m not suggesting doing it in the manner my 4-year old niece does (e.g. relentlessly, and often accompanied by tantrums) but I would certainly be sure to ask the question as you’ll be surprised by the results – especially when you’re the only person to have taken the time to ask.

The product sells itself.  How many times have you been told this, or heard it from a manager, or even thought it yourself of the product you’ve created?  In saying this, the thinking is that the product is simply so good that once the customer sees how it works they will definitely buy it.

This is a dangerous phrase for two reasons.  Firstly, no matter how good your product is, if you as a business don’t spend the necessary time engaging with your clients and understanding what’s important to them they won’t even look at your product.  Secondly, even if your potential customer does spend some time looking at your product, they’re not going to buy it based on how it works, they’re going to make a buying decision based on what it does for them.  For example, people and businesses don’t choose to buy a piece of software based on how the buttons work, they buy it based on the fact that it improves outcomes, save time, or simplifies a difficult task.  The product doesn’t sell itself – it’s the business that sells the outcomes that using that product can achieve.

Sales strategy should not be about describing how the product works, but about communicating the value proposition – how the product is going to help your client – and you’ll find that getting this right will open the door to far more sales opportunities than a simple product overview.