Web site not working? Points to Ponder _Part one

An easy saying but difficult, in today's business climate.It's a long established Biblical principle that is often neglected or rejected. A philosophical value system that encourage us to act with honestly and integrity in all we do, whether we're dealing with personal or business relationships. Our behavior is controlled by a set of beliefs that we subscribe to --and its integrity is determined by the strength of these principles.

Franklin Covey has utilized this philosophy in his widely read book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". A successful Christian men's movement "Promise Keepers". Also teaches the importance of providing character integrity to ourselves and our dealings with others.

"The customer is always right" may be nonsense, as sometimes he/she is wrong but our consistent integrity with that customer will determine the outcome of a successful sale. A more accurate description might be "the customer might not always be right -- but the customer always rules". Therefore, we must *never* abuse our relationship with the customer. Forget that it's the "right" thing to do as regards personal and business ethics; in this context it simply makes sense from a dollars and cents business perspective

"Give, Then Take":

The Internet cliché states "Information wants to be free" Give data and information freely and then find a way to build a revenue model for knowledge. I-Sales, a highly successful e-mail of the Multimedia Marketing group has followed this policy since 1995 and now has over 100,000 Internet professional subscribers who later purchase a variety of marketing services from Multimedia Marketing.

The customer is in charge:

The Internet "killer application" has no flash and no fancy whistles, it's called e-mail. When a customer contacts you through your web site you must answer within one business day. Its an easy "value added task" to return e-mail the same day. Many businesses never return e-mail enquiries at all so have no customers.

Auto responders (automatic e-mail returns by a machine) are adequate but will not replace personal contact; use auto responses only as a supplement and follow up e-mail enquiries personally. One successful real estate agent attributes 56% of his sales directly to the Internet. The agent does daily updates on his site, has a personalized auto responder to confirm your inquirey and always follows with e-mail and/or phone calls. The moral of the story : There are lots of buisnesses on the Web -- but those who have the most probability of success use personal relationships and *timely* response to e-mail inquiries to close the sale. Personal and timely communication is vital if you want to do business on the Internet. Honour the customer's intelligence:

The Internet is revolutionary it its ability to present material. On line marketing and traditional ad agencies agencies try to use their old strategies in the new model of the Internet but they don't work. Traditional media have been limited by space and time. Traditional ad agencies have adapted to these limitations extremely well. They have found that there is sufficient space and time ( in very short bursts) to appeal to emotions and to stimulate an emotional response. Ad campaigns are designed that do just that but it doesn't work on the Internet.

The Internet is the first communication medium that is unlimited by space or time: the message is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day; and there is endless ability to supply information. Which means we now have the opportunity to appeal to the buyers' intelligence, in addition to appealing to their emotions. I believe that this fact is lost on many marketers when dealing with the Internet. That's why they are so infatuated with glitz and push -- those are familiar and comfortable tools in the old media.