Is Bad Product Presentation Killing Your Business?
We’ve all been there. We have all seen designs that we feel are “old”, haphazard, and generally looks like they were put together by someone with rudimentary knowledge of Microsoft Word. Yes. Word. Like they took the site from Word and exported it to HTML, without paying attention to the elements of design, the elements of marketing, branding, and ensuring that standard SEO techniques are applied in a way that delivers maximum results in a shorter period of time.
Bling is nirvana.
But wait, what’s this I hear? Is that the sound of a submit button on a cancellation form being pressed, with an incredible echo from the mouse? Are clients cancelling and not providing the real reason why? Typically, if clients cancel and they provide a generic reason that has no merit (financial reasons, I can’t afford it, etc.) it’s usually a bunch of you-know-what. They can afford it. The problem is that they haven’t been convinced to spend the money or keep the money with the business. If the core product of your business has a terrible presentation (regardless of what happens with the product after work has been performed with it), then that will result in one thing: lackluster business. Almost. Nearly. Every. Single. Time. The best service in the world will never be able to get around a lackluster presentation. People want exciting. They want to tell their friends and colleagues of the most incredible purchase they ever made. For the most part, the majority of people want what’s on, for example, templatemonster.com or apple.com or alienware (think iPhone 3GS, people). Now that’s bling.
A good majority of people are not willing to face confrontation or provide much value in the way of complaints unless things get really terrible, so they will make up an excuse like “they can’t afford it” or “the economy’s bad” or something similar that doesn’t provide much ammo for the other side of an argument or make them look like the bad guy. And who loses? In the end, the business does because they can’t tailor their product to meet specific complaints because of one problem: the complaint doesn’t exist! The product is there. The service is there. But, the product’s default presentation is not “enough”.
If Things Aren’t Working, Change It Up and Adapt to Market Demands.
The problem typically is not that there’s anything wrong with a service or even the product. There’s typically nothing wrong with customer service. You can have the best customer service and product in the world. You can have the best back end that includes gobbs and gobbs of goodies that include the capabilities for customization. However, if the core product of your business (and this is especially true for those companies who have a product that is at the core of their clients’ business) does not provide enough of a reason for clients to want to stick with you for the long term, what do you do? Change.
That’s right. You have to be able to adapt to the times, changing circumstances, and a consistently evolving market where consumers are becoming savvier than ever before, and a lackluster presentation won’t cut it. Yes, I know. You hate change. We hate change. Nearly everyone hates to change from already-established paradigms. Change is hard work. But, the fact of the matter is, that change is going to be the catalyst that determines the success of any one company in any particular market. Consider this example. A company has been in business for years. They’re an industry power house. They’ve changed everything: the way they approach clients. The back end of their platform. Their own web site. But, one thing has not yet changed: the clients’ own product presentation – the stuff their clients present to their own potential clients. And, this particular clientelle is not especially savvy in the principles and technical abilities that are required to develop a professional, competition-destroying presentation. They also don’t want to have to work on their product or pay more than what they already are to get it to where it needs to be.
A Lesson to be Learned.
There’s a lesson in all of this. If you don’t consider how your product’s presentation is going to affect your clients’ own business, or how your products’ presentation is going to help clients land and close on that all important deal, then you’ve lost to the competition. The competition HAS a better product. The competition HAS flashier products. The competition HAS the same level of service, if not better. The competition HAS a lower price. The competition is not afraid to try new things, to provide bling. Yes. That’s right. Bling. Bling and substance sells. Drab and substance usually don’t the majority of the time. Sometimes, though, drab and substance is a hit. But, that’s usually very rare.
Are you ready to put these variables in place that will destroy your competition?