Would you consider your dealership or remodeling business to be sexy? It probably isn’t on most business owner’s agendas to strive for this designation, but we’re here to argue that it should be.
Now, we’re not talking about hiring attractive people or setting yourself up for a harassment lawsuit, but rather making your business stand out as desirable when sized up to the competition.
In a previous post, we talked about how to make sure your business is physically attractive; but another sexy business trait is to be helpful. Sure, you’re helpful by designing and installing prospect’s remodeling projects, but that’s expected. Go above and beyond, and that’s where you’ll truly shine.
Be helpful
There are many ways to be helpful right of the bat:
Be findable – Nowadays, people search for remodeling information online long before they ever set foot in your showrooms. Make their lives easier by helping them find you. Make sure that your website and contact information are findable in search engines and that your contact information is correct everywhere (even on sites you don’t control, like manta and yellowpages). If people call an outdated phone number, they’re going to assume you’re out of business and will move along.
Help them navigate – Let’s assume a prospect is able to find your website. The next step to being helpful is to host a website that is easy to navigate. If you’re not sure whether or not your site is easy to navigate, find out with User Acceptance Testing. Pull together a sample group of people who have never visited the website, come up with a list of pre-determined tasks for them to do on your site, and watch them each separately to see if they struggle without your assistance. You’ll often find that things aren’t as cut-and-dry as you think. If you find the same confusion existing across multiple testing subjects, that’ll be your cue to make adjustments.
Make it effortless to reach out – Make it easy for them to contact you after they’ve navigated your site by providing multiple avenues for them. Many companies put a phone number on their website, and that’s great, but you should also provide a method for people who aren’t quite ready to make that call. Include a contact form on your website where the prospect can fill in their own contact information, a little bit about their project and what they’re looking for. This will allow them to get their thoughts together, and will also aid you in pre-qualifying a bit. In addition to this, you should be available on social media platforms for prospects to reach out via tweets and messages.
There are so many ways (both direct and indirect) to help prospects, and we’ve got more to say; so stay tuned for part 2 of this post where we’ll discuss teaching and going above and beyond.
