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by Brandon Dempsey, 2024 FEMA Supply Summit & Showcase

How often do you look up a product or service on Google, land on a website, and search for the price or requirements, only to encounter a lengthy form filled with required fields?

If you’re like most people, you hit the back button and keep looking. That company, despite its investment in search engine optimization (SEO) and website development, just made it too difficult to do business. Essentially, they’re saying, “Thanks for visiting, but if you don’t buy on our terms, you’re out of luck.”

Imagine if this interaction happened at a tradeshow. Would a salesperson pull out an iPad and ask you to fill out numerous fields before speaking to you? Probably not, unless they were a very poor salesperson!

Buyer Habits are Changing
People buy differently today than they did 10 years ago. This change struck me recently when my wife mentioned we needed our house power-washed. Typically, she would Google “Power washing for homes,” get results, and request a few bids. But instead, she received a direct mail piece from a power-washing company. She looked up the company online, found several negative reviews, and discarded the mailer.

This made me realize how often we miss opportunities because customers are frustrated with our website or because we lack (or have unanswered) reviews of our company.

Buyers are Researching More Now than Ever
The amount of research buyers perform before a purchase is increasing. According to Gartner, 90% of B2B buyers start their purchase journey with an online search. Companies often claim they “sell on relationships” and their “service and relationships with customers” set them apart. While that may be true, prospects don’t have a relationship with you when they’re researching solutions.

If you don’t get a chance to meet a prospect, you can’t build a relationship with them. Frustrating them by not answering their questions or making your information hard to find will drive them away.

A great salesperson listens to their customers. A bad salesperson talks over people and doesn’t give them a chance to ask questions. Is your online presence more like a good or bad salesperson?

A good marketing person collaborates with sales. A bad marketing person thinks they know the market better and sends out irrelevant emails or ads. Is your marketing solving customer problems or just telling them to buy?
Five Steps to Make Your Website a Better Sales Tool
Fixing these issues is simple, but not easy. Here are some steps:

1. Common Questions: Ask each salesperson the top five questions they get from prospects who have never done business with you and how they answer them. Post these questions and answers on your website as blog articles or FAQs.
2. Detailed Offerings: Write a page for each product or service with this outline:
   • Name of product or service (what someone would type into Google to find it)
   • A short description of the offering
   • An image of this product or service being used “in real life”
   • A list of the pain points this product or service addresses and how it works
   • The typical industries or companies (preferred) that buy this product or service or the applications it can be used in
   • The process for buying the product and how long it takes to go from purchase to installation or launch
   • The price or price range (starting at $10,000, for example)
   • A link to download a case study of one of your customers who experienced success with using this product or service
   • Add a quote from a satisfied customer and give the name of business (with permission)
   • Add a form that requires the buyer to fill minimal information and tell them what to expect when they contact your team or consider investing in building a shopping cart where customers can buy the product or service (Most corporate cards have a $10-15k limit and you’d be surprised what people will just buy online if it appears to solve their problem.)
3. About Us Page: Create an “About Us” page with photos of real people at your company. Describe who you serve, how you do it, and why your team is passionate about serving customers.
4. Google Business Listing: Claim your Google Business listing. Ask a few customers to write reviews and respond to existing reviews.
5. Google Alerts: Set up Google Alerts for your company name and owner names to monitor online mentions.
   Brandon Dempsey owns, marketing firm, goBRANDgo!, actively develops real estate, and teaches at Washington University – St. Louis. He is a published author, an accomplished keynote speaker, and he serves as the Global Membership Chair of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) working to support entrepreneurs worldwide.

Brandon Dempsey owns, marketing firm, , actively develops real estate, and teaches at Washington University – St. Louis. He is a published author, an accomplished keynote speaker, and he serves as the Global Membership Chair of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) working to support entrepreneurs worldwide.