Clueless AT&T versus clued-in MobilityPass

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Here I am again, a buyer. Money in hand. Ready. Eager. Wanting to get what I need, fast, and go back to work. What do I want to buy? International wireless broadband, using a data SIM card that I can plug into a variety of cellular devices and work, on land and at sea. I want to get the right solution, but I also have deadlines - so I don't want to spend a lot of time on this.

Clue #1. Your buyer is BUSY. She is NOT sipping a cup of Java with her feet up, watching your fancy demo. She wants to buy what she needs, now.

AT&T is an option for me; I'm already using one of their voice/data SIM cards in my smartphone, and will continue to use it there. But I needed another SIM card for my PC and other devices. The data service is a bit pricey, but it's been reliable, so I went to AT&T at the beginning of my buying process.

I quickly found myself on a site listing the "wireless modem card" options. That's good.

I clicked on "View the LaptopConnect interactive demo." Not good.

It's not a demo, and it's not interactive. Within seconds, I slid the window over to my secondary monitor and started looking for other solutions on my main monitor. Why? Because the demo convinced me that AT&T is completely clueless about what I'm trying to do. If they are this clueless about me trying to buy their solution, they are going to be just as clueless about providing a solution that I want.

See how dangerous it is if you're clueless about your buyer's situation? Your busy buyer can tell, in seconds, if you are in sync with them or not. If you're not, they're done. Gone. Off to another site.

I would have shut down the demo right then - just to stop the stupid music, at the very least - except 1) I realized that it was a perfect example of seller cluelessness, and decided to watch it for the purposes of this article, and 2) I wondered if the demo was ever going to stop describing why I wanted to buy this type of product, and would actually tell me what I wanted to know about the product.

No such luck. The whole thing was devoid of any useful content.

When it ends, there are a few options listed. They must think "interactive" means there's a link in there somewhere. There are four links on the last page.

I can "Learn How," which leads to a datasheet type of web page; "Buy Now," which is ridiculous, because this demo has not taken me one inch farther in my buying process; "Have a Sales Expert Contact You" which only makes me sigh and shake my head (why on earth would I want to prolong the agony?); and "Replay," which makes me laugh out loud.

Clue #2: Your buyer is not interested in your corporate messages and your partner network. She is interested in knowing, NOW, how your product works, so she can decide if she wants to...gasp...buy it!

I bet the people at AT&T loved this "interactive demo." I can just see the meeting where the vendor brought in the final result. "Great! Good use of the logo, and love the orange stripe running through, connecting all our branding messages: 'Here, there, everywhere.' 'Workflow speed,' 'Workflow reach,' 'Streamline workflow,' 'An ecosystem of leading application and service partners.' The VP will love it."

Who on earth do they think they're selling to? Imagine who would actually think this is great. Forrest Gump? Homer Simpson? Certainly not this buyer, or anyone else who is seriously trying to solve a problem and get back to work.

Now for the clued-in, buyer-friendly version.

Further searching took me to MobilityPass. Ahhhh.

Right away, I see that they understand what I want to do. Everything I want to know - or a way to find out what I want to know, quickly - is right here. My important questions are answered, immediately. "No contract, pay as you go." "No membership or setup fee." "Billing per second of use." "Instant activation."

There is a big red button that leads to the end of the purchasing process, if I want to go there immediately: "Get my MobilityPass Account." But just to the right and left of that, in case I'm not ready (and I'm not), are the options which answer the buyer's next questions: "Rates & Coverage," and "How it works."

The demo for MobilityPass is an actual demo. Go to this page and click on turquoise View Demo button at the bottom of the middle column, if you want to see an example of a great demo.

This is a no-nonsense demo. Just what you want to see. The announcer describes the steps as the fingers zip around an iPhone and show how everything is done. The demo answers the Big Question: "What's going to happen to me after I buy?" Note how cleverly they answered the "partner" question, and "operating platform" question, unobtrusively, under the demo movie. My only criticism: These icons/logos are not clickable. They should be.

How buyer-friendly is your site? Do you have a product demo? Does it actually show how the customer would use the product? How much of your site simply describes the customer's need, rather than what your product or service will do to solve that need?

Clue #3: The company that answers the customer's questions makes the sale.

I signed up for MobilityPass. If it works as hoped, I will cut back on the services I get from AT&T. [Postscript: I did receive the SIM card and modem, and so far it looks like it will meet my needs very nicely.]

Because they were clueless, AT&T failed to capitalize on a current customer willing to buy more services. Because they facilitated my buying process, MobilityPass got my business and pulled even more business away from AT&T.

MobilityPass answered my questions - what their service provides, how it works, how much it costs - all on their home page or just one click away from the home page.

AT&T didn't even begin to answer my questions. I'm sure they don't even know what the real buyer questions are. Instead, their "demo" told me what I could do with wireless data access. Duh. I've been accessing the Web wirelessly for years. I know what I can do with it.

Of course, AT&T can't say "no contract, pay as you go," because there's always a contract. As soon as I knew MobilityPass had an alternative, I was interested.

Most CEOs and entrepreneurs imagine that they have to convince their buyer to buy. But what if your buyer is ready to buy? What if they only have a couple of questions? What if you're two seconds away from "ka-ching," if you answer those questions immediately?

What would your site look like if you thought this way?