Revenue Journal®

Every day, potential buyers are calling your company for the first time. They are also calling competing companies. This is the "first contact test."

If you are like most companies, your first-time callers will be confronted with a recorded voice that tells them to "select from the following options."

They must then pay careful attention to the options presented. As the voice rattles off the choices, #2 may sound hopeful, but not quite right. They try to remember #2 while they listen to all the other options, still hoping that one of them will lead to what they need. When the voice finally gets to #9, then says "press pound to hear the menu again," they realize that none of the options were appropriate and they are not going to be able to get human help by pressing zero.

If this is how your company's current system works, and you'd like to grow your sales, scrap your system.

Before you do, hire a pleasant, helpful, capable person--preferably someone older - to answer your phones. Why older? Because they'll stay on the job longer. Someone who's at the tail end of their career will stay in a job for years, whereas the up-and-coming youngster will want to move on to a more "exciting" job as soon as possible. The older person won't behave as if the job is beneath them. They won't act as if the caller is interrupting their very important day. And they will come to know the regular callers, recognize their voices and develop a friendly rapport.

Teach that person a lot about your business. Let her know that you are expecting her to grow the job. Give her the power to help customers. Pay her well. Have her report to you weekly on the types of questions customers ask and the comments they make. She'll have a good picture of what your company is doing right and wrong. If you set up the system properly, your "customer concierge" can even work out of her home, using instant messaging and intranet access to answer questions and alert employees to important calls.

Instead of a frustrating recording, the person who calls your company for the first time will have a satisfying and pleasant experience. He or she will get help.

How you handle that first call from a new customer says a lot about your company. It is often the first test you must pass. It is a loaded experience for the prospect. In the first few seconds, he decides if you are going to help him solve his problem and accomplish his goal, or if you are simply going to add to his problems. Then he decides if you deserve his money - or not.

Voicemail is great for leaving messages for individuals. It is a slap in the face when it comes to greeting new or returning customers. If you want to increase your revenues, you will scrap the system that alienates customers and replace it with someone who will help.

Entrepreneurs, listen up. You may feel like you are alone in your struggle to increase your sales. You're not. Every single entrepreneur struggles with the same issues. And every conversation I have with an entrepreneur follows a similar pattern, and has a similar happy ending, once I show him where his solution lies.

The first conversation always starts out with the entrepreneur telling me what he has been doing about marketing and sales, and what he thinks he wants to try next. His options always involve decisions about marketing vehicles ("Should I do PR? What about my website? Should I follow the advice of this person selling direct mail services? What about this local agency that is trying to get me to run radio ads?")

I listen until he has given me the whole picture. It doesn't take long, because 35 years of selling every type of product helps me fill in the blanks--if he's selling direct, I know what his business model looks like; if he's selling through partners, I know right away the problems he's having in that area.

After asking him a number of questions - including "Are you interviewing your customers on a regular basis?", I can see why he is struggling with his marketing decisions. The problem is, he's focusing on his selling process.

As long as he does that, he will be at the mercy of every marketing vehicle salesperson who comes along - the agency owners, the website designers, the email campaign companies, the PR houses, the direct mail vendors, the search engine companies, the link-building companies, etc., etc., etc. I have watched these vendors sell their wares to a long line of CEOs and entrepreneurs over the years, causing the waste of many millions of dollars on campaigns that didn't work. Why? Because they were focusing on the selling process, rather than the customer's buying process.

The beginning of the turnaround

Once we've established the problem, we start to work on the solution. I help the entrepreneur see the selling process from the customer's point of view. We map out the customer's buying process. The entrepreneur realizes that he hasn't been supporting the customer's buying process. He is not making it easy for the customer to find him, see how the product will solve a problem, and then buy from him. Once we start to focus on his customer's buying process, everything starts to make sense. He's not at the mercy of those marketing services salespeople anymore. He is back in control of his marketing process. Marketing and selling shift from a vague and conflicting set of concepts to something he can understand and master.

He can learn how to interview customers. He can make calls and find out how his customers actually buy his products - how they search for him, the questions they have when they find him, and the answers that will satisfy them. He will know which vehicles he should invest in. He will know what the copy should say. He can understand what they need in order to buy, and he can help them move effortlessly from first contact to closed sale.

You don't have to fall prey to the latest marketing fad. You don't have to be the next easy mark for vendors selling marketing services. You don't have to spend money blindly, hoping that your next campaign will generate enough sales to keep going. You can know exactly what do to, how to do it, and when to do it, if you stop focusing on your selling processes - and instead focus on supporting your customer's buying process.

Yes, you will end up buying marketing services, but only after your own buyers have told you which vehicles will work best, and which messages should go into those vehicles.

There's a conflict between the information you want to get from your potential buyers - in order to market to them effectively - and the fact that asking for that information can prevent them from interacting with your website or making a purchase. Asking for too much information too soon is like the owner of a retail store "greeting" you at the entrance and forcing you to sign a guestbook before you can start shopping. Most people would decline and leave the store, which is exactly what is happening on your website - except you can't "see" them leaving without resorting to in-depth web stat log analysis.

How do you find out what you need to know without placing barriers in their way?

1. Ask only what you need to know at that stage. Don't ask for information you don't need. Let's say you're selling a business-to-business product, and you offer a white paper to any customer who will register. When they get to the download screen, just ask for their name, email, company, and title, and let them download the whitepaper. That's enough for you to send them emails (with permission, of course), and target those emails to their interest. Decide what you absolutely need to know to help support the next step of their buying process, and don't ask for anything more at that stage.

2. Ask additional questions later. For example, after they've downloaded your white paper, you can send them an email asking how they felt about the white paper, and if there are any other subjects they wish you'd address. You will then learn which problems they're hoping you'll solve. You'll be able to target your future white papers and mailings to address those issues.

3. If there is another way to get the information you need, use it.

- Get on the phone and interview several customers of a similar type to understand what they are concerned about and what they'd like you to provide.

- Have your salespeople ask each new customer one question during this month, and a different one each month thereafter. Over time you will gain valuable knowledge that can help you in your selling efforts.

- Use other sources to fill in additional data, such as a person's mailing address, using resources such as the Access Hoover's Salesforce.com solution.

If you ask for too much, too soon, your buyers will decide that you don't have their best interests at heart, and that you are more interested in smothering them with solicitations. They will simply click away, and look for a vendor who makes it easy for them to get what they want.

What you really need to know is what their needs are, what they'd like to buy from you, and how they'd like to buy from you. You can obtain this information, without alienating customers, if you are intelligent about what you ask for, and don't ask for everything at once.

If you want to see a perfect example of a company that makes it easy to buy, take a look at Home Reserve. What an exceptional site this is. Let's look at what they do right.

First, the home page.

What's the first question when you're shopping for furniture? Cost. Most people have a specific budget in mind for a given room or situation. And, that's the first big question Home Reserve answers, right on top.

As you come to this site, first your eye goes to the two people, and, immediately, to the prices. Then to the pictures and the fabric swatches.

Home Reserve uses the circle motif to draw your eye to important areas of the site, including the shop button, the photo gallery, and the swatches. One thing I find interesting about this is how the first circle you see is emotionally comforting - the two people obviously enjoying each other as they look at color swatches. Does this encourage you to assume that all circles will be emotionally satisfying? Hmmm.

Once your price question is answered, you want to know more details about the fabrics, the construction, the quality (especially for those prices!), and the styles. All of the answers to these questions and more are only one click away from this home page. Note how they have separate sections for different types of buyers (pet owners, with kids, decorating an office, etc.).

Note how they also show a man with a packing box, so you get the idea that these couches and sofas are delivered in boxes. The copy next to the man answers the next question: Is this the kind of furniture you assemble? Yes. Note the specific copy: "A screwdriver is the only tool you'll need, and items will be available for use immediately." This is so much more effective than the generic, meaningless phrase "These couches are easy to assemble!"

The purple Shop button is hard to miss. If you click on that, you see one of the best product display pages I've ever seen on the Web.

Using simple line drawings is brilliant. In one glance, you can identify which style you want, then pick the type of furniture you want in that style. There are also simple clickable icons for the subsequent choices: Fabric, pillows, etc. Once again the answer to most questions is only one click away.

Note that this page (and, in fact, every page on the site) mentions that you can sign up for their newsletter. And, note that the newsletter offers something useful: Notification of new fabrics.

On the fabric page, which appears below, you can enlarge each swatch by clicking on it, and get a good look at the fabric up close. Note that they also let you navigate by need and type (Washable, Pet Fabrics, Blues, etc.). You can also order swatches for $1 each - with no shipping charges. Smart.

Someone really thought through all the ways that a buyer would want to look at information. That's one of the most impressive aspects of this site. So many companies show their product one way - usually in the way most convenient for the company - and force the buyer to navigate down an unfamiliar and sometimes illogical path.

HomeReserve.com also includes some audio testimonials from customers and a nicely produced video showing how the products are made on the What You Want to Know page (sounds more friendly than "FAQs," doesn't it?).

There's also a video ad that shows 20 or so people putting together an entire couch in a minute.

The press clips page doesn't just list articles - it shows the logos of the publications and sites that mentioned them, and a short quote from each article.

Throughout the entire site, the copy is warm and personal, and engenders trust. For example, here's how they answer one of the questions on the What You Want to Know page:

Do you Scotchguard?

We don't, because it's much less expensive for you to do it yourself. Stores like Wal-Mart sell Scotchguard by the can. Just spray it on. It's the same material and process that furniture stores use.

They've just let you in on a secret, and have also given you the opportunity to save some money. How nice.

Home Reserve is a third-generation furniture company that set out to make it possible to sell couches over the Internet. Their goals were to sell the couches for a price that 20- and 30-somethings could afford, offer built-in storage spaces, and make sure the covers could be taken off and washed. The couch also had to be shippable via UPS. They researched the maximum box specifications for UPS shipments, and then designed a product that would fit in the box. One of the big breakthroughs involved vacuum-packing the cushion stuffing so it was small enough to fit into the UPS box.

This is a properly structured customer-centric Internet business from start to finish. Here's why:

1. The company offers one type of product, and the website answers every possible question about that product - a perfect candidate for search engine optimization

2. The product - even though it is furniture - is delivered via UPS, which is the most common way to receive an Internet order

3. The company has used audio, video, image close-ups, and link-dense copy to take full advantage of the web as a selling tool

4. All of the copy is welcoming and specific. It all has a homey feel to it. As you read it, you feel as if a friend is writing you a letter.
   

Here's an interesting comparison - a link to their old site (from 2004), which they list on their site map. Note that the emphasis there was on the storage space inside the couches. That's a typical product-oriented approach, versus the "walk with the buyer through their buying process and answer all their questions" approach, which is what they are doing now.

No matter what you sell, studying this site will help you to understand how to support your customers' buying process. Here's the checklist of how they accomplished this. First the customer's view is presented, then the lesson for you and your website is in brackets.

1. The whole site is designed around answering questions, starting with the most pressing questions first. [This is key. You must know the questions your customers ask, and the order they ask them in, and that knowledge should drive your website design.]

2. As a question is being answered, you are invited to drill down for additional information. [The answer to a question invariably raises additional questions. Create a "branching tree" map of the main questions, and the related subsequent questions. If you get stuck, think in terms of "how" and "why," as in, "We ship your couch to you UPS." How do they do that? Why does that matter to me as a buyer?]

3. The product meets the buyer's needs. It's cheap - the usual equivalents available on the Web start at $500. You are given several style and many fabric choices. The product is easy to order and assemble. You can remove all the fabric and wash it. You can store items inside the couches and chairs. You can even buy the fabrics themselves. This is customer-driven product design. [One of the problems with marketing is that marketers are usually promoting products or services that were not designed for the customer from the start. When your product designers start a new design, what's the first thing they do? If your answer isn't "interview current customers," you will not end up with a customer-driven design.]
   

HomeReserve.com has really set the standard for a site that supports the buying process, at all levels.

The customers I interview for my clients range from engineers to programmers to CPAs to physicians to store owners to sailors to dealers to system integrators to women who buy skincare and makeup to salespeople to marketers to CEOs to...well, you get the picture. Just about everybody.

They always have something interesting to say. In fact, you'd be surprised - shocked, even - if you heard how much your own customers have to say about your product and company.

If you interview people skillfully, it's easy to get them started, and once they get started, they can talk for an hour or two about a product, company, and industry. They can tell you what they like about it, what they wish vendors would do, what else they've tried, and what they thought about those products. They will tell you what was frustrating or convenient about the buying process.

They can tell you how they looked for the product, the questions they had, and the tradeoffs they had to resolve before they spent the money. They can tell you the trends they see in the industry, not just based on their own needs, but by observing what others are doing and buying. They can also tell you what would make the most difference for them.

For example, the women I've been interviewing lately for a cosmetic/skin care company have mentioned that they wish cosmetic companies didn't come up with new colors every year. The cosmetic companies do this because they feel they must, of course - it's driven by competition, and the need to make news. But a woman who has found the "perfect" eyeshadow shade, one that causes even her long-time husband to remark on it, will want to keep buying that shade. The problem is, she won't need that shade again for a year, because that's about how long it will take to use up the compact she's already bought.

When she returns to the website or store to buy that shade again, it simply won't be there. If she doesn't find something similar among the new colors, she'll turn to another manufacturer.

What's really happening here? The cosmetics industry is ignoring the normal usage cycle and making it impossible for the satisfied buyer to buy the same product again. This is especially interesting considering how many baby-boomer women are still buying makeup and skin care (probably more than ever before, as they creep up on their 60's).

The cosmetics industry is forcing loyal customers to look elsewhere for their solutions, and giving up hard-earned revenues in the process. It's a classic example of something we discuss at length in my upcoming book, Roadmap to Revenue. The vendor's needs are different from the buyer's needs. The boss feels the need to be considered "hip" and "leading-edge." The new product people need to keep justifying their existance with new products, and everyone just assumes they have to come up with new approaches to stay in the cosmetics game. Old colors and formulas are always replaced by new ones. Meanwhile, many customers come back to the cosmetic company looking for that special eye shadow or mascara, only to find that it is now gone.

Given that so many women have this problem, why wouldn't cosmetic companies offer a "my favorites" service? In this age of data mining, website registration, and wishlists, it wouldn't be difficult to do. If enough women wanted "Silver Forest" eye shadow to justify stocking it, the company would have found itself a new revenue stream.

Cosmetic companies could experiment with this by asking customers to start making a list of favorites that they would most likely buy again. Customers would then be giving them incredibly useful data. For example, it's one thing to know that a bunch of customers bought a certain product. It is less certain how many of those customers will buy that product again. Having this data would help companies plan ahead.

Cosmetic companies, and other fashion-driven firms, will always have a need to come out with the trendiest color or style. And there will always be women who only want to buy the most recent releases. But there's a large segment of aging baby-boomer women with deep purses who are long past trying to be "hip." Most of them know what makes them look good and want to keep buying those products. There's a gold mine here for the smart companies that decide to take advantage of it.

Your own customers have the same kinds of insights about your products floating around in their heads. They can point you to dozens of viable revenue opportunities.

Most companies never tap into this vast reservoir of revenue. Instead, they guess. What a waste.

It took a while before the Web really changed the way people bought things, but it has happened. Now people go to the Web first and research the heck out of a subject before they buy.

They scrutinize, analyze, and agonize. They Google and re-Google, fine-tuning their search term until they start getting the desired results. They know exactly what they want and they keep searching until they finally find it, then compare their options, read the reviews, and consider the price and the functions. Once they are satisfied they have found the right product and are comfortable with the company selling it, they place an order.

I'm sorry to say that, over and over, I am finding business owners struggling to make sales because their marketers - in-house or outside - are trying to use yesterday's marketing and selling methods on today's buyers, who have definitely moved on.

Buyers have specific questions. If you're not giving them specific answers, you're not going to capture those sales. All technology aside, this is the biggest difference between "old" marketing thinking and "new" marketing thinking.

The best way to illustrate this is with an example.

The Driving Need

I recently had reason to buy a new piece of luggage - a rolling carryon. I had a specific need. I wanted the sliding handle apparatus to be exposed on the back of the bag, rather than "hidden" in the back of the bag. Why? Because when I hoist my bag into the overhead compartment, I grab the side handle and one of the sliding handle bars. This combo grab balances the bag perfectly and I can, in one swift movement, hoist it over my 5'3" frame and slide it into the compartment. It's efficient and painless.

Too bad that almost ALL of the rolling bags are now designed so that the sliding handle apparatus is buried in the bag itself. I had a bag like that once, and didn't like it - partly because of the hoisting requirement, but also because the handle apparatus takes up room inside the bag.

So when I went to eBags to buy this bag, my buying decision was being dominated by a Driving Need. I knew I wanted a 22" rolling carryon, and that carryon had to have an "exposed" sliding handle apparatus. Now, bear with me a minute - because this is very important to every sale you are hoping to make.

I had a Driving Need. This is the go/no go requirement that must be met before a purchase (a sale) is made. The Driving Need question is always very specific. In this case, my big question could have been answered with the right kind of product shot (showing the back of the bag) or a filtering mechanism that allowed me to search only for bags that had an "outside" sliding handle.

eBags, even though it is one of the most thorough and well-conceived "make it easy to buy" sites, didn't make this easy. All product shots shown in the "results" lists for 22-inch rolling carryons show the product from the front. There is no way to change the view you see when you are looking at search results. I had to click on every bag to see if there was a product shot showing the back of the bag. If there was no shot of the back of the bag, I immediately dismissed the bag.

I thought: "I can't tell if it satisfies my need, therefore I will not consider it."

Stop the tape!

How many times a day does someone come to your site with a Driving Need question, can't find the answer, and clicks away?

What are the Driving Need questions your customers are asking? Do you know? Are you answering those questions? Or, are you doing the old, stale, doesn't-work-anymore marketing, where you assume you know what they need, and you hire someone to write product descriptions, and you hire someone to take pictures, and you put all that up on the website?

Current customers and potential customers will tell you what their Driving Needs were/are, if you ask them properly (ask the question in a phone interview, and don't sell during the call). After talking to ten or twenty people, you'll see definite trends and categories of Driving Need questions, and the answers that did and will satisfy your customers/prospects. You must then give website visitors access to these answers, one-click from your home page.

In addition, you should make it easy for your website visitor to filter/sort their search results based on Driving Need categories. You should also create a product function/feature grid, and use that to build a search/filter/sort engine on your website. We're talking about more than generic categories such as "price," "size," "brand," and "materials." We're talking about specific categories, such as "sliding handles on the outside," "rugged wheels," and "garment bag included."

This is where the Web is going: search driven by desired functions. More importantly, this is where your buyers already are. The most sophisticated sites are working hard to further improve their functionality in these areas. If you focus on this, you will be far, far ahead of the last-generation competitors in your industry.

I could cite countless examples of business owners wondering why their sales aren't what they should be. "We have a great product, better than the competition. Our price is reasonable. Our clients are happy. Why aren't we making more sales?" The answer, in almost all cases, can be traced to the stubborn insistence of their marketers (and salespeople) to pitch their products in the old, vague, general way. Today's buying process is being driven by that Driving Need. Buyers are coming to websites, more than ready to buy, and clicking away in seconds because they can't find the answer to their specific question.

Want to make more sales? Find out what those Driving Needs are. Make it easy for buyers to get quick and satisfying answers to their specific questions. Focus on your site's search, sort, and filtering functions.

And hurry up - as you read this, someone is on your website, trying to give you their money.

Every business starts with a dream. Every buyer starts the buying process with a dream.

Every business can turn into a nightmare. And, every buying process - especially those involving large, expensive, important purchases - can turn into a nightmare.

These dreams - and fears of nightmares - drive the decisions and actions of both business owners and buyers.

We've all seen this at work in extreme cases, where an individual will let their own fantasy world overwhelm reality to the point where they lose their job or their business, and the people who supported them along the way.

But these situations are rare. The more usual, day-to-day situation is one where the seller and buyer are trying to find common ground, to negotiate a realistic solution where everyone can be happy. These situations can be difficult - not because each person is being unrealistic, but because the seller's dreams and nightmares are so different from the buyer's dreams and nightmares.

For example, someone selling a house has definite dreams and needs underlying their decision to sell. They need to receive a certain price in order to be able to pursue their next dream. They need to sell by a certain time in order to satisfy the requirements of the seller of their new house. They need a buyer who is willing to meet these requirements.

They also have put a certain amount of effort into making their house "sellable." They are hoping that the new buyer will look past the unfixed things which were too expensive or too complicated to fix. They are hoping that the new buyer will see his or her dream, and will be willing to overlook things like that crack in the foundation that has been there since the seller bought the house years ago. These are the seller's hopes and dreams.

What are the seller's nightmares? Not being able to sell the house. Not being able to sell the house for enough money to afford the next house. Obligating to the new house before the old house has closed, and then the old house deal falls through. Somehow being defrauded by the salesperson (although the laws - in most countries, anyway - make this virtually impossible).

What are the buyer's dreams? The buyer wants to find the perfect house, one where everyone in the family will be happy. The price has to be affordable, in balance with the amount of money the person makes and how much it will cost to fix any real or perceived shortcomings. The buyer wants the buying process to proceed smoothly, in spite of all the complications involved in buying a house, including real estate agents who have perfected the art of telling incomplete truths, and dense, scary legal documents.

The buyer, when visiting the house, "tries it on," imagining how her dreams will be realized in that house. The buyer sees herself sitting on the porch enjoying the view, glass of wine in hand, having friends over, and watching her children play in the yard. She imagines what she will do with the gardens and how she will remodel the kitchen. She imagines her children asleep upstairs while she and her husband are snuggled in bed watching a favorite movie. She imagines coming home from work to this house. She imagines her friends admiring the house.

The buyer is also driven by her own nightmares. She doesn't want to buy something she will come to regret, something that has problems that were not immediately apparent, such as a tainted mortgage, taxes due, a leaky underground oil tank, a septic system that must be completely overhauled in a couple of years, a crack in the foundation that was concealed by a well-placed piece of furniture in the basement, or a contaminated well. The list of "gotchas" is endless, and she knows it.

Obviously, what the buyer wants and what the seller wants are miles apart - except for one, solitary thing: a completed deal. If the buyer falls in love with the house, investigates it thoroughly to eliminate the possibility of future nightmares, she will then want to move to complete the deal. The seller wants a completed deal from the start, even before the house has been put on the market.

As with any complex sale, the buyer is not acting alone. Sellers have to determine who else is involved in the buying decision, and know what their anticipated nightmares are.

Sellers have to be prepared - in advance - to address the nightmare scenarios of the potential buyer, others involved in the buying decision, and the buyer's hired experts.

Worried about a tainted mortgage? No problem, here are the town records on this house. Worried about leakage somewhere? No problem, we had an assessor go through - even though we know you will do the same - and here is his report. Worried about that buried oil tank leaking? No problem, we had it removed last year and replaced it with an above-ground oil tank - and had the ground tested around the old oil tank. Here's the report. Worried about cracks in the foundation? Here, look at the basement. There are no pieces of furntiture, or carpeting, or "mechanicals" hiding the foundation. Worried about a tainted well? Here is a report from last year on the water quality in our well. Of course you will want the water tested yourself.

The difficulties arise when there really is a problem with the house, and the seller decides not to disclose it. The seller "lets the buyer be stupid." If the buyer doesn't bring it up, the seller doesn't mention it. This is when the nightmares are justified, when they begin to become a reality, a reality the new owner will have to face when the problem is discovered later.

These are the dream/nightmare dynamics that drive every sale - and every purchase.

What is really important to note here is that the seller of a house, once the deal is signed, is protected from the buyer's wrath if the buyer discovers later that the seller "let the buyer be stupid." The contract is signed. The seller is long gone. That seller will not be selling that buyer another house. That buyer is not going to be talking to other buyers about that seller. This is NOT the case with many other types of sales.

If you're selling software, for example, and you "let the buyer be stupid," you will have difficulty making sales in the long run. When a buyer realizes, after the sale, that you misrepresented the facts, that buyer will make sure everyone knows exactly what you did. That buyer will tell everyone who is interested that you are not to be trusted, and that they should avoid doing business with you. A negative wave will be created that will overwhelm your efforts to create positive momentum in the marketplace. You will never gain the traction that makes sales easier over time. On the contrary, sales will become more and more difficult.

If you're struggling to make sales, it's time to make a list of all the nightmares your buyers are afraid of. Honestly assess how your product stacks up against the nightmare list. Are some of their nightmares justified? Are you trying to hide your product's flaws or rationalize them away with well-rehearsed answers to their questions? If so, you are running away from a reality that is ultimately going to destroy your business. That would be a real nightmare. Face reality and make changes to your product.

If their nightmares are not justified, and you really do have their dream product, then it's time to make it easier for them to discover that. For example, maybe they're worried that they can't generate a particular type of report. Create a map of reports for them, a "tree directory," that shows all the reports your product can generate and exactly how they can navigate to those reports, using your product's menus.

There are two cures for nightmares: factual reality - as in, "there are no cracks in the foundation," and communication - as in, "here's the proof."

There's a joke - you've probably heard one of the many versions of it - that I think of as the "demo" joke. My favorite version is the one starring Bill Gates:

Bill Gates died and found himself standing in front of St. Peter, who was sizing him up.

"Well, Bill, I'm not sure whether to send you to Heaven or Hell. After all, you helped society enormously by putting a computer in almost every home in America, and you gave away a lot of money. But, you also created that evil Windows program. It's a close call, so I'm going to do something I've never done before: I'm going to let you decide where you want to go."

Bill replied, "What's the difference between the two?"

St. Peter said, "Well, I'm willing to let you visit both places briefly, then you will have to decide."

"Fine, but where do you think I should I go first?"

"I leave that up to you."

"Okay, what the Hell," said Bill. "Let's try down below first."

So Bill went to Hell. It was a beautiful and clean. Bill saw a sandy beach with clear waters and lots of bikini-clad women running around, playing in the water, laughing and frolicking about. The sun was shining, the temperature perfect. He was very pleased.

"This is great!" he told St. Peter. "If this is Hell, I really want to see Heaven!"

"Fine," said St. Peter, and off they went.

Heaven was a place high in the clouds, with angels drifting about, playing harps and singing. It was nice, but not as enticing as Hell.

Bill thought for a quick minute, and rendered his decision. "I think I'd prefer Hell," he told St. Peter.

"Fine," retorted St. Peter, "as you desire." So Bill Gates went to Hell.

Two weeks later, St. Peter decided to check on the late billionaire to see how he was doing in Hell. When he got there, he found Bill shackled to a wall in a dark cave, screaming amongst hot flames, being burned and tortured by demons.

"How's everything going?" he asked Bill.

With his voice filled with anguish and disappointment, Bill responded, "This is awful! This is nothing like the Hell I visited two weeks ago! I can't believe this is happening! What happened to that other place, with the beautiful beaches and the scantily clad women playing in the water?"

"That was the demo," replied St. Peter.

Welcome to online banking.

I'm writing this article as one my ears - the one covered by a headset - is being accosted by some very perky and mind-numbingly repetitive music, while a professional "voice" tells me how easy it is to "bank the way you want to" and "have access to your money, any time of the day or night, from anywhere," and how online banking will "put you in control." Too bad the reality - which is why I'm on hold at the moment - is such a mess.

Just like everyone else in the world, and partly because I want to be able to bank from anywhere in the world at any time, I have lately become an active evaluator of online banking, bill paying, and invoicing services. I started with my local bank, and found their services to be somewhat limited, which is a real shame - we love doing business with our local bank. I have gone to the other extreme, opening an account with a large, Fortune 100 type bank. There were more services, but when something goes wrong, the quality of the phone support is iffy. Sometimes the person is well-trained, sometimes not.

I finally ended up at a worldwide bank that appears to have put the complete infrastructure in place, and appears to provide consistent, friendly service when you need it. It's been good so far, except for the aggravating announcements while you're on hold.

The while-on-hold announcements break all rules of marketing and common sense. Here they are, making you wait, wasting your time and patience, NOT serving you. This is not the time to tell someone how wonderful you are. Their personal experience at that moment is more powerful than any marketing message.

It's like someone coming to paint your house, tying you up in the living room, and proceeding to do the most terrible job imaginable - painting the couch and the carpet along with the walls, for example - and, the entire time, excitedly telling you how he has the world's best reputation for customer service. Yes, it is that rude and that ridiculous.

What is your buyer's experience?

Of course, as I've been going through this process, I've been analyzing it from the buyer's perspective. Sellers of online-based services, as a group, make some definite errors and do some things right...here's a list.

1) Let them try it before you ask them to sign up. I've noticed a trend lately toward asking people to sign up for a service - a 3-month free trial, for example - without really giving them an easy way to "tour" or "try" the service first. People don't want to sign up unless they are sure that the service meets their needs. It doesn't matter if it is "free." Signing up and learning the ins and outs of using the service takes time and effort. That's not free. If there is no way to see the service first, they will be suspicious.

Some sleazy marketer probably convinced the CEO of the company that it's better to get people to sign up, and cancel later, than to not sign up at all. Some will continue the service because they have so much already invested - even though they don't like the service and despise the company. Microsoft, anyone?

And there will be people who sign up and forget to cancel, allowing the company to make money dishonestly. They're playing the law of averages. They're also playing the buyer for a sucker. Not a good idea if you want to stay in business for the long haul.

Here's an example of not being able to take a tour. On the TOUR page for FreshBooks, it looks like you should be able to click on one of the three boxes (Manage Your Invoices, Track Your Expenses, Track Your Time), but nothing is clickable. The only clickable thing on that page is the link saying "Try FreshBooks for FREE." Is this intentionally deceptive? If so, they got some bad advice. You don't promise a "tour" and make the page look like a "tour" and then - not deliver a tour!

Bank of America, on the other hand, makes it easy to either "watch" or "practice" all their online services, using their "Learning Center." All of the tutorials are excellent and worth a look. If you're on the site for a while without clicking, a chat window comes up. Unfortunately it also comes up during non-business hours, so when you're online at 9:30PM ET and the chat window comes up, and you click on it, the next window will respond that no representatives are available right now. They do provide the toll-free numbers, however, and when you do get a rep, he/she is always enthusiastic and informative.

2) Give people a way to talk to a real person. I am soooooooo tired of calling companies and getting an automated voice who gives you every option but the one you need - and no way out. It is so refreshing when you call a company and a real, live human being answers the phone - and is trained to be able to help you. If companies like Vanguard can do it, you can, too.

3) Don't play ads while people are on hold. People work while they are on hold. It's difficult to type emails and write other documents while someone is telling you all the wonderful things about their obviously terrible service. And it's really irritating to hear the phony, intrusive voices excitedly tell you how much they care - while they keep you on hold for ten minutes. Just play some nice soothing background instrumental music, with no vocals, with the volume turned down.

4) Understand what people want to do on your website. If you're not mapping out every step of what everyone wants to DO on your website, you're bound to be frustrating people. This is vitally important. It is also seldom given half the attention it deserves. There is no substitute for getting input from users and watching users try to use your site. Yes, it's an extra time-consuming process. It's also one of the most important things you can do to increase revenue.

Every time someone comes to your site, and leaves frustrated, you've reduced your own market potential by one customer, and handed that customer - and all future business from that customer - over to a competitor.

Why are companies so lax when it comes to website navigation? It's like a retailer opening a store - and when you walk in, some of the produce is stuffed in with the canned goods, potato chips are in with the ice cream, and the candy is interspersed between the hamburger in the meat department. When you go to a clerk to ask where something is, he turns his back on you and scurries off. This is how bad many websites are today - still. After all these years.

5) Tell people how things work. Explain what will happen after they buy. Explain how the product or service works, what the steps are, and what they can do if they have a problem. Explain, explain, explain. So much copy on the web is generic selling hype, rather than "explanation" copy. People want to be educated on the web, not pitched. They want to know what's going to happen to them after they say "yes." They want answers. Give them answers!

Every single buyer who comes to buy your product or service has options - lots of them. When they are in "purchase" mode, they are intense, determined, and as efficient as they can be. If you are just as intense, determined and efficient about understanding what they want and how they need it served up on a website, you'll make more sales than those competitors who are not paying much attention to what buyers want and how they need it served up. Life will be more heavenly than hellish.