Your most important salesman sits there quietly, 24 hours a day, selling to people all over the world. He doesn’t need a company car, he doesn’t moan about the customers, and he doesn’t eventually up sticks and go and work for the opposition. While it’s true that he probably doesn’t clinch many deals, he is the first port of call for almost every prospect, and his attitude puts an initial impression in the potential customer’s mind – for better or for worse – that will be hard to shake off further down the line. Sadly, even if you’re paying top rates, he’s still probably putting off too many prospects – perhaps dozens, or even hundreds, each week. He is, of course, your company website.
It’s still incredible how many B2B companies will spend £50,000 or more a year on each human salesman and their expenses, yet find it hard to spend a tenth of that on the salesman who makes or breaks far more potential business deals.
A previous company I worked for had that attitude, they would spend tens of thousands of pounds on banner campaigns but then spend so little on the actual site.
The website could be seen as a salesman and a technical support person who also works 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It should never be underestimated.