Build it and They Will Come – Why Should I?

According to daily changes 165,023 Top Level Domains (TLD’s) were added on a single day last week. On the same day 108,287 TLD’s were deleted. Although this represents a net growth of 56,736, does this mean that the statement “build it and they will come” is still true, or should it in fact be resigned to Hollywood stories and not internet business, or any business for that matter?

There are many reasons for domains being deleted; individual projects not working, subsidiary companies merging and, yes, businesses failing. I think a lot of this can be down to people actually believing that if they build a website people will come and they will get sales.

Well, they won’t! Businesses need to stop thinking about, “me, me, me!” and start imagining the end user as a real person. They need to understand their wants, needs and challenges and aim to provide an experience around that imaginary person that compels them to take action. That gives them a reason to care about your business.

But why should a business prospect care?

Here is a newsflash for you! Not everybody on the planet wakes up and thinks, “Today I am going to line someone else’s pockets, I am just going to visit their website, believe all the hype and trickery and just buy.” They really don’t.

As a business you have to meet the business prospect half way. You have to understand them and make the experience as pleasurable as possible by removing as many potential pitfalls and obstacles that could prevent business as possible.

Give the business partner a reason to care.

In my very first sales role I was asked to do a presentation about the business I worked in. The director of the company asked me to present to him before going out to the client. I spent ages putting together a slide deck and researching the company. I went in to the office, I started my presentation and after about 30 seconds the director said in quite an aggressive manner

“Yeah, that’s all great but what’s in it for me?”

I was slightly flummoxed. In fact to be honest, I was completely lost. I was getting to that point. 30 seconds later he interrupted me again and asked,

“Yeah that’s great but what is in it for me?”

The presentation got canned and a complete new format for the meeting was planned.

The moral of this particular story is, let the potential business partner know what is in it for them by understanding them and empathising with their situation, otherwise they will not listen and take the next step and there will be little chance of developing a trusting relationship.

The Carrot and Stick approach

People go to work because they have to. There’s bills to pay and mouths to feed. But if the business wants the employee to do something over and above their call of duty they will offer an incentive to do so, be it in the form of a commission scheme, cash bonus or a gift. Quite often without that extra incentive people will simply say, “No thanks, I will just do what I need to do.”

In business, whether it’s offline or online you are asking potential customers to develop a deeper relationship with you, to follow you, to like you, to buy from you, and incentives are the way to keep people moving forward. By incentives, I mean providing something that can add value to the experience the client is getting by connecting with you.

Typical incentives could be a free “how to” video tutorial, a free bottle of wine if you buy two main courses, or a 30 minute introductory consultation. The greater the incentive the greater the chance of taking the client to the next level.

Keep Eyes on the Prize

It is very easy for a potential business partner to lose interest; after all there is so much competition out there that it is imperative to keep their attention, engagement and their eyes on the prize. The minute frustration or boredom kicks in then the chances are you will lose that client.

Work on creating a smooth and simple funnel that eliminates hurdles that the user would have to cross. Test the funnel on a friend or a colleague and constantly check analytics to optimize performance.

Business is not a Field of Dreams, if you build it they will not come. Most profitable small businesses know you have to work long and hard to understand your potential business partners, tell them what is in it for them, incentivise and then keep them focused in order to see results. If you don’t, then your domain or website may just be another addition to the deleted category.

About

James Debono is a small business owner and Internet entrepreneur. James dedicates his time to helping other small business owners leverage the power of the Internet to drive business growth and positive change. Click here Join James Debono on Google+

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