We have been blessed with slow and steady growth.  We have settled into the Orlando market as a leader in Search Engine marketing and SEO friendly web design.  We have been graced with many opportunities to help small businesses grow their business online and for all of those blessings, we are grateful.

With more and more clients relying on us for continued growth, especially during a difficult financial market, it is imperative that we as a company LISTEN to their needs and concerns and address them accordingly.  Here are just a few of the valuable lessons we’ve learned from our clients:

1.) It’s OK to give stuff away.  No, we aren’t a non-profit, but it’s ok to GIVE back to your clients.  Offer them a FREE social network class, or offer them a free on site web site evaluation, whatever it is, it’s ok to give.

2.) It’s IMPERATIVE that we communicate. Email doesn’t always cut it.  Clients love to be engaged on the phone or in person.  Spend some time with your clients on a weekly basis.

3.) We Don’t know everything. Sure, we are experts at organic seo, etc., but that doesn’t mean we can’t stand to learn more cool stuff.  Oftentimes clients will send us links to new search engines, or technologies and ask us about it: Spend the time to investigate, and spend the time to relay your findings to them.

4.) Be a human being.  Business is truly business, but there’s nothing wrong with asking Sally how her daughter is recovering from that cold, or how she is coping with changes in her marketplace. Create a relationship and above all, be yourself.

5.)  It’s Ok To Brag. There’s nothing wrong with telling the world that you just landed that huge national account, there’s nothing wrong with bragging that you were just featured on TV: (shameless plug: Watch me discuss social media on The Daily Buzz)

What are some things you’ve learned from your clients? How can other’s implement those lessons into their business?

Ahhh, the season is upon us.  Peace and good will, egg nog with whiskey, twinkling lights and Santa spam in the inbox.  Seems like everyone is getting into the holiday spirit:

I took a stroll down to our office mail box and pulled out a letter with beautiful packaging, adorned with foil and splashed with Santa red coloring: it had a mailing label attached with my name ink jetted on the label. I tore the parcel open eager with anticipation… Inside, a lovely Christmas Card spreading holiday cheer, but who was it from? Who had thought of me at Christmas time?  I opened the card, read the inspiring pre-printed message and saw the STAMPED pre printed computerized name of one of my clients digitally inscribed on the card. Wow. How impersonal can you possibly get? Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful someone thought of me, but frankly, doesn’t it defeat the whole purpose of the season? Doesn’t sending something so impersonal send a clear signal to the receiver? We just didn’t have the time to actually put any thought into this card, but we thought you’d like it anyway.

I think being impersonal in your business, in your marketing, in your web site can send the exact opposite message of what you actually intended. Automation can harm how people / co-workers / business associates / clients see you. It may have been better to not even bother sending that card.

So, I’m what’s known as a ‘GOLD LEVEL VIP’ at our domain registration company, all that means is, they get lots of coin out of us as we register domain names for clients’ web sites, etc.  I’ve been using the same company for at least 6 years now, and for the most part, they have handled each request for tech support with relative ease, until yesterday.

We had a bizarre occurrence happen, one of our domains decided to change it’s DNS back to the domain registrar (which is a default setting on the domain name). The web site wasn’t mission critical, but nonetheless we did NOT change the DNS so we were curious on how it got that way.  I changed it back with ease, but wanted to know why it happened, I email the company using their contact form and got a response back late last evening from ‘Christine’. Here was the entire response to my question:

- “Have you tried managing the Advanced DNS Records of the domain name on the Account Manager?”

How does this answer how this domain switched it’s own DNS? Did the domain name itself log in with my account user and pwd and change it’s own settings? Further, the email says NOT to reply back, but then says, to answer our question, reply back to this message.  So which is it? Do I reply or Not reply?

I’m just sick of automated canned lazy non human being responses. If you want to call me a ‘Gold VIP’ then treat me like one. Maybe just a Hi Tom every once in a while? Maybe actually answer my tech question with a human response? Perhaps I need to aspire to a higher level to get an intelligent answer: like the super duper diamond club or something similar.

That settles it: All of our clients are now part of the On Target Bright & Shiny 20 Karat Diamond VIP Club.  You’ll always get a human being to answer the phone (and speak the vernacular WELL), you’ll always get a REAL person to respond to your email and / or tech support questions, and we’ll even call you by your first name and treat you like you are indeed part of the human species. Wanna join the On Target bright shiny 20 karat diamond VIP club? Call us today and discover true human interaction: 407-830-4550.

I was meeting with a valued client the other day, we were discussing organic search engine marketing and his adwords campaign, music to my ears! I of course am enthralled with what I do, I love organic search, I love numbers, I love watching businesses take off due to our efforts.  So, I’m going on this rant in his conference room about google rankings, etc, when he suddenly interrupted me mid stream and said, enough, “let’s go to lunch.” I was of course a bit taken aback, after all, I was enjoying MY conversation. I was on a roll! I was on fire! He had other plans.

It turns out the this Internet stuff doesn’t always interest everyone. This particular client was much more interested in me as a person, not me as a walking resource of all things Internet marketing.  While we were enjoying our lunch, he leaned in over the mosaic covered table we were at and said, “do you know we chose your company over other companies in town?” I had thought it was for our skills, our organic search rankings on our own web site, our clean web design or perhaps, the catchy sound of our company name, but I didn’t volunteer an answer: He says, “I chose your company because of the amount of time you were willing to invest to LEARN about my company and my needs.”  He then offered : “Would COMPANY A drive out to my office to explain to me how to use Adwords?”  Probably not.

Personal touch and relationships, what a simple formula for success.

If you are looking for not only internet marketing and web design expertise, but a company with a passion for customer service and relationships, give On Target Web Solutions a call.  Personalized marketing expertise. 407-830-4550.

Saw this great post from Seth today and got me thinking about web sites and customer service: So many times we will have a client who does not want phone calls and will not supply a phone number on their web site.  I don’t know about you, but I think just seeing a phone number instills confidence, especially when I’m on an e-commerce type web site.  Just knowing that if I needed to call, I would have the option.

I was visiting a prospect today at a thriving business that caters to mainly women.  I walked into the well decorated and impressive building to be greeted by nothing.  There were two women, very nicely dressed etc. at the front counter who couldn’t take the second to make eye contact and greet me. I approached the counter and finally just broke the ice myself.  The woman was pleasant enough, but it just felt stone cold.  She asked for my business card and she walked away.  I guessed I should just go ahead and grab a seat and wait….

Another woman walked into the establishment only to be greeted with smiles and warmth. Both reception area women approached her and helped check her in, etc.  I sat in the chair thinking to myself how sharp of a contrast the greetings were… One cold and ALL business, one warm and inviting.  

Shouldn’t the experience we create for our clients and our vendors send a consistent message? People don’t forget the experience, the experience is what either makes us or breaks us.

The family and I visited our local mall yesterday, mainly to accomplish one of my wife’s objectives, we absolutely HAD to have a head band for our newborn like Tori & Dean’s….and the Apple store had opened at the mall that weekend. (more on that in a later post…)

I was dragging a bit from exhaustion and decided that a cup of coffee was in order.  I waited in line to get my pick me up and was finally greeted by the barista (aka, coffee boy…).  I asked for a regular coffee which is right up their alley and doesn’t require blenders, caramel, mocha stuff, latte, etc. Straight up coffee.  I receive my coffee, settle up and then go to the cream and sugar area which was crawling with folks waiting for their more compicated coffee concoctions. I had to push and shove and ask politely a few times to move up to the preparation station. I arrived and placed my coffee down on the counter to customize it. Somehow, my clumsy hand knocked the coffee and dumped it all over my hands and the counter top. I was embarrased as I had an audience now and was also in a bit of pain from the 200 degree hot coffee burning my typing fingers!

The senior barista makes her way over after seeing the commotion and gives me a dirty like and then goes to get a clean up rag.  She had no concern for my scorched fingers, didn’t really care that HALF of my coffee was now on the counter, didn’t offer to refill the cup and just basically ignored me at the counter waiting for me to go away because I had interrupted her flow. Guess those recent training courses where they closed the NATIONAL chain of coffee stores really paid off.

While I realize this has NOTHING to do with search engine marketing or web design, I couldn’t help but reflect on how we can all improve our customer service. It’s the little things that make all of the difference, attention to detail, common courtesy, and I guess mainly a respect for human beings.

There are two types of web surfers out there, those who will call for more information and those who prefer to fill out a web form and be contacted at a later date.  I am one of those types that will call first, and if I have additional questions, I’ll fill out an online form on the target web site.

We are having issues with the AC in our new office and have called the property management company several times today to get updates; they finally stopped responding and the AC is still not firing on all 4 cylinders.  I figured I’d try a different approach and went to their website (which I couldn’t find in Google at all…) then I spent about 10 minutes filling out an online form expressing my concerns, etc.  I spell checked it, re-read it, re-wrote it, etc., and when I was satisfied with my work, I pressed the submit button.  To my horror, I got an internal server error, meaning, my hard work had been for nothing.. no dice, no communication, no joy, etc.

If your customers have a need or concern that is not being addressed and they try to express a concern via the web or your contact form and it doesn’t work, guess what….. they are now even more ticked off then before.  Take a moment and test your web contact form: make sure everything is functioning properly: your clients / customers / prospects will thank you!