Discussion: How to offer help and gain a customer

Our friend Bob Sawyer, Pixels and Code, has a great question for discussion. How do you offer to help without offending?

I came across a web site last night that is in dire need of help. This is a landscape supply company. The site was built in 2002. Aside from being poorly coded (the owner even apologizes on the home page to users who experience "text overlapping some images" - they've tried to fix the problem but failed, apparently) - the site loads slowly, breaks in some browsers, etc. The order form does not work, and they send users off-site to calculate their own shipping before returning to complete the order process. Lastly, the site is not optimized for search engines.

I could go on. There are problems aplenty and they're all relevant to the success of the company's web presence. My wife and I are actually planning to order from them, but we're going to have to call and place the order over the phone because their web-based order system is so buggy.

So my question is, how do I approach the owner in such a way that I offer my help in fixing his site, without offending him? If you had a web site that you built from scratch yourself, and someone approached you saying, "you know, you've done an OK job here, but it could work so much better, and I can do that for you?" would you be offended?

Now, obviously, I'm not going to call him and say, "Dude, your web site stinks!" But would even the idea that someone called and said, "I'd like to help you improve your web site" and followed with the laundry list of things that could be improved upon make you more or less interested in taking the caller up on their offer?

Thanks for the assist!

Cheers,
Bob
How would you start that discussion? What would you ask, and what would you say?

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Posted by Becky McCray on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Categories: ,

11 comments:

  1. I'd go with First one's free. Say, hey, I noticed your site has this bug with image alignment. Free of charge, no obligation, I'll be happy to fix it for you since I know you're crunched for time. No obligation, free, just a favor.
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  2. I think you show them a very well done website in their industry and simply put it out there, be honest: "Dude, it's time for a change. Can I help you?"

    This one's pretty good, for a seed company: http://www.rhinoseed.com
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  3. Laura "Pistachio" FittonJun 11, 2008 12:51 PM
    You ask productive, open (not annoyingly leading) questions about their goals and results.

    You may find they are slammed for business and not only don't need the site but were thinking about taking it down. (Unlikely, but you never know, right?)

    Are you happy with your website? What has it been like for you to have a website? Do you find it useful? What are some of your goals for it?

    Ask deliberately and leave lots of white space for answers. Your prospects are almost always able to tell you exactly how you can help them, if only you will be quiet long enough to listen... :-)
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  4. Success Coach AmyJun 11, 2008 12:59 PM
    I think the best thing is to approach the customer with questions like:
    What do you love about your website?
    What do you feel works well?
    What do you want to be different?
    What isn't working well?

    This will allow the customer a chance to "tell on themself" vs. you telling them and lead them into a fruitful discussion with no charge or defensiveness.
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  5. I think it will be helpful (and appreciated) if you ask these questions *after* you've placed your order. Then you've demonstrated at least a minimal commitment to the company and may be perceived more favorably as a helpful customer instead of some random person out to sell web services.
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  6. Please don't take this wrong way (I am a nice guy) but the best approach in my mind, I have been selling web design/development for 6 years, is brute honesty in a polite way. You walk up to this guy shake his hand... look him in the eye and say "your site is in bad need of a redesign and you and I both know you are losing money because of the presentation it is giving your customers." A business man/woman will apreciate you not wasting his time. Follow that statement with some proof that your services will lead to profits and you win.

    Obviously it might not work... Hell.. a big burly landscaper might just beat the crap out of ya. But that's how I would go at it.
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  7. We have received many invaluable tips to help improve our website in the little over two years since I've been at my job. One way to more formally measure user feedback over time is to use a service like SurveyMonkey to create a survey, link to it on your site and in your main e-communications, and create special mentions/links to it occasionally to drive traffic to it. If you have something to offer people who complete it (free gifts or product discounts), all the better. Your time here will be well worth it. In fact, right now we're using feedback from our ongoing survey to help guide design of our new website.

    Regarding the original question, first on the list should be to fix the e-commerce platform. By the description, it sounds like whatever forms are in place may not be secure. There was privacy legislation recently passed that mandates SSL 128 encryption. That is a must.

    As for the approach, I think phrasing it gently and offering to either provide custom coding help or to free resources, such as on About.com, is about the best you can do. After that, it's up to the business owner to be progressive enough to act on the feedback. If he/she gets repeated feedback on certain issues, those should be serious red flags that urgent action is needed.

    Great question!
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  8. Wow, great comments, all. Thanks for the feedback!

    @jbrazil: we've ordered from this company before; and we experienced the same issues then, too, so we called in the order. But, your point is a good one.

    @cody heitschmidt: LOL! I'll be sure to take a step or two back before I pitch... but yeah, in fact, I had already composed a similar speech in my mind. Since the guy is already apologizing to his site's users, he's well aware of some of the shortcomings; I would simply point these out to him, and offer other areas of improvement as well.

    @mark: his e-commerce solution goes to a secure payment page off-site; but the whole process takes several steps, and is not immediate - you have to get a quote, which you then plug into their payment form. Not very user friendly!

    I appreciate everyone's comments!
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  9. In one word - don't.

    Now in more words. If you just call him to offer services, you will rpobably be treated as a "cold caller". Chances of success are slim.

    A different approach might be to wait until the next time you have an order form them (since you are also a client) and try to engage them as you are buying form them. Tell them of your experiences *AS A CUSTOMER* and your opinions as a professional.

    Examples:

    "I am calling you because I could not place an order through your site... love your products though"

    Answer: "Really, what problems?"

    "Well, I'm in the business so this is what I noticed....(show problems).... but again, I really like your products and that's why I called".

    Now give him a your feedback without selling your services. If they are interested they'll probably engage you.

    If they are not - sorry - move on.

    Lastly - although the problems are obvious to you and other consumers.... they may be news to them. Really. Hence my suggested approach.

    Cheers
    Marco
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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.
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  11. If the owner is apologising on the front page of his site for the way it is then he will probably kiss your feet if you can fix it.

    You might even be able to barter some of the costs if this is a place you order at regularly, and both of you would benefit.
    ReplyDelete

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