ARE YOU ON THE FENCE?

There is a maddening roar around you that you can't quite understand. Everybody is talking about it, and you are still in the dark.

Of course, that roar is the mad rush by thousands of businesses to get on the Internet, the New E-commerce, the new way to do business, the only way to make it.

You, on the other hand, are sitting on the fence saying, "Should I, or shouldn't I get my company onto the Internet?" You keep going over the same questions and issues day after day:

• I don't understand this Internet stuff
• I've gotten this far without the Internet, why bother with it now
• Should my business be on the Internet
• I don't sell products that can be easily sold over the Internet, so why should I have a site

The list could go on and on, and you will probably still not feel comfortable in doing anything.

To help you get off the fence and help you with in your decision, I've put together a few things to consider.

How Can An Internet Presence Help?

As I have said to many people over the years, just because your business doesn't fit the mold of selling products or services directly over the Internet, doesn't mean that an Internet presence is not for you. Here are 3 key ways in which having a web site can help your business:

• help pre-sell and pre-qualify a potential client - by presenting your company and its offerings in a compelling and interesting manner, you can turn them into a lead by having them fill out a form or calling you. It can serve as an automated sales force that can present your offerings in a variety of ways. Remember, you can only say so much in a yellow pages ad or a newspaper ad, or a radio spot. On your web site you can do things like product demonstrations, training videos, sales pitches and more. The key is to get them to your web site where you do a better job of selling, or getting them to call you. Companies that offer custom solutions or services that are very specialized can find a web site to be an excellent tool for helping create new sales prospects.
• provide customer support - many businesses are finding that through the use of a web site they can provide important information to customers rather than using the the present method, the telephone. This can be done through FAQ areas, order status capability and much, much more. It is important to note that this enables many companies to provide higher levels of support at lower costs because they don't need as many people handling routine questions and issues. Think about it! The customer gets his answer almost immediately, doesn't have to wait for a call back; you don't have make the call back; the customer is happier than ever.



• sell your products or services - the power of the Internet and its ability to reach millions of potential buyers everyday represents a terrific selling opportunity if your products and services are conducive to that type of transaction. If you think about it for a moment, you will have a tough time coming up with one that doesn't fit. From a product standpoint, now you can find everything from dog food to automobiles being sold through the Internet. On the services side you can find everything from telephone services to loans to life insurance and more.

Are they really selling automobiles over the Internet? you ask. According to published figures by eStat Market, an Internet monitoring firm, 2% of click thrus for automobile information have been converted to sales. That's at the bottom of the list. At the top is flowers which shows an approximate 50% conversion rate from click throughs.

Join the rush! Talk with someone who understands e-commerce and the Internet. Lay down some objectives for the web site. Establish some parameters for it and then talk to someone about getting it designed and hosted.

But don't forget one major point -- Whatever the objective or objectives you decide upon, make sure that you plan on doing some marketing to bring targeted prospects to the site. Even if your only objective is to use the site as a customer support tool, you still have to market it that way. Otherwise, the customers will continue to phone you and tie up your staff and sales people who could be more productive doing other things.