The Framework

So, you have a great website. And you've been doing SEO and paid adds and wonder of wonders it's working. The phones are ringing and the emails are flowing with enquiries.

Now what?

Is your Web Designers job finished?

Many would say yes, I disagree.

All of this activity does'nt necessarily earn more profit. Yes, income might be up, but costs may have also gone up! Meaning you're spending more time managing the day to day but profits aren't as great as you'd like.

Why is this?

Because your leads are not qualified. And you and your staff are spending time sending out quotes to people who are not able to afford your services.

What are the consequences? Your conversion rate is low, yes that's obvious. Not so obvious is what it does to morale. You and your staff are dealing with a higher 'No' ratio.  All that work for a 'No response'. After a while employees start dreading picking up the phone.

The solution. Go back to the website and add some form of pricing. Something that gives a visitor an idea of what price range you're in.

The results, now when the phones ring and the emails flow the conversion rate is higher,  staff become more motivated and going to work becomes fun again.

What You've Really Done is Started With A Framework

What is a Framework? A framework as you would imagine is a structure off of which many things rely. So even though many businesses will use the same tools. For example an accounting software. You'll find that they do things differently to arrive at the same result. This allows them to accommodate their own blend of resources, premises, staff, products and customers.

In marketing you also have a framework. Activities that when done result in an expected outcome. Cause and effect. Action and reaction. And the Framework that we are referring to here relates to how one incorporates their way of doing things into the online world.

It's a type of automation that you refine so that it achieves it's goals more often than it doesn't. By adopting this approach you not only solve problems you also increase conversions, profits and morale. All of this is stuff that was previously only done by a human being.

And rather than this being a bad thing, its benefited you and your staff.

Is this the end of your Framework journey though?

It could be, but it doesn't have to be. There might be other ways your website can pick up more of the load.

Now if you're a business owner Im betting your mind zoomed straight towards operations.

But I'm not talking about operations though. Im talking about more customers. In other words more profits.

So we all know that there are ways to get more customers by using advertising. And we all know that Google is great for that sort of stuff.

But consider this. Your advert has a life span. That life span depends on how long you pay for it to be seen. After that it's gone. And soon after you're forgotten.

Your Framework is thus a system that utilizes common human behaviours and patterns to facilitate future enquiries.

Two birds with one stone as the saying goes.

A Framework is built, not bought.

Putting a price up on your website is not the only brilliant idea you might have. As time goes by and you interact with more and more customers you'll discover that customers in your industry go through a process before they ever pick up the phone or fill in a form.

During that process your website gets looked at.

But remember that they don't want to reach out just yet, They don't want you to know they're interested. So you need to give them space. Let them browse.

At the same time your website is the solution that others want now.

We call these immediate buyers 'low hanging fruit'. They're ready to drop some cash.

While others are maybe only at the flower bud stage.

An Example

Lets say we have two stores that both sell gardening equipment. Both stores have online shops and have everything necessary to process and deliver those orders. Shop no2 however has a salesman that  customers ask for by name. This salesman also sells more than any of the other salesman. Whenever the boss looks his way he's always chatting to someone.

The boss investigates and discovers that this salesman has a lot in common with his clients. They all love gardening.

This discovery leads to establishing that the salesman will observe clients walking in the store and first assess their demeanor. He's discovered that those that are very interested in the products on the shelves are normally new to gardening. His system is to approach and ask them if they need help and he's discovered that this type of client will normally accept his offer.

He'll then observe what they have in their trolley and while chatting to them paint a picture of what they're planning to do. For example a hosepipe and a hand spade, for him that means they've got a garden small enough for a hosepipe to reach and the handspade means smaller beds.

He tries not to be too nosey so he'll ask if they're growing flowers or vegetables which he's found most people are only too happy to tell him. He uses this system of courteous questioning and conversation to build up a picture of the clients needs. Based on this he'll mention difficulties (pain points) he's encountered in his own garden and see which if any they react to.

In this way he's able to show them products that they may not have previously considered and get them to discuss more of their goals with him. Often a person who walked in for a hosepipe will walk out with an automated sprinkler system.

The boss wonders if theres a way to improve his online sales using his salesmans instinctive understanding of his clients. He calls him in and asks. Ok do you see this online clients purchases? He bought a garden spade, some cement and some riverstones. What do you recommend we do now.

The salesman looks and says well he's obviously quite handy and judging from the quantity he probably doesn't have a big garden. If I was helping him I'd try finding out how long he's lived in his house? Normally people do stuff like that when somethings changed in their lives. Based on what he's bought why don't you send him a brochure that has alot of pictures of gardens with diy cement projects and also has other home maintenance projects. Lets see if he clicks that email.

The owner has the art department and web design team create an online brochure and an email linking to it gets sent out. Sure enough the customer clicks the link and this click event is recorded. At the same time the website registers a visitor that spent 3 minutes on that specific page.

The owner knows that this client is interested. He asks the salesman what he should do now. The salesman says well if he's interested we should see if we cant figure out what sort of help he needs. Maybe it's time, maybe it's money. Maybe it's inspiration. Why dont you create a web page for gardeners and workmen for hire. A webpage for comparison products that range in prices and a web page of beautiful gardens. The boss gets his design and development team working and after a couple of weeks has three amazing web pages that would assist this customer.

He waits for another customer to come along with a similar list of purchases and sends him the same email. Once again this client responds by clicking the link but instead of leaving the page he clicks into the gardeners for hire page. The boss realises that this client had some kind of problem that a garden helper would solve. He wonders if he can create a network where he brings people together.

He discusses the idea with one of his admin ladies who agrees to manage this portal. Freelance workers are only too happy to sign up and because his admin lady does such a good job of vetting these laborers, clients who use their services are very happy and give good reviews.

He discovers that word has spread and now he's getting more clients. Plus he's discovered that the freelance gardeners he gives free sprinkler installation training to are in high demand. His sales of sprinkler systems triple.

What the boss did was to automate something that his salesman had been doing in person for years. Now instead of the salesperson spending 15 to 30 minutes with each client which at best means the guy can only make 32 sales a day. He's found a way to multiply his salesman's efforts by hundreds. Plus he's also discovered that if he gets his admin lady to keep an eye on what the clients are clicking in their emails that he's staying abreast of the trends.

At first his design team were very busy creating all this new content for him. But after a awhile he found that this content continued to work. He's created a range of ever green newsletters and every new customers was put into this email sequence. His admin lady understands the logic behind the emails (meaning they want to spot what the salesman would normally spot, ie where the clients interest lies) and she lets him know when she starts seeing changes in the trends. Between the two of them, the salesman and the web design department they come up with a plan on how to smoothly switch tactics based on the season and what the customer is most interested in.

The best part is that because his emails are written in a friendly approachable style, he finds that customers continue asking for him or his salesmen by name.

What about store #1. They had no idea about the importance of relating with their clients. They were all about automating the system and cutting out the personal interaction. Business consisted only of new customers with a very low repeat rate.

They tried massive sale tactics but nothing changed. They tried newsletters (glorified 'buy now' adverts) but no one was interested in them.

They completely missed the plot on what was really important. ie Being interested in what they could do for their customers. Instead they focussed on what their customers could do for them. Meaning their customers were just there to buy buy buy.

Frameworks can Literally save your business.

Have you ever heard about a company where one of their key staff left and took a whole lot of customers with them? Everyone has, even me. But here's the kicker. It took the people I know almost 10 years to get back up to speed.

But with a Framework all your eggs are not reliant on an individuals connections.

Sure, there's nothing like having a motivated vibrant employee that just generates loads of profit for you. But sooner or later that guy or gal is going to realize where they sit in the food chain. And when they do you run a big risk of losing them.

By including automation into client acquisition and satisfaction processes it takes a lot of that risk away.  The good news is that the advent of online has diluted our generations reliance on these strong business relationships. This doesn't mean that we don't form strong bonds, just that we are more accepting of companies that move their staff around.

But be warned, while we may be more accepting of people coming and going, we are still very prone to building long term relationships. If you give us a choice we will still follow the person we know, like and trust.

Top Ideas For Companies Starting Their Own Framework

1. Add pricing to website.
2. Add easily accessible FAQ sections.
3. Create evergreen email sequences.

What do you think all companies should add to their websites to both improve customer retention and reduce costs? Let us know in the comments below.