Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Top Ten Reasons B2B Companies Under Invest in Their Web Sites

June's issue of Jacob Nielson's alert box inspired me to pound out all of the resistance I almost invariably see while speaking with our B2B customers and prospects about their web sites.

This is a little tongue and cheek, so if you've had any of these thoughts and don't like my comments please don't be offended. The Internet is changing so fast I can hardly keep up; I lose sleep over it. Just because it was true last year doesn't mean it's true today. Challenge your beliefs! You can use the Internet to generate leads and assist the sales process - and you can prove it for yourself.

Here we go:

#10: We are not involved in e-commerce because we don't sell our products online. (People don't buy cars online either, so that's why the auto industry isn't online as well!)

#9: Our sales process is much more complex than B2C sales so it can't be done online. (Or you don't know how?)

#8: We have never received a lead or sale from our web site so it doesn't matter. (Umm... Shouldn't that be your first clue there may be a problem?)

#7: Our customers don't look on the Internet for information in our industry. (Sure! The Internet is probably only used for e-mail and porn anyway.)

#6: Our customers come from referrals and is closed by salespeople so it doesn't matter. (And, of course, they would never check your site before a meeting, and especially not before someone else in their company authorizes the purchase order.)

#5: Nobody searches for what we do. (Because when you checked the numbers were...?)

#4: The people that do search for what we do aren't our customers. (Because you've never got a good lead from your site? See number 8)

#3: Our product information changes too frequently so we just don't put any of it online. (I suppose it is cheaper to cut down trees?)

#2: Our customers are CEO's and Presidents, and they don't have time to look at our web site. (So they also don't have time to do any research before making a major purchase?)

And the number one reason? We don't want our competitors to know what we are doing! (Eureka! It's better just to keep everyone in the dark about the company!)

So there you go. I've cautiously hinted at my feelings on the matters. In my next blog post I am going to deconstruct these arguments and turn them on their head. I hope I can give you some ideas.

But, then again, I am sure none of my B2B prospects are reading this anyways, so I am probably just wasting my time. Hmm.... maybe I should cut my blog budget....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Some people might think that some of the items in your excellent post are "bizzare" but I work in one of the most hi-tech land in the world and it is amazing how many of these I have heard in my life. But perhaps that means people like us have long term employment prospects because there is so much opportunity out there! :)

-Avinash.
PS: Keith, I also have a blog about Web Analytics (or as I like to say Web Insights) and wanted to drop you a quick intro. It's at www.kaushik.net/avinash Thanks.