Your potential customers can easily find dozens of local competitors. In and of itself, your website must convince them to do business with you.
Collateral Materials are the background information you provide to your potential clients to address their concerns regarding your business, your qualifications and your track record. You must convince your customers that not only that you are capable of providing the services for which they’re looking, but that you are the best person to do the job.
Your Collateral Materials will Make or Break Every Sale
If your website does not fully convince your potential customers of your skills and qualifications, they will immediately head back towards the search engines and look for somebody else.
In one way or another, every website must cover all of the following elements:
- Your Capabilities Profile: A list of the services you are able to provide to your customer.
- Testimonials: Many small business owners do not collect testimonials from their clientele. This is a mistake! You need to ask your customers for testimonials, and in many cases, it is a good idea to work along with them in order to put the right message across.
- Statement of Benefits: A list of the benefits your customer will receive in working with you. In taking advantage of your services, will your customer get more business? Save money on their taxes? Protect their invention? Increase the value of the real estate portion of their portfolio? Be specific.
- Your experience and qualifications: and, as appropriate a list of the types of clients or specific industries with with you’ve worked.
- Frequently Asked Questions: Many people misuse the FAQ portion of their website to answer technical questions. Your FAQ should address the concerns and potential objections your potential customers may have in regards to doing business with you. If you wish to educate your clients, do so through articles in your blog or through the descriptions of the services you provide.