Hampton Consulting

1. What does your business actually do?
This is a pretty good starting point. After all you need to know exactly what your client does before you start work on their site don’t you?

Getting a really thorough understanding as to who they are, what they do, how long they’ve been around, etc will often help support the design research and decisions you make throughout the entire client relationship.

True, this is pretty straightforward if your client runs a pet shop who sell fluffy bunnies, but if they are a company who sell ‘telecommunication and logistical support equipment for offshore facilities’ (blurgh!!), then you need to make sure you get your head completely around your client’s business.

Even the slightest misunderstanding can screw up your design even before you’ve started!


2. What do you want your site to accomplish?
Or another way of saying it which I use is:

"What's your primary goal for the site? What do you want most from it? Quote requests, sales, class booking, more memberships etc?"

Then I say:

"And if your visitors aren't ready to buy right now, as in take you up on your primary offer/action, what would you like them to do instead? I.e. what are your secondary goals for your site? Newsletter opt-in to build your list, eBook download, Facebook like etc?"

I'm not sure if some businesses just like to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ but I'm alarmed at the number of small business that will often ask for a website 'just because.' They have no clear goals or direction for wanting a website other than they've been told they should be online.

DO NOT go into a web design project without making the client give you an idea what they want their new website to actually do for them.

On numerous occasions in the past I've completely walked away from a project if a client has no idea. It goes straight in the too hard basket.

Every website should accomplish something, and it doesn’t even need to be the old cliché of ‘make more money.’

Does your client want the site to:

Get more inbound leads / quote requests / phone enquiries?
Increase brand awareness?
Educate their audience?
Encourage sales?
Collect email addresses and build a list?
Encourage onsite or social media interaction?

If your client doesn’t know what they want their site to accomplish, then suggest a few so you can start the project with a key understanding locked in place.



3. Do you have a website already?
If your client already has a website, remember to ask them about it. And if they do, make sure you follow up with more questions so you can understand their old site inside and out.

Questions you may want to ask include:

When did you get this site?
Do you find it easy to use and edit?
What CMS (Content Management System) does it use (if any)?
What do you like about it? (Often they'll say "Not much.")
What DON'T you like about it?
How many inbound leads are you currently getting from it?
Is it giving you the results you want to see?
Have you got Google Analytics setup? If so, can you generate a report for us so we can see what's working and what's not?
What would you like to see carry over to the new site?
In a nutshell, you want to learn from your client’s past mistakes, likes and dislikes and make sure that your new website knocks it out of the park and seriously out-performs the previous version of their site.



4. What makes your company remarkable?
Always try and figure out what the makes your client’s business unique to everyone else. What makes them remarkable?

Explain to them how their potential customers are doing their initial research. They're browsing 10+ different supplier websites looking for someone to solve their problems, not just theirs, so your client needs a way to really stand out big time against their competitors.

I think it's fair to say that a lot of our clients get complacent with their online presence.

They assume that when a prospect is browsing their site, that they're the only supplier being considered. And that it's okay to wait 2 days to respond to a quote request, because they also assume that that prospect hasn't contacted anyone else.

Wrong!

This is baloney! You must educate your clients about how people buy these days and why it's so important to stand out, position themselves as a guru and make a great first impression.

This can be the big difference between success and failure. So you need to know what makes them remarkable so you can communicate that in your design.

Examples could include:

Being the cheapest.
Having awesome customer service.
An amazing guarantee or returns policy. Tip: Think Zappos and their 12-month shoe return policy!
Being the exclusive supplier of a product in a certain area.
Supplying the best quality product around.
Fast or Free delivery.
Offering unique add-on packages no one else can.
And if the client really doesn’t have anything that makes them stand out, maybe NOW is the time they should start trying to create an advantage over their competitors. I would discuss with them Seth Godin's book titled 'Purple Cow' which talks about transforming businesses to be remarkable.

If you've been in the game for a while you may even have some ideas for them you can suggest on the spot. I always like to do this to build trust and also get their mind ticking! A bit of free advice throughout this process goes a long way in winning a client for life.

I enjoy helping people to reach their goals. Having a client call me or tell another person that we helped to build their business is why I began my company in the first place.

I've been an Entrepreneur since I was 12. I started delivering papers and have run my own businesses ever since.

Because I give 100% for everyone of my clients. My success depends on their success.