The 8020Info Water Cooler

Back to Newsletter Archive

The 8020Info Water Cooler
Issue #95 - Vol. 6 No. 15
30 October, 2006

1. Four Keys To Improving Your Home Page

Is your web site's all-important home page effective? On MarketingProfs.com, web specialist Nick Usborne underlines four key factors:

Use your principal home page headline to communicate your site's underlying value proposition: When first-time visitors arrive at your site, they have a purpose in mind, and your headline has to communicate what your site is about and why it is better than competing sites. Stay focused on that task, communicating your promise and value quickly and clearly.

Use some short introductory text to clarify and expand on your headline: Inevitably, it will take more than the headline's few words to communicate what you can do for site visitors, and that further explanation should come in text directly beneath your headline, so there is a natural flow from one to the other without readers having to search.

Help readers find what they are looking for: If 80 per cent of your readers usually end up going to three or four of your second-level pages first, make links to these pages easy to find on your home page. "This sounds obvious, but home pages are often cluttered with too many featured links," he observes.

Make your first-time visitors feel comfortable and confident: Visitors are looking for reasons to trust you, which can come from seals of third-party organizations but primarily flows from the tone of your home page. Avoid hype, make your text useful and helpful, and leave selling for secondary pages.

2. How To Improve Your Delegation Skills Top

Learning to delegate can be difficult, especially if you are used to doing it all. But in The Inside Out newsletter, organizing expert Julie Morgenstern says you should consider it a chance for personal growth. The key to good delegating, she stresses, is good assigning. Ask yourself who is good at the task; who might enjoy it or at least certain parts of it; who might learn from it; and who is available?

Keep in mind there are three kinds of delegates, each requiring a different amount of your time at the outset:

The Expert: Someone who can do the job better, faster or more efficiently than you. They can get up-to-speed immediately.

The Equal: Someone who is as well qualified as you, and doesn't need too much of your time for explanation of the task. It will probably be done well, although with a different style.

The Beginner: Someone who is not as skilled as you and will require time to train and supervise, and may need a few chances to get the task done right.

We forget that we can sometimes delegate to experts and equals around us -- not to mention the benefits of delegating to beginners. "After a few weeks, both of you will feel more pride and a sense of accomplishment as the task becomes mastered," she concludes.

3. Breaking Your Fear of Marketing    Top

Whenever consultant Michael Hepworth speaks to successful people about how they became successful, he finds they spend 70 per cent to 80 per cent of their time on marketing activities. They know there is no revenue without customers and selling, and no customers without marketing, he notes in Streetsmart Marketer. However, some people fear marketing, spending less than 20 per cent of their time marketing, and can't lift their business as a result.

He says the solution is to adopt a step-by-step approach that makes it easier to become comfortable with marketing activities, and use that to change your beliefs about marketing. He points to referrals, where you should develop a short pitch for asking customers for referrals, which will demonstrate as you achieve success that happy clients are delighted to help you.

4. Pandora's In Box    Top

If you're prone to checking your e-mail the last thing every night or first thing every morning, productivity consultant Claire Tomkins urges you to reconsider. You are probably figuring it will only take a minute or two, but inevitably something seems to require your attention, and you will be drawn into a longer session than you expect. She notes that if you could discipline yourself to look only at the subject lines that would be fine -- except if you're limiting yourself to that, why bother looking at all?

If you feel you must peek, she says you should change your mindset from "I need to look at my email to make sure nothing important is in there" to "I need to look because I have to handle anything important that's come in." That more realistically establishes how long it might take, and whether you have sufficient time or should postpone.

5. Zingers    Top

Consultant Doug Sundheim has had success working with a client to fast track new hires so they are fully immersed in their new role within one month rather than three months. They learn better when they are put into the action quicker.
(Source: Fast Company blog)

Canadians pride themselves on equality, but Calgary consultant Jeff Mowatt says treating customers equally is a mistake. You need to be willing to accommodate certain customers' special requests even if word might spread to other, less-deserving customers who may have to be denied that dispensation. Those customers will ultimately accept you are acting fairly -- according to the profitability of each customer -- even if not equally.
(Source: Influence with Ease newsletter)

If your mind wanders, don't be afraid to ask for repetition.
(Source: Coachville.com)

In considering an office printer, a good rule of thumb is that the cheaper the unit the smaller the ink capacity -- meaning the more expensive (and proprietary) ink has to be purchased more often. Find out about the price and capacity of the replacement ink before you buy.
(Source: Inc.com)

When asked how well they are balancing work and home life, 61 per cent of Canadian small business owners indicated in a survey there was room for improvement, with only 39 per cent stating that they were balancing work and home "very well."
(Source: RBC Small Business Survey)

6. Q & A with 8020Info Top

Question: Does my small business really need a web site?

8020Info's Alison Sortberg responds:

Although it seems most organizations need a website (and our first item in this issue shows how to improve one), how much effort you should invest depends on whether the site targets people who are comfortable with the Internet.

The 2005 Statistics Canada Canadian Internet Use Survey suggests that only 68 per cent of the adult Canadian population, overall, used the Internet last year.

More importantly, Statistics Canada reports that a "digital divide" or gap in Internet use exists among groups of people, influenced mainly by income, education, age, and presence of children in the household. For instance:

Only 61 per cent of adults living in households with total incomes below $86,000 used the Internet last year, compared to 88 per cent for those in households with incomes above that mark.

Adults with at least some post-secondary education were more likely to use the Internet than those without, by a margin of 80 per cent to 49 per cent.

While 85 per cent of people between 18 and 44 years of age used the Internet, half of Canadians age 45 and up did not.

The study notes 81 per cent of people in households with children used the Internet compared to only 61 per cent of people not living with children.

These findings mean you need to know who your customers are: For example, a web site might seem unnecessary for a hairdresser who works out of her home -- if the phone book is the only search engine her clients ever use. If her clients are under 45 years of age, earn high salaries, have a post-secondary education and/or children in the house, the survey suggests the Internet would likely be an effective communications tool for her business, not to mention a convenient and appreciated way to book appointments.

7. News From Our Water Cooler Top

Our next 8020Info Roundtable luncheon is filling up fast, but there are a few places left to join us for Hot Tips for Top Presentations, our topic this Wednesday (Nov. 1st) at noon at the Rivermill Restaurant in Kingston. Our small group discussion will focus on the challenges and best practices of presenting -- from the pitfalls of PowerPoint to the importance of a strong finish, from stagecraft to narrative and how best to use humour. The session will be hosted by 8020Info CEO Rob Wood together with Danielle Van Dreunen from the School of Business at St. Lawrence College.

As usual, our 8020Info Roundtable offers you a break from your busy routine and a chance to come together with other leaders, managers and entrepreneurs, sharing ideas and learning from each other. The luncheon costs just $20. If you're able to join our table, please reserve your place by e-mail at: contactus@8020info.com.

8. Closing Thought Top

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
-- Michael Jordan