Your WEAKEST LINK?
NoSpin Debunker
#37: February 4, 2002
Take the new, 5-second NoSpin Poll: How good are your FAQ's?
Why FAQ’s may be the
WEAKEST LINK
on your web site:
FAQ’s are frequently asked questions that sales prospects are asking and clear, concise answers that are working in sales situations. An important page that is often overlooked as a key web site section is your “FAQ’s.” You can tell immediately if a business has a quality “I-commerce” (Information Commerce) site if it has a good FAQ section. Typically, FAQ’s are:
q Not sales-oriented--Rather they are boring, meaningless, corporate drivel or are directed strictly at existing customers (and yes, customers may need their own, different set as well).
q Outdated.
q Nonexistent or difficult to locate.
Advantages of
FAQ’s:
If you don’t have a good set of FAQ’s on your web site, your business is missing some big marketing opportunities—online and offline. Here are a few benefits of creating true I-Commerce FAQ’s:
q FAQ’s are an excellent way to underline your unique selling proposition and show your differentiation in the market.
q FAQ’s get prospects up the sales cycle faster and cut sales lead times.
q FAQ’s force an ongoing marketing and sales discipline to catalog market feedback and to analyze what’s really clicking with prospects.
q FAQ’s help you continually massage your top line marketing messages—which you should not be married to.
q FAQ’s leverage information for your sales force to better train existing and new staff. Some sales types are “cowboys” who don’t necessarily like to share information with other sales folks—or Marketing—and FAQ’s help break down that attitude.
1) Interview a range of sales people (who are on the front lines) and ask what they are hearing from customers: where are the hot buttons; what gets their attention; where are the hurdles; what are the most difficult questions, which answers are working and which aren’t.
2) Better yet, go on a handful of sales calls and just listen and take notes.
3) Let the Sales folks participate in the drafting process so that they buy in.
FAQ hints and
recommendations:
q Build a baseline of no more than 10-20 FAQ questions.
q Keep your FAQ answers to a few sentences.
q Don’t dodge the hard questions—Even on pricing, at least give interested parties an immediate contact (e.g. to get a price quote).
q Avoid watering down your FAQ’s—Often, the top Sales manager will want to make them overly generic—but then they lose their impact.
q Don’t try to tell all—Link to more detailed content on your site(s).
q Don’t try for perfection or to precisely “script” what sales folks should say.
q Keep your FAQ list fresh and encourage sales people to review them periodically and recommend new ones.
q Use your FAQ’s as an entrée and/or follow-up in your sales process.
q Provide a next step to contact Sales (talk to a real person), see a demo, etc. at the end of your FAQ’s
q Make FAQ’s a major section on your web site—if you develop a good set.
Now you’ve got no more excuses for your FAQ’s being your business web site’s WEAKEST LINK. Click here for NoSpin Marketing's FAQ's. For more web site content and marketing information check out NoSpin Marketing.
Talk to you in again in two weeks when we will start examining the right balance between Sales and Marketing and take a look the results of last week’s poll about CEOs’ Sales and Marketing acumen.
If you would prefer to be removed from this email list, let me know.
Tom Ranseen NoSpin Marketing 615.383.7157