Get your house in order before inviting people over

Getting your house in order

If I was to invite a bunch of potential clients over to my house to give them a sales pitch, I’d make damn sure the place was clean and tidy, lawns mown, dishes washed and put away, bathroom clean, toilet paper on the holder, maybe even some fresh flowers on the dining table.

I’d do everything to give them a great first impression and keep them in the house for as long as it takes to close the deal (without being creepy!).

And if I didn’t close the deal, they’d at least leave with a memorable experience about me, so when they are ready to buy I’d be top of mind and highly likely to get the sale.

It’s called ‘Getting your house in order before inviting people over’, and the same applies to marketing.

I’ve recently started working with a new client who has a very commonly used product that they have made far better than any of their competitors. The product is spectacular and should sell like hotcakes.

They are keen to ramp up their marketing asap and get some runs on the board, which is totally understandable and is fundamentally what they are trying to do – sell stuff.

But they have a surprisingly common problem – they don’t have their house in order.

Translation: Their website is not up to scratch.

It’s not terrible, but it’s nowhere near what it COULD be, which means when they invite people over, they will not be impressed and many will leave without buying.

A lesser, more inexperienced version of myself may have just gone with their enthusiasm and said “righto let’s get stuck in”, because the product is awesome so surely it should just sell anyway. Right? Wrong.

It’s surprisingly common and most marketers come across this fairly frequently. The good ones will have the hard conversation and potentially put their own project with the client on hold while they go and sort out their website.

It’s not okay to throw money down the toilet by ramping up marketing spend before you sort your website.

And if you're not sure if your website is up to scratch, ask one or more people who are knowledgeable but unbiased and don't have a stake in whether or not you fix up, throw out or stick with your current website.

GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER FIRST.