Remember that marketing goldmine we talked about a few weeks ago? The one sitting right under your nose that you keep walking past while you're busy tweaking posting schedules and optimizing ad spend?
We identified that goldmine as your customer's actual problems – not your solutions, not your credentials, but the specific challenges that make them lose sleep and drive them to look for help.
But here's where most companies go wrong when they try to mine it: they think their website is a job interview when their customers want a conversation.
Why Your Website Is the Starting Point
Before we dive into how to fix this, let me address something that might make this seem overwhelming. Many companies believe websites are complicated, expensive undertakings where every change requires custom development and significant cost.
That's simply not the case anymore. Unless your website IS your product – delivering services through complex user interactions – you don't need custom development. Modern website platforms let you customize the user experience without writing code, and writing code is the expensive part. Changing copy, adjusting design, and adding content shouldn't be exorbitantly expensive or time-intensive.
So now that we've established websites don't have to be complex undertakings, let's talk about why they're the most strategic starting point for your customer-centric transformation.
Your website is where everything leads. Your email marketing, social media posts, networking conversations – they all point back to your website. It's where people go to book appointments, learn more about your services, make purchases, or dive deeper into your expertise through content like this.
If everything leads back there, and that's where most decisions happen, it makes sense to start there. It might seem counterintuitive because people want to start where first contact happens. But if you change how you capture interest and then send them to a website that confuses them, you lose them.
Stephen R. Covey said it best in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People": start with the end in mind.
The Job Interview Problem
Most websites approach potential customers like they're conducting a job interview. They spend every precious second trying to impress visitors with credentials, experience, and achievements.
Picture a typical homepage: "We've been helping customers for more than 20 years with our combined 150 years of experience in solutions for businesses like yours." Sound familiar?
This is the online resume approach – jumping up and down, raising your hand, saying "me me me me me." Companies think they need to convince prospects they're qualified by showcasing everything impressive about themselves.
But here's what they're forgetting: the visitor is the buyer. They're not hiring you out of the goodness of their heart because you're impressive. They're looking for someone who can help them solve a problem.
Instead of jumping into why you're great, why not demonstrate that you understand their world?
What Your Customers Actually Want
Your customers want to feel seen and understood. They want to land on a website and think "Finally, someone who gets what I'm dealing with."
Take technology companies as an example. Most prospects aren't struggling because they need "digital transformation solutions with certified specialists." They're frustrated because technology is supposed to make their business run smoother, but instead it feels like they're constantly working around their systems instead of their systems working for them.
Think of it like pegs and holes. Their company is a square peg, but every technology solution they're offered is a round hole. They spend their time trying to whittle away at their business – making it not quite what it was – just to fit into the solution they've been sold.
They're tired of adapting their company to meet technology requirements. What they really want is someone who understands this frustration and offers solutions that adapt to them.
The Conversation Approach
When you shift from job interview to conversation, everything changes. Instead of leading with "We have 20+ years of experience," you start with "Do you feel like you're constantly trying to fit into the technology solutions you've paid for?"
Instead of "Our certified specialists deliver proven results," you say "We help you tailor solutions that adapt to your company. Not you adapting to them."
The difference is profound. The first approach celebrates where you are – your achievements and success. The second approach meets them where they are – dealing with their current frustration.
When you consistently acknowledge their reality first, you create what Bob Burg calls the "know, like, trust" factor in his book "Endless Referrals." He wrote: "All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust."
You want them to feel confident in their decision to take the next step – to talk to you, to buy from you, whatever that next step is. The way to build that confidence isn't to convince them how great you are. It's to convince them that they've found someone who understands who they are and what they're going through.
You're demonstrating that you're open to listening and have a higher likelihood of being able to help them.
The Fundamental Shift
The fundamental shift is moving from trying to convince to seeking to understand. In a job interview, you put on your best show, highlighting every reason you're wonderful and perfect within a limited time.
But your website should tell a different story. It should demonstrate how you see and understand your customers and what they're experiencing. It should show that you can identify with them and have empathy for their situation. And yes, that you have solutions that can help.
This isn't about hiding your capabilities or downplaying your expertise. It's about sequence. Lead with understanding, follow with capability.
When prospects feel understood first, they become more comfortable having a conversation with you. They stop scrolling through websites that feel like company announcements and start engaging with content that acknowledges their reality.
Where to Start
Here's what I want you to do right now: Go read your homepage. Be really honest in evaluating whether the content is about you or about the customer. Ask yourself this question: How much is this about us as a company, and how much is it about our customer?
Is your website conducting a job interview, trying to impress visitors with your credentials? Or is it having a conversation, acknowledging what they're going through, and demonstrating that you understand their world?
Once you've done that honest assessment, and your website has been updated or is in the process of being updated, it's time to look at all of the marketing you have out there that leads people back to your website. Remember, you're not trying to convince them. You're trying to attract and compel them.
Your customers don't want to be impressed. They want to be understood.
The conversation starts now.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.