E-Commerce Benefits For Service Oriented Businesses
If your business is best classified as a service oriented business or a consultancy, one simple approach you can take is to launch an ecommerce site through which you can provide value adding information to your existing and potential clientele.
Online, June 11, 2010 (Newswire.com) - So you don't sell items online, you sell services, which must mean that you are out of the running for an e-commerce site, right? If there aren't any pictures of what you sell then there can't be a catalog for people to shop through, because again, you don't sell things. You need a face to face meeting with people to discuss their particular situation, you need to engage them to make the sale that your service is valuable to them, and you need to show them that you know what you are talking about through your extensive portfolio, right? Wrong. Your website is a reflection of who you are as a business. When you add e-commerce to your site, you are saying to your clients, "I understand the future of business, I understand the route that the economy is taking, and I value your time so I am providing a quick and easy way for you to pay me." Now, before you get upset that I told you that you were wrong, give me a moment to clarify.
I understand that the general understanding of an e-commerce site is to sell an item and receive the money for it in an electronic manner. For most businesses that is true. However, when you approach the service oriented industries such as consulting, investments, or professional services (accountants, lawyers, etc.) you are migrating from a order generated transaction to an invoiced transaction. You have met with the potential client, they have agreed to your services and have signed a contract with you. Hopefully, this is an ongoing relationship and the client will be paying monthly bills to your organization for a long time. In that case, they receive an account number and they are able to set up an online portal through which they can pay their account to you. This saves them time in writing checks, time in bringing the payment to you, or money in mailing you the payment, and saves you time in receiving it. Their receipt is e-mailed to them and they have a copy of the transaction immediately and none of you have left your desk chair, ahh, the sweet simplicity of it.
When you develop an e-commerce website in the service fields, you are not forgoing the client relationship. You still meet with them to discuss further plans, issues, questions, and are there for them whenever they call. You are however, removing the need to involve payment at that moment. This allows for a 100% focus on the topics at hand, and when the meeting is over, it is over. Your rates remain your own property, and not published on the web; your methodologies are protected, and you are still a forward thinker able to lead your clients by example.
Take a little bit of time, not too much, you don't want to waste time on an obvious answer to think through this and then give Cybervation a call at 614-356-8000, so we can help you bring more revenue in to your pocket quickly and less out there waiting for the postman to deliver.