We are all Idiots – If we don’t change our ways
I am a traditionalist, clients that know me, know what I am like, stick to the old ways, don’t make trouble, keep it simple stupid – but we are all idiots if we don’t change our ways.
I am lucky, in this industry if I don’t take some action to keep up, I’ll rapidly lose customers and my bread and butter, any change is better than no change and while it may seem that the business you’re in is going to the dogs, the truth is that it is all a matter of perception. You either run with it or lose out.
Why is that? The simple answer is what I like to call ‘clever minds have thought about it’. Why is something the way it is, well someone somewhere has given it a lot of attention and thought about it and then come up with a solution. Of course, this is not infallible, but bad ideas tend to die off fairly quickly these days, leave the good ideas to shine through.
So – what am I on about, time for some examples:
- The £200 quid website – in the old days we could build these, they were quick easy and did the job., 5 pages, about, contact, products. Except if you think about it they never did the job, except to cost only £200. They were hard for clients to update, people couldn’t buy anything from them, they just sat there never changing and certainly never attracting the attention necessary for a modern business.Today’s solution: there are plenty of website services like www.wix.com or www.squarespace.com. These cost under £30 a month.
- Selling and Marketing – in the old days you’d contact a contact who’d know someone or open a shop and have a party, or cold call people, but not any more, today you need to plan out all the steps, touch points and best time to tweet.Today’s solution: get a CRM solution and use every possible bit of it – try www.agilecrm.com.
- Upgrading – it used to be that you’d upgrade your computer when you needed a new one. Buy it use it. But these days if you don’t upgrade immediately you could be spammed, hacked, all manner of evil will be visited upon you. No matter whether it’s your mobile, email, software, Windows, WordPress or anything else.Today’s solution: Go with it – upgrade and make use of the new feature. We don’t really have a choice any more.
Here at NCompass people ask – how’s it going? – well it’s busy, hectic even, but I get the feeling that every query question and email contains something complicated. It is complicated. Wheather we’re fixing a Widget for Facebook or updating a slideshow for a Homepage. There are so many options, bells and whistles to choose from, not to mention the knock-on effects down the line that will have an effect on Google or some other such thing.
In short, gone are the days of a simple website… we’re idiots if we don’t change our ways and embrace the new ways.