Location, Location, Location
If your business has a physical location (e.g., store or office) visited by customers, you know how important a good location is. It must be convenient and inviting to encourage customers to come there, enter, stay and buy.
In the Internet age, location isn’t just “bricks.” It’s also “clicks” and more. Think about these business locations:
Does your website have its own domain name, or is it at a free or member site with one of those long, hard-to-type, impossible-to-remember URLs? Is it easy to remember and spell?
Where are your ads located? Are they visible to potential customers?
What is your mailing address? Is it in a prestigious location, such as Beverly Hills (at least, if that is important to your customers)? Is it a post office box? Some people are still hesitant to do business with companies whose only presence seems to be a post office box.
What is your telephone “location?” Do you have a toll free number for customers? Is it easy to remember? Do you offer access by Skype for international customers? What happens when customers call? Is the phone answered by a human, or a professional voice mail system? Can the human knowledgeably answer questions?
Will your location be accessible during customers’ business hours or other times when you will be needed? If you are available 8 - 5 on the East Coast, and some of your customers are on the West Coast, your hours are 5 - 2 to them.
If you don’t have a physical location, where do you meet with clients or prospects? Coming to them can be convenient for your customers. Or, arrange to meet them at a coffee shop or restaurant. Rent space in an executive suite (meeting rooms and offices may be available by the hour or the day). Libraries have meeting rooms. Each of these will affect your customers’ perceptions of you and your business. The right choice depends on how you need to be seen by customers.
Location is just as important as ever. Consider how your online and offline locations affect customers’ perceptions of your business and whether or not your locations make it easy for customers to do business with you.
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