Sell the Sizzle not the Steak

I have been asked so many times lately, “What is my secret” how do I sell Mobile sites. So I have decided to share my secret sauce, my eleven herbs and spices, my Coca Cola recipe. So here it is.
Can you remember the best steak you ever had, or the best Seafood? Can you remember when the plate was placed on your table? Can you remember how good it looked, how it smelt. Wow what about the taste, do you feel hungry just thinking about it now.
Now let me ask you something. Did you ask where the Cow was born, what grass it ate, what side of the paddock it slept on? Did you ask the qualifications of the Butcher who cut it up?
What about the Fish? Did you enquire as to how deep the water was where it was caught, the name of the Fisherman or the Boat? Or did you just saviour the moment as you tasted the first mouthful of its succulent flesh.
So is this document a testimony to Exotic Food? No it’s actually a Sales Guide to Mobile sites and after selling and building 1000’s of Sites I think I am in the position to say?
The secret off Selling Lots of Mobile sites? Is selling the Sizzle not the Steak.
I could also add that’s the major difference between a Mobile Website and a desktop website one is the steak and one is the Sizzle.
At Camel and Straw our motto is, “We sell Sexy Mobile Sites” we don’t sell technical marvels, we don’t sell lots and lots of pages full of mammoth amounts of Information we sell what we know customers want to see. We know this as we study the stats often.
So what do they want to see? Well you will be amazed.
Out of the myriad of buttons that mobile has to offer in its design portal, the countless amount of information that people try to jam pack into those buttons, the anal attitude of some IT Managers, Marketing Guru’s or Web developers driving the filling of those buttons. The most popular buttons by far, using Restaurants as the example.
 Menu
 Promotions
 Find Us
 Face Book
The first three buttons are ahead on the statistics by a mile and Facebook all though a long way off is still way ahead of others in the popularity stakes. Funny the Full Websites Button? Is that low makes me wonder why we even bother filling in the data let alone including it on a Mobile Site.
So when using this Gold Information when I sell a site what do I recommend the customers focus on?
1. Make the site Sexy, make it look good, appealing to the eye. No second chance on a first impression. Great Logo, awesome main graphic or slider, great back ground and sexy buttons.( If they have not got one (logo) gives me the chance to sell one)
2. Menu, make it also sexy, make it clear and don’t make it huge and importantly? Change it often.
3. Promotions, make them exciting, make them stunning and change them at least once a month or twice.( If they can’t do that? Great I can sell that as well)
4. Find us. The address does not have to be accurate enough to make a pinpoint surgical missile strike from a War ship bobbing in the Ocean. The most important information? CLOSE TO or NEARBY any landmark. That will cut it as most people will ask, “What’s close by, I need a Landmark” they want to know where it is, no need for the specific co-ordinates as I guarantee they don’t have a compass!
5. Face Book, yep cant live without that but its useless if the Fan Page of the Restaurant had its last posting 18 Months ago, so I highlight the need to bring their pages up to date. I like that as it gives me the chance to sell that service to them as well.
6. Other Buttons? Call us, make sure it’s a number that’s right and somebody will answer it professionally.
7. The rest, well it looks good with 9 buttons so I usually link Reviews, Share Button and Gallery if they have good Pictures.
As you can see, Mobile is really about the Sizzle not the Steak, the Stats prove that. It’s also about keeping it Simple. The mindset of the Mobile User is not the same as a desktop viewer; they don’t have the time or the patience to view pages and pages of “Stuff” and with over 75% of people using Mobile? Maybe we need to sell that way as well.
So Ladies and Gentlemen, when sitting down with a client and they have this urge to fill every available space, nook and cranny, have a zillion buttons filled with more information than Wikipedia!
Simply ask them about the last great steak or Seafood they had, then ask them again what information (Sizzle) they really need on this Mobile Site! They will Love you for it, believe me.
Have a Great Day
Regards
The Camel