Online Presence

When was the last time you updated the information on your website? In today's world, your online presence is probably first contact with customers!

Many businesses have beautiful websites that were developed 5 years ago and haven't been touched since. Product information, location and hours, even the About Us information is out of date.

Do your customers know what your hours and ways of service are?

Are you opening in this stage of the economic phase-in?

      What protocol are you putting in place for customer safety?

      What protocol are you putting in place for staff safety?

       Are you hours the same?

A website, today, is a dynamic extension of your business. You need to be able to update on a regular basis. Can you do this in-house?

Have a neighbour/friend look at your site. Can they answer any of the questions already asked?

How long does it take for them to look for the information? 

Home pages should be clean and exciting to see. If it takes more than 30-40 secs to load, a customer will back out and look elsewhere.

Speaking of home pages, when you log onto the internet what is the first page you see?  Is it your website?  The search engine (EX Google)?  You should set your homepage to your site.  Why?  Search engines rank websites by the number of hits on the site.  So each time you log into the internet, you will create a hit.  Then the secondary page you go to can be the search engine.  What a quick easy way to promote yourself!!!

If you have an e-commerce site (online store), is it just a click away? Can they purchase with a variety of payment methods?  Is your product line current?  Do you track your customer information so you can follow up with sales/promos?

Lots to think about, but so important.

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The KISS principle really comes into play with websites.

In marketing, the golden rule was 3 clicks. If a customer clicked into your site 3x's, it increased sales.

If the pages are uncluttered and can load quickly, then a customer will click to get more information. This is one of the differences in the Google Search Engine vs. MSN. One is clean with minimal hyperlinks, the other loads all sorts of apps, banners, info, etc. The time needed just to be able to access the search button was frustrating.

Remember, even today not everyone has highspeed access. If you are still on dial-up most websites will not even load, they time out the system.

You also need to consider how your site looks on a mobile device (phone or tablet). Most website design sites now include the Mobile site. This allows you to edit how it looks on a phone without affecting how it looks on a full computer screen.

Just like writing a story, the opening should capture attention. It can be a simple catchphrase, your logo for sure!

6 Key Questions to consider:

1 – Do you have an easy way to update?

2 – Can you receive email requests easily from site?

3 – Are you encouraged to look (click) further into website?

4 – Are your products/information current?

5 – Have you answered concerns on how you are dealing with safety?

6 – Does each page have your logo and name?

As your frontline persona, what do you want your website to say about you and your business?

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Supply Chain – how it affects us all!

Raw Materials(Supplier)  Manufacturing Warehousing Distribution(Supply) Customer

Supply Chain is more than the inventory sitting in your warehouse waiting to be sold.

What happens when one of the links breaks down?

Example – Transport

Each link of the chain requires transport.

We have over 230000 truck drivers in Alberta. This sounds great!

Issue: Not all drivers are certified to drive all types of vehicles or products.

Issue: Not all vehicles are equipped to transport specific types of products. You would not want to transport gas/oil in anything other than a tanker!

So the link was weakened.

Example – Flour

We have more than enough grain to mill. We even have enough mills to grind the flour.

Issue: There were not enough bags to put the flour into for distribution.

The missing link created a problem in bakeries – shortages of bread in stores.

Its the little things that seem to create the biggest problems.

Engineering New Social Operations

One of the biggest links that has failed in this time of pandemic, is Manufacturing.

Canada was once the leading country in manufacturing but we ignored technology and now it is too costly to produce so we import more and more. Plants and production in Canada have come to a halt.

To reopen we have to look at redesigning the workflow.  We must look at ways to limit social contact, improve productivity, source of materials, etc. Do we need to look at more automation?

Can Canada be self-sufficient?

• production costs would be higher
• internet access would need to be improved
• are raw materials available?

What price are you willing to pay? 

Each link in the Supply Chain must be strong or at least have an emergency replacement. We must look forward and figure out what our Canadian Chain looks like!