Oftentimes in my role as a Help Desk Support professional, I read emails from various customers who have just recently purchased one of my client’s products. Some of the questions asked or comments made, make me wonder what these customers were thinking! More times than not, I have to conclude that some people simply don’t know the basics or what all is going to be involved with a product they purchased.
For instance, here’s a recent question and comment from a customer who wrote:
“What program will show me step by step how to use XXXXXXX effectively? I need the exact “how”, mechanically, not internet marketing concepts. . . . it downloads in pieces like a puzzle tossed on the floor and I can’t seem to get the pieces all to fit together to make (1) a website, and (2) a marketing effort. Thank you.”
No doubt a lot of people feel this way . . . I know I did when I first got started years ago. And the tools and resources then were not nearly as intuitive and user-friendly as they are today. But too often, new people are swayed by the sales copy of a product and buy without asking themselves first: “What is it that I need to know already in order to implement what I just purchased?”
What this customer first needs to understand is that there is no one program showing “step by step how to use XXXXXXX effectively”. The product is simply private label rights text that can be modified for use in any number of ways. The fundamental issue this customer has is not knowing the basic steps to putting anything up on the web. And this is the kind of thing I mean when I ask “What Is It That You Don’t Know?
First of all, let’s get clear. A website means a few things. It used to be that you had to know HTML in order to create webpages and FTP to get those webpages online. However, now it’s so much easier to get online without having to know technical coding or programming by using WordPress (from http://wordpress.org NOT .com) to create a blog. More importantly, however is that the search engines LOVE changing content like blogs, over static, never changing information found on a typical website.
Next, this customer would need to have a domain name, a hosting account, and access to cPanel in order to quickly upload WordPress through Fantastico. Chances are if I sent that reply back, I’d find out that this person does not yet have a domain name and has no idea what cPanel or Fantastico is. And that’s when I’d have to suggest Discover cPanel to the customer.
Discover cPanel is just one of many courses created by my best client, Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins. The full blown training encompasses “10-Volume Step-By-Step Video Tutorials” and will allow anyone to successfully create and maintain their own online real estate. Go ahead and check it out if you are still struggling with the puzzle pieces like the customer above. And remember, if you have any issues at all, let me know as I’m here to help.