Alan J. Zell, Ambassador Of Selling, has become nationally recognized for his expertise in advising businesses, services, educational, governmental, and organizational entities. Clients seeking his services represent a wide spectrum including accountants, investors, educators, chambers of commerce, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, associations, and non-profit organizations.

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FOUR USES OF THE INTERNET

by Alan J. Zell, Ambassador of Selling

The Internet is the talk-of-the-town -- not just this town, but of all towns in almost all places. Yes, there are some places where it hasn't reached, but the numbers decrease every day. What started as a small, in comparison to what the Internet is now, happening just a few short years ago has grown faster and bigger that anyone would want their child to grow. It has grown to the place where the child is almost unmanageable. In that growth, there are many businesses that have go on line without any idea of what their web site is to do for them and how to use it to its best advantage.

As we hear and read what people say they want and what, in reality, it is that they want, we see why there is a problem doing profitable business on the Internet. The words people use to justify going on the Internet are not adequate for explaining what they want. It's like saying, "I'm hungry" when they are saying is, "I want a tuna fish sandwich."

If one is to use the Internet effectively and efficiently one must have, if they don't have one already, a Marketing Plan. A Marketing Plan? To a great percentage of people, a marketing plan means making out a grocery list. A marketing plan puts all aspects of a business's public face into a coordinated program. The addition of having a web site calls for a revamping of a marketing plan before one jumps into having a web site.

For business, the Internet should relate to doing businesses with customers . . . better known as "E-COMMERCE." There are two aspects of e-commerce -- business-to business (B2B) and business-to consumers (B2C) e-commerce. E-commerce, in both cases, relates to selling a product or service and delivering it on time at the right price -- better known as "fulfillment." B2B sites have fewer problems with fulfillment than B2C firms. For the former, the firm and their customers most likely have an ongoing relationship. Even if they don’t, the firm uses their site as a way of enabling prospective customers to have access to what the firm offers 24 hours a day. The result of having web site for B2B E-commerce is that it shortens up the reorder process - the time it takes to get additional orders. With B2C E-commerce it is different. More often than not, the business does not know their prospective customers nor do the potential customers know the firm. They are both there . . . but where?

We see the Internet as having 4 distinct uses. When trying to intermix these uses some businesses have some success, more have little or no success. Serving two masters is very difficult

1. PERSONAL SITES better known as EGO! Yes, ego. For no other reason than to say "I've a web site." Interesting, that many of the people with web sites aren't even a business -- and many, especially kids, have more than one site. It is not unlike the insidious Holiday letters sent to people who have completely forgotten about the person/family sending the letter or don't care if they heard from them or not. In other ways, it's akin to telephone prospecting, "junk mail" or spamming; it differs because unless one goes looking for it, it doesn't interfere with others' time and effort. What Personal Sites are not looking for is making sales or, if they are looking to make sales, they may not be in business but are looking to make some money by being on the Internet.
2. A BROCHURE or it should be called A STORE. While it may replace a printed brochure, it should be designed to be seen as a store with floors/departments with its deliverable inventory of products or services, salespeople with sales books, cashiers, credit office, a shipping department. A business web site, whether it is designed to attract consumers or other businesses, needs several definitive areas.

Literature -- showing what the business sells in a logical and understandable order. It is different from a printed brochure in that with the latter, it is easy to go flip from page to page and back to a page one has held with a finger or dog-eared the page. It takes seconds. With a web site, there are links and links and links and links and on and on and on . . . and the viewer/reader gets lost after a while. Because computers think in outline form, there are often 4 and 5 levels in each department and going back a few pages/links is not easy or fast.

Initiate inquiries -- generate leads either by having the viewer/reader contact the firm by telephone, fax, or E-mail, or by enabling the firm to contact those that have filled out a guest book form.

Fulfillment -- as seen from customers and businesses viewpoints. Customers, because they can get the order in fast -- within a few seconds -- expect the order to be filled just as fast -- within the same or next day. This is easier said than done.

The downfall of the Internet in many cases is that the "backroom" operation is not set up to handle the orders received electronically. The problem intensifies because many people placing orders via the Internet really don't understand the complexities of running an on-order demand system. They think that businesses, especially those who are only on-line businesses, don"t have or don"t need to have a bricks'n'mortar facility and that somehow orders go out as fast as they come in

In the "old way of doing business" better knows a BTI (Before The Internet) era, people mailed in their orders and understood it would take some time to process it. They allowed for logistic time for the post office to deliver the purchase order, for the order to be processed and the delivery by truck or mail. The expectation for fast delivery started with the fax. Even with the fax there was a lag in customers' minds waiting for the order to arrive.

From businesses standpoint, Like a lot of stores -- the Internet is a store -- many Internet stores are not prepared for success either by a lack of facilities to handle the orders, or enough inventory to meet demand and, of course, the money to finance both.

3. DESTINATION SITE or making one's products and services available to customers 24 hours a day. It differs from the Brochure category in that the site name is well know to its B2B customers or their industry. Destination sites, in addition to being applicable to B2B E-commerce, are also showing up with B2C e-commerce called "PORTALS" -- sites that have a wide variety of products and services to offer. They are the Department Stores or Shopping Malls of the Internet because they act as a framework where dissimilar products and services can be found and is easier than by going to a search engine to surf the net. Destination sites are also there to get inquiries and to make sales. All the aspects of a Brochure site are applicable to Destination sites.
4. BUSINESS PROCESSES or INTRANET SITES. Here a business uses it to aid communications within the firm or organization. It can range from e-mail to work in-progress projects, even for several people to communicate in a conference or to see and work with ongoing development of products and services.

With more than 14,000,000 web site and growing more each day, unless one has a good idea of what the business expects their web site to do and understands what it cannot do and without seeing how the Internet fits into their current marketing plan, it will be difficult to do business on the Internet.