You need to tell your customers WHY.

Your “About” or “Meet the Team” page is the most important page of your website.

Read that again. THE MOST IMPORTANT PAGE IS YOUR “ABOUT” PAGE.

How could that possibly be? Surely it’s the wonderful products and services you supply, or the amazing places that you have been, or the cool photos you have showing you looking young and vibrant and hip? Surely?

NO!

IT’S THE “ABOUT” PAGE.

Why?

Because business is competitive and these days there are very few truly unique offerings. But even the unique stuff is rarely unique because it looks or functions differently.

You know those amazing Kickstarter projects? Things like amazing backpacks with a GAZILLION POCKETS THAT WILL REORGANIZE YOUR LIFE? Yes. Those. Well, they all start with the reasons why the guys started in the first place. They have a little story to tell.

The strong impression created is that they do not care if no one at all buys their backpack. It’s like they just want to share their hard-wrung solution to a very personal problem they had at some point while travelling in eastern Europe while, actually what where they doing, spying? I mean who needs that many gadgets anyway? I digress…

The point is, at some point, you’re hooked on their story and if that resonates with you, they’re half way to signing you up.

So, their reason WHY, becomes YOUR reason WHY!

You buy the why, not the how and certainly not the what. It’s a backpack for crying out loud.

Back to About pages. If you run a business and especially if you’re in an established field, like real estate or gold mining, then I know as well as you do that the core of your business is the same as everyone else’s.

Hard truth right there.

Your business is, essentially, on an even keel, product- or service-wise, with your competitors' business.

I know you’re stressing now. Something in your brain is saying, “BUT I GOT INTO BUSINESS TO CHANGE ALL THAT!”

And you’d be absolutely right. But it’s still gold bars or suburban homes, right?

Look again at that question: “Why did you go into business?”

Forget money or income (that’s merely an outcome). Forget “being your own boss” – that’s a platitude. And everyone works to provide for their families – that’s universal.

What part of your life’s mission was served by going into business. Why are you doing it? What gets you excited about going to work in the morning?

I’m not going to answer that for you, because we all have different answers. It’s emotional.

It’s personal, and that’s the point. Our personal drives shape our lives. Your next customer very well might choose you because your reasons why resonate with hers or his.

How are they ever going to connect with you without knowing ABOUT you?

Hence the ABOUT page. It really is that important.

In many ways, my ABOUT page is all about YOURS – telling that side of you is hard, because translating the emotional side into words is hard. But doing that is one of the things I like to do. It’s why I’m here writing this…

Get in touch!

The Holy Trinity of Service, or is it?

Sometimes it's known as the Iron Triangle. Which to me sounds like a cross between a Tory Prime Minister and a Caribbean vacation.

When you're deciding how to run your business you, supposedly, have to decide which two of these three goals you're going to focus on as "your product". 

Will you be Cheap and Fast? This is great because it gives you high turnover which is pretty important to running a successful business. But quality will suffer and, depending on your field, that could hurt you in the long run.

Will you be Fast and Great? This is close to nirvana, but also very hard to maintain. It requires hard grind, a toll on your employees if you have them, and likely sleepless nights. To do this you have to charge your clients more to justify the effort and/or put on more staff (or end up in an asylum).

How about Great and Cheap? Well, ok. This is probably only your side-hustle, right? I mean, you don't actually earn a living from this do you? No, didn't think so. Clients can expect great work, but you know, when it's finished and stuff. 

Which brings me to a more nuanced look at this. For me, rather than speed, I value reliability. What this means is I do what I say I'll do and deliver it when I say I will.

Or, to put it another way: I deliver on my promises.

So, instead of breakneck speed, I use schedules and calendars and make damned sure I'm not making spurious promises to clients. 

Maybe I'm cynical, but to me, that is a kickass proposition: I would hire a service that offered reliability as a central goal. Perhaps because it seems so rare these days, it is such a pleasure when someone delivers on their promise. 

What it means is that I can focus on Quality, without having to make my prices "premium", because I am not chasing my tail constantly. (I am busy though, don't get me wrong!)

In the end, services with a creative bent, like writing and editing, simply cannot compromise on quality: the quality of our work is our brand. It's our calling card. Do bad work and people simply wont be interested. So really we only have price and speed to work with. Instead, I focus on reliability, which allows me to be realistic with price.

How does this, for instance, translate to my business? 

I'm not cheap; I'm not the most expensive, either. I do high quality work, that people recommend, which is great! I do work quite fast, but I won't rush it if that compromises quality - I will consider each job on its merits, estimate the time it will take, and tell you. Then I'll stick to that timeline to the utmost of my ability (barring major illness, I never miss deadlines). Together this makes for an upper-middle road that I think clients can actually believe in. No unicorns here.

How do you manage this wobbly triangle?