What To Do If Your Clients Don't Use The Internet
Posted by Jason Rudland on Fri, Feb 10, 2012 @ 01:15 AM
Oddly this is a question I seem to be hearing more now, than I did a few years ago. Odd, because the Internet is that much closer now to saturation point where everyone is connected. But I'm still asked what to do when your clients aren't on the Internet/email/social media.
What it means to be offline
Today, more than ever, it's actually quite difficult to function without being connected. When most people say their clients are not on the Internet, they really mean they don't think their clients use a computer to transact their purchases. But, even those people who fight against technology find it difficult to get on without using the Internet. Suppose you have a technophobe who wants to make a purchase. He sees an advert on TV which may be a fit for him - but the advert only gives a Facebook URL, and no phone number. Maybe he wants to compare prices, so he telephones a list of suppliers (assuming he can easily get a list without the Internet.) Sales departments frequently refer clients to their websites.
People today are almost forced to go online to make a properly researched purchase.
Suppose our potential purchaser does not have a computer. Does he have a mobile phone or an iPad? Were getting down to tiny numbers of people who don't have any of these devices.
The Field of Dreams
I would bet the writer of Field of Dreams had no idea how overused his phrase If you build it, they will come would become. But, here we go again - if you are a supplier of a particular product or service, and you publish information and resources via the Internet formatted for desktop & mobile devices, your clients will damn well get connected. If you build it, your clients will find it.
It's a very, very rare person who will refuse to go online in any form despite the solutions to their problems being there. This type of person is soon to be extinct. Your clients may not use Social Media and Desktop computers and iPads and mobile phones and eMail, but they are bound to use at least one of them.
