The Problem With Having "A Friend in the Business"

Let's say you have a business and 40% of your revenue comes from your website.  Now, let's say that suddenly you notice, during what should be your busiest time of the year, a dramatic slow down of orders.  Three weeks ago you were processing fifty orders a day.  Now, you're down to five or six a day.

That's the story from a recent meeting I had with a potential client.  It seems they had a "friend" design their site (for free) and then barter the hosting.  The company really liked it that their site cost very little and heck, "everybody was a friend".  Things were humming along pretty well until the "friend" got cross-ways with the owner and turned down the site speed and removed key words and tags.

Did I mention the company has an additional six URL's out there?  Each of the other sites carry products that are a component of their main site but for some reason "the friend" thought that each area of the store should have their own website.  (I am NOT making this up.)  And the site design?  You would not believe it.  I swear they put in "clip art" for images and the writing?  Really, really bad.  Add to that the fact this company does not have an electronic inventory control system....  Oh my.

During our meeting the owner wanted to know, "How much is it going to cost to fix all of this?"  I guess when you are used to getting things for "free" actually paying somebody to fix the errors come as a shock.  My answer was, "Much less than what you've lost in revenue over the past month."  I think we got the job.

Word to the wise...let your friends stay friends and do business with professionals.

Thanks for reading.  You can keep up with us on Twitter - @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV.  We're also on Facebook.