One of my jobs when I was a teenager was as an office cleaner’s assistant. A family friend had the cleaning contract for a few offices and buildings throughout the city.
So I would spend all night on my hands and knees crawling across grey carpet to pick out the staples that had embedded themselves in the fabric, which would harm the carpet cleaning machine if I didn’t get them all.
I’d carry buckets of soapy water up and down flights of stairs, emptying and refilling them.
I’d meticulously scrub down public bathrooms, only to, Sisyphus-like, attend to them again the next week.
It wasn’t my most favourite job in the world, but my boss taught me a lesson I’ll never, ever forget.
On my very first day, he showed me all the tools and how to use them. He spoke clearly and forcefully about the importance of diligence and care.
And then he walked me over to the entryway door of the office we were cleaning that night.
He opened it, and got me to look at the carpet behind the door, next to the wall and doorstop.
He said, “Look at all that dirt. You clean that first. If you miss something else, no one will notice. But if you do everything else, and miss this, everyone will notice.”
We could clean every single inch of the place, but if we missed behind the door, it would be as if we didn’t clean at all.
The client would assume that if we skipped the worst of it where everyone can see it, we probably missed something else that’s even less visible.
So I think about that lesson when I go to a business or organization’s website and it’s a confusing mess. Or when I got into a restaurant and the bathroom is a disaster.
If the thing everyone sees looks like this, what does everything else look like, that’s less public and less visible?
I write this because, if you’ve been putting off upgrading your website, you might be leaving dirt behind the door.
You might be accidentally signalling to your prospects that, if you’re not paying attention to the public thing everyone sees, that you’re not paying attention to the rest of the business, too.
It’s not frivolous or vanity to invest where it’s visible. Because it’s a signal of your commitment, your credibility.
Your quality.
If you get the public places correct, if you invest where people notice, they’ll grant you grace elsewhere.
But if you miss the dirt behind the door, prospects may wonder what else is missing.
Kelford Inc. are content marketers for expert advisors. If you’re struggling with what to say and where to say it to attract your ideal clients, we’ll show you the way.