Contact Us: sales@cdci.com support@cdci.com forms@cdci.com 1.800.285.3929 The Construction Management Magazine * March, 2000 * Skill, Integrity, Responsibility HOW TO PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD - ELECTRONICALLY! HOW DO YOUR E-MAIL, V-MAIL, WEBSITE, AND E-MARKETING STACK UP? Comedian Billy Crystal is famous for his dead-on impersonation of the late Fernando Lamas--a courtly gentleman if there ever was one. Crystal's trademark line "You look marvelous!" was inspired by a real-life encounter. According to Crystal, he ran into Lamas on a day that he, Crystal, was not feeling so well. Lamas, filled as ever with a generous bonhomie, quickly boosted his spirits with the following observation: "Well Billy, you look marvelous. And you know, it is better to look marvelous than to feel marvelous!" Humor aside, there is much truth to this aphorism, particularly when it comes to business communications and marketing. You may not be having a good day. You may be tired, worn out, your office a mess. Your company may not be having a good day. But if you broadcast a polished, professional image, your customers will never see you sweat. TAKE THIS TEST Just five years ago, what made the biggest impact on your customer was what you printed on paper--correspondence, press releases, brochures, direct mail. What counts the most today is what you convert into electrons--e-mail, voice mail, website, even CD-ROMs. So: how do yours stack up? Is your website sophisticated yet user-friendly? Does it convey the image of a cutting-edge firm? Is itregistered with the leading search engines such as Yahoo and Lycos? Is it hotlinked to your AGC chapter website and the AGC of America website,www.agc.org? Do you frequently update it with a "quote for the day" or other content to keep it new andfresh? Do you publish all of your corporate brochures, fact sheets, and the like on your site? Does your site include an enticing "photo gallery"--a visual feast of your past projects? Do you offer a "one-click" online request form to enable site visitors to email questions or ask for asales call? And, if so, do you have a person at the other end who sends same-day or evensame-hour e-mail replies? And who puts any requested hard-copy materials into the mail the sameday? Do you e-mail an electronic version of all your proposals in addition to sending a hard copy? Ifcreated in web format (HTML), the latter will enable you to add hyperlinks to your website. By clickingon the link, clients can jump directly to a web page when a particular project or feature is referenced. Do you display the AGC logo on your website? If not, it's easy to do. Log onto www.agc.org, click onthe hot button that says "Member Resources," and then click on the button that says "AGC Logos" todownload. Voice mail system. Do your staff members return voice mail quickly and professionally? Do you monitor outgoing messages for courtesy, professionalism, and continuity?Your project manager's voice mail, for instance, should not say "Hi. This is Dave," etc.; it should say"Hi. This is Dave Gilbert, project manager for Acme Construction," and so forth. Do you offer a CD-ROM on your company? It's a powerful marketing tool and costs less than youmay think. The presentation should be a self-running CD that includes all the information typicallyfound in a brochure but with still photos, video, and sound to support the message. SO--YOU STILL HAVEN'T GOT A WEBSITE? If you haven't got a website by now, you're not alone--but you soon will be! What's the first step? Finding a reputable, experienced website firm. This is not the time to hire your neighbor's 12-year old son. You should pick a firm with the same care you would a marketing or public relations firm. Don't wait to get everything perfect before going online. Start with a simple, one-page site, an online brochure, and build from there. YOU NEED SOFTWARE! As your website blossoms into an e-commerce site, you're going to need some powerful software to drive it. The ideal system ties all of your existing office operations together and eliminates wasteful data reentry. You should start by contacting the company that developed your accounting and estimating system. You'll find information on hundreds of software packages in CONSTRUCTOR'S software inventory, published each December and also available year-round on www.agc.org. You can also see live demonstrations of some 40 construction software and e-commerce web tools at the CONSTRUCTOR Expo in Seattle, March 8­11, 2000. FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact C.D.C.I.--Construction Data Control, Inc., at (800) 285-3929 or log onto www.cdci.com. REPRINTED FROM CONSTRUCTOR MAGAZINE March 2000. © Copyright 1999 The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America. All Rights Reserved. [Home]   [About CDCI]   [Products]   [Support]   [Training]   [Press]   [Jobs]   [Dealers]   [Links] Copyright © 2000, Construction Data Control, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.