Does your company have tunnel vision?
Last updated November 17, 2017
We've had to pleasure of helping dozens of small, medium, and large companies and organizations with their web and marketing efforts. All businesses face different problems. But one problem we see most often: not seeing beyond the internal bubble.
When you're so entrenched in internal politics, the day-to-day running your business, and "the way it's been done before", it's hard to challenge the status quo and literally see your business the way your customers, suppliers, or clients see it.
In other words, you're too close to your business.
Bring in the Calvary
If you've ever seen the TV shows Restaurant Impossible or Kitchen Nightmares, the plot goes like this. Robert Irvine and Gordon Ramsay, respectively, come to an establishment and make over a failing restaurant.
Typically the restaurant is failing because the food is bad, the leadership is non-existent or usually a combination of both. Most of the time the owners believe what they're doing is working—even when they're losing thousands every month.
If the food were that good, why isn't there a line around the block? This is an excellent example of having tunnel vision—you can't even see the problems at your own establishment—and stubborn enough to the point of bankruptcy.
Most organizations we help aren't even close as the ones on Impossible. In fact, our best clients are the ones who get it and understand how our expertise and execution can make their business better.
This is where an outside firm can be invaluable in bringing up potential issues or resolve internal debates. In an evolving medium, such as website design and digital marketing, what worked years ago can even hurt you now.
What's this site about, again?
On the web, the most common place we see this happen is the website's home page. It's written from the perspective of people inside the company.
Your website exists not to scratch the owner's itch but your customer's or client's problems.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's surprising how often the home page fails our 5 second rule about who the company is, what they do, and why you should be on the site.
You're focusing on the flavor of the day when people don't even know you serve ice cream flavored widgets, yet. (mmm, ice cream flavored widgets!)
When you're inside the bottle, you can't read the label
This sounds blatantly obvious. But oftentimes, "insight" comes from people inside the company.
Are your decisions based on solid data or assumptions? When was that data or assumptions last checked?
Let's make sure we know why your customers and clients are on your website before we start tweaking the shade of blue because the CEO simply doesn't like its shade.
Can we help you climb outside the bottle?