Your Essential Companions

Essential companions- sort of sounds like you’re adopting us as the family dog, doesn’t it? Well, first of all, we would never try to replace your pet but, then again, we won’t eat your slippers or beg for table scraps either.

What we’re talking about when we call ourselves essential companions is being there for you no matter what you need. The internet world has changed over the past 28 years that we have been in the business. At first, everything was complicated, unreliable, and frustratingly challenging to maintain. Over time, technology has improved drastically, so drastically that what once took a coder to create something on a website is nothing more than a simple drag and drop task nowadays.

There are tons of examples of how your digital journey as a small organization has become easier over the past couple of decades. So why do you need us as your companion? Firs of all, when you DO need help, we’re actually….helpful and we try to make it easy to get that help…from US! You won’t be calling a call center in another time zone. You won’t be getting “escalated” to another call center that has to schedule a visit between the hours of 8AM and 2pm on Wednesday. We are consultative so even if YOU can’t identify your problem, we will take the time to get to the core need. 

So, what does a consultative approach look like? We want to understand your goals and any obstacles in the way. That means we can make recommendations for services or solutions that WE have refined over time to meet a wide spectrum of needs. It may ALSO, at times, involve us recommending a specialist or introducing you to a different approach to consider how to achieve something. We have a wealth of knowledge and lots of folks in our network who can help you along the journey.   

I once took a call from a customer who complained that our BUILD solution was too expensive and that he could get what he needed for half the price with GoDaddy. I responded, “I completely understand. I assume you stay at the cheapest possible motel because it’s just as good and as safe as the more expensive hotel. I also assume you chose your child’s daycare in the same way and for the same reasons.”

“Oh no, I just don’t need to pay as much for our website,” he said. 

For about $240/year or 66 cents a day, the customer was willing to put his small business website in the hands of a global company that prided itself on tricking people into watching Danica Patrick take a shower during a Super Bowl. GoDaddy personnel would never know him (or even talk him more than once), whom his company serves, how to establish the right local marketing solution, or, for that matter, who the best small IT/computer freelancer is in Nashville that would be willing to go to his house because he couldn’t get his wifi router to connect to his new computer. I wished him well.

A few days later, he called back and apologized. “You know, you’re 100% right. I actually did try to sign up for a new account with GoDaddy and immediately got bombarded with all kinds of confusing deals that they were trying to ram down my throat. I got so turned around about what I actually needed but the only way that I could get through to someone was through the online chat. I fiddled with the chatbot for about 5 minutes and decided, ‘this isn’t worth the trouble. I need to go to people that know me and whom I trust.’ I’m sorry I even thought about leaving you for a cheaper deal.”     

I assured our client that it was okay and that we’re glad he felt the difference right away. Some people get a lot deeper into the mess before they throw their hands up and need a way out. It’s why “Essential Companions For Your Digital Journey” isn’t something we came up with as a trendy slogan. It’s foundational for us. Most journeys are not short and unless you’re prepared and equipped to make the trip alone for the long haul, you will want supportive, trustworthy companions who are going to share the journey in good ways with you. We’ve been companions to some of our clients for nearly three decades. We feel pretty essential to them and want to be the same for you.