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$ 100-300 |
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Closed
for Bidding
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Rating: (No Feedback Yet)
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Description
We sell (consignment) software. Our competitive advantages are:
lowest lead cost
lowest long-term cost
no ongoing service fees (like most of our competitors)
the most dependable software performance
We are a software 'company'. Every one of our competitors (except one) is an individual programmer trying to make himself look like a 'company'. The huge disadvantage to their buyers is, support for their software goes away when each one of our competitors goes out of business.
In our company, programming and tech are separate from customer support which is separate from management and marketing. Future support for our software does not rest upon the shoulders of one individual.
Some of our competitors are moonlighters and part-timers looking to make a few extra dollars selling consignment software online.
3 of our competitors (of course the highest in lead and long-term cost) try to cover up their high costs by lying to potential buyers. (They don't disclose all fees. They do a lot of hand waving to attract attention away from price/cost.) In other words, we're honest. They aren't. We don't have anything to hide. They do, and they do.
We are members of the Better Business Bureau in good standing. They are not members. They all belong to NARTS (Natl Association of Resale and Thrift Stores) which does nothing to screen applicants or monitor members activities. Competitors belong to NARTS because there are no qualifications, no monitoring of their activities, etc. They are just trying to give the impression of having the approval of 'an industry group'.
We have been in business for 6 years.
We have just completed a total revision of our software program on 2 fronts. The GUI is fantastic. It is designed in soft colors (blue, white, pastels) to remain eye appealing through daily use. image: http://www.bestconsignmentshopsoftware.com/images/800.jpg
The program itself has been totally rewritten in FoxPro 9.0 to eliminate the 3rd party MDAC component that formerly was used for database-software interaction. In short, we have a huge advantage over the competition which continues to experience significant customer dissatisfaction with data loss, program crashes, etc. because they are using databases like Microsoft Access, because they haven't upgraded their programs to the latest technology. We have. Took over a year. FoxPro is used by the US Dept of Defense and the Euro Tunnel Project because of its incredible dependability and speed. If I may say so, we have one kick-butt program that our competitors are going to hate.
Our website needs to measure up. When our competitors see your design, their hearts will sink and their jaws will drop. Fear and panic will rush over them and they will hear the death knell.
When our potential customers open the home page, each and every one is going to say out load, "Wow! I'm impressed. I trust this software provider just based upon my first impression. I am open, receptive, responsive and surrendered to doing business with this company."
Our potential customers by and large are women. Their ages range from early 20's to 'elderly' with average age around 45. They are in sales. With exceptions they are type A personalities - outgoing, high expectations, selective (fussy), loyal when they are treated well and appreciative when the get a good deal. They are very busy. When they are shopping for consignment software, they want someone (please) to cut through all the baloney and deliver a clear purchasing option. Your words need to respect their intelligence.
We are fortunate to have competitors who are either very poor at designing websites or who purposely make understanding their products and costs difficult. (Search Google for 'consignment software' for examples.) They, however, are not our basis for comparison. We need to impress people - knock their socks off, when they see your ideas expressed on our site.
Our potential customer appreciates attention to detail, elegance, professionalism, quality, simplicity. They want to know why we are the best choice - not with a lot of hype but with plain simple truth and proof of it. Again, they are busy. Many of them are not computer literate. (Their business is running a resale store, not a computer.) So, impress them with beauty, vibrant invigorating colors and design, appealing pictures, simple navigation, highlighted obvious selling points - We have every advantage over our competitors so combine that with your design talents and give us your best work!
I've been on the Inet for 11 years and have designed over 250 websites myself so I know the difference between the 'template look' and original creative design. If you can knock my socks off I will pay a bonus and I will award more work for other products we sell, like furniture software and pawn shop software.
Our url is http://www.bestconsignmentshopsoftware.com. I suspect a good renonvation of our home page will move the listing of software features to a subpage and bring out our strong points such that they impress upon first site.
I don't expect a mock up but I do hope that in your bid proposal you will clearly demonstrate that you understand the target market and the project. Flash is ok if it's not bandwidth intensive (or annoying). Music is out. An intro jingle is ok if it's professional. These are women in America. They see advertisements thousands of times a year. Please make your work stand out in their minds. Garcias!
P.S. It is imperative that changes in our home page do not cause us to lose our #1 ranking for 'consignment software'. Your awareness and application of SEO will increase your chances of earning all of our redesign business.
Reminder
You may not start working in this and any project before
your bid is accepted. Any user who violates this policy
may have their account permanently suspended.
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