[00:00:10.370] - Gordon
Hello.
[00:00:10.760] - Taylor
Hello.
[00:00:11.200] - Gordon
My name's Gordon from Drayson Design.
[00:00:13.200] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:00:15.530] - Gordon
And welcome to "This Week with Taylor and Gordon," a weekly podcast and vidcast where we look at things that have affected our businesses over the last seven days. And welcome back. We had a week off last week.
[00:00:27.790] - Taylor
We did.
[00:00:28.360] - Gordon
Sorry about that, but hopefully you didn't miss us too much. We are back this week and there's a few changes. First of all, I've had a haircut look.
[00:00:38.190] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:00:38.190] - Gordon
Yours is getting long again as well, but I've had a haircut that should see me through the Christmas period now because I've got lots of shows coming up. And you might happen to see my particular jumper here. There we go. My hoodie now says "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." And on the back it says Director, because thanks to Rob Gaffney at "Custom Shirts and More," a lot of the cast members for the panto that I'm doing now have hoodies and lots of different colours. This is the Navy colour, the Navy blue colour.
[00:01:14.290] - Taylor
Very nice.
[00:01:14.290] - Gordon
Which is very nice. And there's a box over there with about 20 in. So they'll all be getting theirs very soon. Any news from you, Taylor?
[00:01:24.810] - Taylor
There was, recently GoDaddy were hacked, or there was a data breach, and over 1.2 million users accounts had their data basically revealed, including passwords and things like that. And there was an also today or, no sorry, yesterday there was a news article that said that following the GoDaddy data breach, also other companies had the same vulnerability, including "123Reg," "TSO Host" and others like that.
[00:02:08.060] - Gordon
And what's really interesting about this is that it was a security hole that was open for three months. So they alerted the customers this week, but the actual intrusion, that's not the right word, that's good enough, happened back in September. So September, October and November, all three months where basically the hackers could get into your websites if you were hosting with these people. And in that time they could have installed back doors, which is a coding way of being able to get into your website, even if you've patched the passwords or change the passwords and so on. So it's a really big deal this. Especially GoDaddy. One of the biggest hosts in the world. And we used to host with TSO Host here. We don't anymore. We've moved away from them. But yeah, big, big issue. So if you have your site with any of those businesses or any of the others that have been affected, not only should you immediately change your password, but you should also run some sort of malicious code tool over your website, just to see if there's been any changes to the site, because your site could be at risk. And if it's an e-commerce site, that's a major issue.
[00:03:37.880] - Taylor
Yes.
[00:03:37.880] - Gordon
Because you may be allowing a third party to see all the details of your customers. So it's really important that you get that sorted. Any more news? That was quite a big one really.
[00:03:52.890] - Taylor
Nothing, That's it from me.
[00:03:52.890] - Gordon
Yeah, that's the biggest one at the moment. So, yeah, if that affects you, please go sort it out now. Don't wait. The longer you wait, the worse it will get. Okay, on to our topics of the week. Shall I go first?
[00:04:06.980] - Taylor
Yeah, you can go first this week.
[00:04:08.350] - Gordon
So my topic this week is mistakes that people make when they have a contact form. So I see this a lot. As an entertainer, I build and I visit lots of different magicians' and entertainers' websites. And I find that the contact forms that people have on their site ask for too much information. Now, what do I mean by too much information? Well, it's asking for information that's not relevant at that part in the connection, in the contact. So, for example, if it's an initial contact form, first time anyone's ever contacted you. If the form says, "can we have your name?" Well, that's reasonable. "Can we have your email address?" Well, that's reasonable as well, because you need to be able to contact them. "Can we have your telephone number?" Well, maybe. People don't necessarily want to be contacted by phone if they're already on the computer and they're doing it via email, so make that optional. Don't make it a requirement. And then asking them what they're enquiring about. That's reasonable; you need to know that information. Asking them the date of their event. Well, at this point, that may not be relevant. It may just be an initial enquiry. It may be that they're looking to see what options they have. They don't have a date yet. So what are they going to put in that field? Asking them where the event is going to be, like the venue? Well, again, that venue may not have been decided upon. Asking them how many people are coming, not relevant. Why does that matter at this point? A ballpark would be good, but that information can be put in the sort of 'tell us about your event' details section that we had earlier. So that's fine. The more information that you ask for, the less people are going to fill it in. So basically what I mean by that is, if you're asking what you think is relevant information, but what your visitor thinks is irrelevant information, they're not going to fill the form in. And me personally, I would rather get as many people enquiring about my services as possible, because the more people that enquire, as long as I've got a set conversion rate, the more people I'm going to convert. And the chances are I'm going to do that because I have a conversion rate that works quite well and a conversion process sorry, that works quite well, which means my conversion rate is quite high. And so the more people that I put into my funnel, if you like, the more people will come out the bottom being clients, and booking me. So it's really important that you don't ask for information that's not relevant at that time. Now, you might want to go back and ask more information after you've had the initial enquiry, but by then you have their contact details. You have their email address, and if they've given it to you, you have their phone number. So once you've got that information, you can use it to contact them. They've asked you to contact them. And then you can go back and you can say, "it's great that you've made an enquiry. I do need a little bit more information to be able to answer your question." Because maybe their question was, "how much do you charge?" Which is a common question for entertainers. And you may not be able to answer that without knowing a bit more information. But by then you've already started a conversation with them and you have their contact details. So it's a two way conversation. Whereas previously, if you'd asked them for this information before, they may not have thought it relevant, they may not have given it to you. They may even have gone off your website and gone on to your competitor's website, someone who's not necessarily asking for the information you're asking for. And this is so important for lots of different businesses, you don't need to know someone's inside leg measurements to be able for them to contact you. You want to ask the least amount of information to get the conversation started. Do you agree with that, Taylor?
[00:08:42.930] - Taylor
I think it depends on the situation and the type of form you're asking.
[00:08:49.890] - Gordon
So this is the initial contact form. This is the one I'm talking about at the moment. So the first time someone contacts you.
[00:08:57.390] - Taylor
Yeah. I would agree that you want to make it as kind of frictionless as possible, but obviously it depends on the... You know the initial contact could be slightly different to them enquiring about the services. So an example could be if you've got a property website and you're a property management company and you manage obviously, lots of different properties. And you have a tenant that comes onto your website and they need to fill out a repair form, for example.
[00:09:28.640] - Gordon
Well, that's not first contact. If they're a tenant...
[00:09:30.850] - Taylor
But that may be the first contact for them in terms of...
[00:09:34.690] - Gordon
Not if they're a tenant. If they're a tenant, you'll already have their details. So it's not first contact.
[00:09:41.730] - Taylor
Okay.
[00:09:44.350] - Gordon
This is a worksheet that they're filling in, isn't it? So you've already got all their details because otherwise you wouldn't accept it.
[00:09:52.360] - Taylor
I guess first contact would be.
[00:09:55.380] - Gordon
It's like cold calling.
[00:09:56.580] - Taylor
Yes. I guess first contact would be in regards to you don't have any information about them because...
[00:10:02.660] - Gordon
You don't know who they are; they're a stranger to you.
[00:10:05.550] - Taylor
Okay.
[00:10:06.120] - Gordon
Yeah. So the thing is with the contact forms is yes, you could have that sort of form, and you could have it as a first contact form. But again, only ask for the information that's specific to the enquiry that people are going to make on that form. So don't ask for irrelevant information, or information you think's relevant, but isn't. For me, if I'm having people enquire about a party that they're holding, I don't need to know the date. The reason for this is, that with children's entertainment in particular, if they like what I do and they've decided they want to book me, they will find a date that fits in with my schedule. So it will change. If they've got a date in mind, and I can't do that day, they'll change the date. This happens all the time. Now, for more corporate events, that's not so much the case. The date is fixed. That's the fixed date. That's when it's going to happen. Because they've got lots of people involved in the preparations for this and they've all been contacted to see if they can make this one date because it's the date the event's going to happen. But then you would expect them to put that in "How can I help you?" information. And if they don't, you can ask them. You've got their contact information. You can start that conversation. And if, for example, you're not able to do the event this year, maybe you can do it next year. By that time you've got their contact information, you can contact them next year and say, "we discussed doing your event last year, and unfortunately, I was already booked, but I'd love to come and do it this year. Do you have a date yet?" And work on a time schedule so that you're so far ahead that they would have only just picked the date and you're going to be one of the first people they book because you're on the ball and you're contacting them. So yeah, for me personally, I want to start that conversation. That is the most important thing for me. And of course, if you've been watching this channel for any length of time, you'll know that we like automation. So most of the enquiries that come in to me are dealt with automatically. There is an automation behind it that sends out the information that they're looking for. And if I get an enquiry for something I don't have an automation for, I will create one there and then, so that next time someone asks the same question, I can just send this new automation to them. And so they know, so it's going to be the same every single time, and you give a consistent service to everyone.
[00:12:51.250] - Taylor
That's great.
[00:12:52.360] - Gordon
Yeah. So that's the important form mistakes that you can make. Go and look at your forms that you've already got and just look and see if there's anything you're asking that you don't necessarily need to ask right at the beginning, and you can ask a little bit later.
[00:13:11.290] - Taylor
Wonderful.
[00:13:12.010] - Gordon
What would you like to talk about?
[00:13:13.660] - Taylor
So recently I have trying to be, in illness, kind of with my Crohn's and not feeling great and just being at home due to not just going out, really. And I decided I want to change that. So in the past I've signed up to the gym and done it for maybe, I don't know, a couple of weeks, maybe a month or so. It just hasn't worked for me because I don't like the atmosphere, I think.
[00:13:43.790] - Gordon
Okay.
[00:13:44.890] - Taylor
And so me and my mum, we both signed up to the "David Lloyd" Gym or club. So this includes a gym, tennis courts, squash courts, a pool, saunas, Jacuzzis, things like that. And they also have, like, a nice café/ kind of working area. So I have now kind of set my own schedule where I take Marty for a walk in the morning. I then go to the David Lloyd Club, depending on what day it is. And I will either do a workout, like session, class. So whether that be a cycling class, or a HIIT workout or going to the gym, or even swimming. And then after that, once I've done, I can then hang out in the kind of café area, and there's also a dedicated work area and kind of just get on with my work. And that nice change of scenery is quite nice because it means that half of my week is spent doing work at David Lloyd and half of my work is done at home. So it gives me that variation so I don't feel like, "oh, it's the same day,"
[00:15:01.100] - Gordon
Same old grind.
[00:15:02.090] - Taylor
Kind of repeating itself. It gives me a place I can go and have meetings. So I had one on Thursday with a client and we came in and we met there. And it was just nice because it didn't, meant I didn't have to have it at anyone's house. I can get coffee and things like that, and just enjoy it, and I have somewhere to meet. I also have access to all of the clubs in the UK and Europe. So if I go to my girlfriend's, for example, I can carry on my routine. So one of the things or the issues I had was that when I started cycling is, I couldn't take my bike really up to my girlfriend. And so that kind of routine that I set myself of going in the morning, or whatever, completely was gone out the window when I went up and saw my girlfriend. So by being able to go to the club when I'm away is really nice because it means I can continue my routine and I can build on the habits that I've worked on.
[00:16:07.030] - Gordon
So you said that you prefer the, sorry, the gym that you went to previously didn't have the right sort of...
[00:16:17.110] - Taylor
I think it would be atmosphere, so because David Lloyd, I guess, is a higher end and market kind of club/gym, you get a completely different crowd. The memberships start at a minimum of about £50 to £80 a month. And so you're not going to get the people that just want to spend £15 a month, just go to the gym, do their workout. These people look after the equipment, they have respect for the place that they're in. But you also find a lot of families that go here because they do a lot of discounts and packages that kind of work to that. Whereas you don't get that at a regular gym that I've been to.
[00:17:00.420] - Gordon
So is it more sociable do you think?
[00:17:02.660] - Taylor
I think...
[00:17:03.160] - Gordon
There's a social aspect to it, I should think. Whereas with Pure Gym, for example, people sort of go in at any time during the day, they do their workout, and they leave and that's it. They don't interact with anyone.
[00:17:15.300] - Taylor
They have a café there, which again is very sociable. And people go there to play tennis, then have a coffee after together. And so you actually spend a lot more time there than you would at a normal gym, I guess.
[00:17:29.620] - Gordon
Okay.
[00:17:30.510] - Taylor
Yeah, and it's just nice. And obviously I can bring visitors and I can get guest passes and go with people.
[00:17:36.620] - Gordon
Well, what's nice is that you've started this before Christmas, because this is normally the New Year's resolution, isn't it? "I'm going to go to the gym more." "I'm going to get a gym membership." That's when they sell the most number of new gym memberships, in January, when people decide they want to start the New Year and get fit. But you've done it before that. So it'll be interesting to see how long you stay on this, because the membership that you've got is a twelve month, isn't it?
[00:18:07.668] - Taylor
Yes, twelve months.
[00:18:07.740] - Gordon
So you've got twelve months now. So I'm guessing that you're going to probably monitor it like you do with most things. See how many times you go, and work out if the membership after a year is worth renewing.
[00:18:22.610] - Taylor
Yeah. I mean, aside from the kind of fitness aspect, I think for mentally, it's really nice as well, because it gives you that time in between, either when you're travelling to and from meetings that I missed a lot when we were in lockdown. Just travelling to there can be nice, in summer I can take my bike and cycle there. It's a bit cold.
[00:18:46.870] - Gordon
You've got that thinking time.
[00:18:48.360] - Taylor
Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know there's a spa there so I can relax and actually step away from my computer and away from work, because I find it really hard to switch off sometimes and finding that balance. But also separation can be difficult because you can be relaxing, but you're still going to be on a phone or you're still going to be doing some sort of technology just because of the way the world is, and the way that society is kind of set up now. So yeah. So being able to go to a pool and the spa and just relax in the Sauna or the Jacuzzi is really nice because I can't bring my phone, and it's nice to just have that kind of away from screens and technology.
[00:19:35.820] - Gordon
Agreed.
[00:19:36.270] - Taylor
And then I can obviously then come back all refreshed. And one other thing that I found is, I've started drinking water. This may sound strange to people, but for probably the past three, four years, I've mostly drank coffee and fizzy drinks, which I know is very bad. I just didn't like water. And I've made it a priority to just try and drink water and force myself. And I've realised that I actually quite enjoy it. I like drinking out of water bottles. So like plastic ones you go to the gym with, for example, because I can just sip them, and I now keep a jug of water next to my desk that I can then top up my glass. And if I'm at David Lloyd, I just take a bottle with me. And yeah, I just sip on it all day. And before I know I've drank four or five glasses of water, which is quite a lot for me. They try and say drink two litres, but one and a half, one litre, is quite a lot for me, considering from what I started with. And I've found that I sleep better, I have more energy. I'm not as tired and just overall, a lot better and more work gets done.
[00:20:46.740] - Gordon
Very good. Fantastic! Anything else you want to say?
[00:20:50.620] - Taylor
No, that's everything.
[00:20:51.820] - Gordon
Excellent. Well, thank you very much for joining us. As always, we can be found on YouTube and on Facebook. Please like, share and subscribe.
[00:21:00.380] - Taylor
You can also go to our website: thisweekwith.co.uk to find all of our past episodes, and you can search for any topics that we may have spoken about.
[00:21:08.100] - Gordon
We'll see you next week at 1pm on Friday. Until then, my name is Gordon and I'm from Drayson Design.
[00:21:14.660] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:21:17.390] - Gordon
Goodbye.
[00:21:17.930] - Taylor
Bye.
