It is widely understood that a content management system allows you to both edit the current content of your site and add new content using the provided templates. One advantage of a CMS that’s not that widely known is personalization. Instead of sending everyone to your homepage and hoping that they connect the dots properly, you can create custom “mini-sites” for each prospect, using hand-picked samples to show how you meet their particular needs.  Using a CMS in this way evolves your website from an informational brochure to a user-friendly sales tool.

Let’s explore the features of a CMS that let us do this.

A. Ability to create new pages on the fly.
If your CMS is properly set, you can add new pages on your own without having to know any code. You can either add these pages to your navigation or leave them off the menu. In this case, you would want to leave the new pages off the menu so they’re only seen by your intended audience: the prospect.

B. Ability to set a page’s URL.
Not only can you choose to leave new pages out of the navigation, you can also assign them custom URLs. For example, you can send your prospects links that include their name in the web-address as a way to show you’ve made something just for them:

http://www.yourdomain.com/JohnSmith
http://www.yourdomain.com/JSmith
http://www.yourdomain.com/John
http://www.yourdomain.com/John’sCompanyName

John Smith will be more likely to click on one of these URLs made just for him than one of the generic URLs your competitors send.

C. Use of a database.
Your online portfolio items can be entered into the CMS as database items instead of plain content. This means that your web developer can add a system for you to use where you select which portfolio items you want to display on these new pages you are creating.

… so, putting it all together…

1. You create a new page
2. You add a personalized message on top of the page
3. You select which of the portfolio items you have on your site apply to your prospect
4. You write a comment under each portfolio item so your prospect knows why you think this is a good example for him
5. You give this page a personal URL
6. You send the personal URL

You just created a custom presentation in 5-10 minutes without knowing any code.

Would your sales process benefit from this level of personalization?