Ben’s Delivery Guide

Hi Ben here! Please read and/or view the following guides and tool links. This should allow you to very easily offer an Accessibility service to clients with a pretty short learning curve.

Strategy for Engaging Clients for Accessibility Services

Building a successful accessibility service for local businesses requires a combination of effective outreach, demonstrating value, and cultivating relationships. Below is a step-by-step approach to engage and close local business clients for your accessibility services:

1. Research & Preliminary Analysis:
   • Use your Agency Client Finder tool to identify potential local businesses that might benefit from accessibility services.
   • Conduct a preliminary analysis on the most promising candidates. Generate concise reports that highlight major accessibility issues.
2. Initial Outreach:
   • Cold Email: Craft a personalized email, introduce yourself, explain web accessibility, and mention some issues you found on their website. Attach or provide a link to your report.
   • Cold Call: Follow up with 3 further emails and/or a phone call.
   • Social Media Engagement: Engage on platforms like LinkedIn.
3. Meeting:
   • If a business shows interest, schedule a meeting.
   • Demonstrate value by using the report and real-world examples.
   • Explain implications and offer solutions.
4. Proposal:
   • Prepare a tailored proposal detailing services, benefits, timeline, and cost.
   • Consider offering different packages.
5. Closing:
   • Address client concerns.
   • Offer trial periods or guarantees.
   • Provide references or testimonials.
6. Onboarding:
   • Have a clear process post-agreement.
   • Collect necessary data and set expectations.
7. Delivery & Feedback:
   • Update the client about progress.
   • Provide post-intervention reports and request feedback.
8. After-Sales Service:
   • Offer periodic check-ups.
   • Maintain a warm relationship.
9. Networking & Referrals:
   • Attend local events or join chambers of commerce.
   • Offer a referral discount.
10. Continuous Learning & Adaptation:
    • Stay updated on the latest best practices, tools, and regulations.

Remember, approach businesses with genuine concern for making their websites more inclusive. By demonstrating value and cultivating trust, closing clients becomes a natural progression.

Selling Accessibility Services

Selling Accessibility Services is much like selling any digital services. This short video sets the scene for preparing to market any of your services to local clients.

The business case for accessible websites. Far from the fear of financial penalties is the additional customers a business can gain from a fully accessible web site.

Selling Accessibility to Skeptical Clients.

Accessibility Services You Can Offer

Selling accessibility services to local clients is both a necessary and responsible business approach, especially in today’s digital-first world. Below are potential accessibility services you could offer:

1. Accessibility Audits: Comprehensive website review against accessibility standards, primarily WCAG. Offering both automated and manual testing.
2. Remediation Services: Fixing identified accessibility issues on websites or applications. Implementing code changes or suggesting alternative solutions.
3. Accessibility Consulting: Advising on best practices. Helping businesses understand the importance and legal requirements of accessibility.
4. Accessibility Training: Training internal teams (designers, developers, content creators) on how to make and keep their digital platforms accessible. Offering workshops or one-on-one sessions.
5. Document Accessibility: Making PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, etc., accessible. Offering alternative formats, like large print or Braille.
6. Accessibility Monitoring & Maintenance: Periodic checks and updates to ensure maintained compliance as websites get updated or changed. Providing monthly or quarterly reports.
7. Accessible Design Services: Creating accessible web and mobile user interfaces from the start. Designing with a focus on color contrast, readable fonts, logical layouts, etc.
8. Accessible Content Creation: Helping businesses produce content that’s accessible to everyone, including using simple language or creating alternative content formats.
9. Video & Multimedia Accessibility: Providing captions, subtitles, audio descriptions, and transcriptions for multimedia content.
10. Mobile App Accessibility: Evaluating and improving the accessibility of mobile apps on different platforms.
11. Assistive Technology Testing: Testing websites and apps using screen readers, magnifiers, and other assistive technologies.
12. User Testing with People with Disabilities: Organizing sessions where people with disabilities test and provide feedback on digital platforms.
13. Web Accessibility Policy Creation: Helping businesses create an accessibility statement and policy for their website.
14. E-commerce Accessibility: Ensuring online shopping experiences are accessible to everyone.
15. Accessibility Integration with Social Media: Providing guidelines and strategies for making social media posts and platforms more accessible.
16. E-learning & Virtual Platform Accessibility: Making online learning platforms, webinars, and virtual event platforms accessible.

It’s worth noting that while some of these services require technical knowledge, others, like consulting or training, can be delivered with a strong understanding of accessibility principles and practices. Before selling these services, it’s essential to ensure that you have the expertise or the right team to deliver on the promises. Offering high-quality, reliable services will build trust with local clients and lead to more business and referrals in the long run.

Solutions

How to use Equally.ai ensure and maintain a website’s accessibility

Equally.ai is a web accessibility solution that makes your website more accessible for people with disabilities, such as visual, auditory, cognitive, or motor impairments. It helps you meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Here is how you can use Equally.ai to ensure and maintain your website’s accessibility:

1. Install Equally.ai on your website: You can install Equally.ai on your website by adding one line of code to your site’s header. This will enable Equally.ai to scan and fix any accessibility issues on your website automatically, using artificial intelligence and human experts.

Equally.ai allows you to add an accessibility widget/toolbar to a website and run accessibility checks for 14 days for free. This is ideal to demo to clients. You can switch to a fully paid option once the client is on board.

2. Customize the Equally.ai widget: You can customize the Equally.ai widget to match your brand’s style and preferences. The widget is a tool that allows users to adjust the accessibility settings of your website, such as font size, color contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader, and more.
3. Monitor your website’s accessibility status: You can monitor your website’s accessibility status using the Equally.ai dashboard. The dashboard shows you how compliant your website is with the WCAG and ADA standards, how many users have accessed your website using the widget, and how many issues have been resolved by Equally.ai.
4. Update your website’s accessibility statement: You can update your website’s accessibility statement to inform your visitors about your commitment to web accessibility and the features that Equally.ai provides. You can use the template provided by Equally.ai or create your own.

EQUALLY.AI in one minute. A fast paced video showing how to set-up and use equally.ai.