Providing a Service, Screwed on $, Want to Make a Biz of it, but "Can't" Sell

JohnCJackson said:
I will PM you. It's not SEO, but it's something that can be bundled with that or stuff like web design. Frankly, it's something I just got into by chance that's fairly mundane and I was surprised at the interest. It's not something I ever thought of or would think would sell here, for example.
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If it's what I think it is, there's a market for it because it's something every business either does or know that they need to do, but don't have the time or inclination to do it themselves.

But it is important to their business, and they need someone reliable and competent to handle it for them so they can focus on the things that they're good at.

There's a market for it because you're (I'm assuming) competent or even very good at what you do, and people pay you because they don't want to spend time doing it themselves.

I constantly outsource things that I know how to do really well, just because I'd rather spend my time on more important things. Most business owners do the same.
 


This is how you should look at sales, some will, some wont, so what whos next.

Dont put some much pressure on yourself.

If you need to get a grip on your nerves nothing, i mean nothing will do better for your in general confidence then a course at a place like rmcat dot com. I know it doesnt appear related, but being able to have confidence and control your nerves will either help you or plague you through out your whole life.

Im not a very good salesman either, more because I dont give a fuck if someone buys from me. Although I do just relax and shoot the shit with people, I close over 50% of my face to face appointments.

as soon as you are desperate to close the sale you will smell like a fucking moron and it will be harder to sell. Always be successful and busy, even if your watching food network all day.
 
Everyone has hit on it, but being a good salesperson is key. I suppose that's the "hard" answer.

I recently did an online campaign to acquire clients. I used a Craigslist and Yellow Pages scraper and collected local business e-mail addresses, populated them in an e-mail marketing program (MailChimp), and blasted a few introduction e-mail pitches. Here were the results:

  1. Industries: Plumbers, Landscapers, Lawyers, Restaurants, House Cleaners, Pool Services, and Pest Control
  2. Services Offered: Web design and SEO/PPC
  3. # Contacted: ~1,200
  4. Timeline: 6 Days
  5. Avg. Open Rate: 25%
  6. CTR: 10-12%
  7. Responses: 7 Emails, 3 Phone Calls
  8. Conversions: 2 (Gym owner and landscape service)
Online selling is possible, but it's a different beast. My favorite clients have always been the ones I've developed good relationships with, and being able to develop a good relationship with someone is parallel to good salesmanship in many aspects. Plus, you'll actually be a little more excited to help them succeed, and that's good business.

Other options for marketing online:

  • Reddit's r/forhire section
  • Craigslist ads
  • Backpage ads
  • Google PPC (I spent a week and $400 testing this out as well)
  • Elance.com, 99designs.com, Freelancer.com, Microlancer.com, ODesk.com
There seems to be a much larger barrier to entry with the "marketplace" web sites (with the exception of Microlancer.com which is newer and requires approval of providers as of this writing). You'll compete with a lot of people capable of providing the same services for more than half the cost. (Either they're overseas or they've automated something that you haven't)

And then sites like Craigslist and Backpage, while you'll get a lot of free eyes, are typically people with unrealistic expectations for their budgets (one person was offering to pay in freezer meals).

Reddit isn't a terrible choice. You'll get a few PMs if you market yourself correctly, but I haven't seen anything manifest from my measly two attempts there. Plus, you can't really spam yourself unless you want to risk getting your aged account ninja-banned like I did.

But ultimately, I prefer (and would recommend) just scraping Yellow Pages, organizing the companies in an excel document for CRM, and devoting 6-8 hours of calling business owners (8am-3pm seemed like the most ideal times). Again, that's for local business owners.

Business development isn't a cakewalk. And once you actually get a few clients in, then you get to manage them. And that's a whole different story.

Good luck. Learn to sell.

P.S. Good clients > client volume
 
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JohnCJackson said:
Any thoughts/ridicule/ass-pics???
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disturbing3.jpg
 
NO ONE can tutor you to become a better salesman for your own services, than yourself.

Follow this:

Try... if you fail, think of what you could have done better, how you could get customers interested in your services, what is your competition doing( spy on them for a bit).. then try again... and follow this cycle till the time you're confident that people are getting to know about your services... and you're getting a lot a of inquiries( may not be a sale to start with)

Hope that helps!
 
This is shaping up to be a good thread, but...

quintana said:
As for revenge, when you've made alternative arrangements and no longer need this company, carry on as if everything is fine, let them keep billing customers and sending you the orders, and do nothing. Wait until they email for an update, wait a little bit more and say there's a delay. And just keep going on like this until all of their customers are pissed off.

Then send an email shot to the delayed customers inviting them to post on rip-off report or something like that, slamming the company and destroying their reputation.

That's just off the top of my head, but I'm sure you can think of something better.
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wtf


hood-rat-behavior.gif
 
quintana said:
As for revenge, when you've made alternative arrangements and no longer need this company, carry on as if everything is fine, let them keep billing customers and sending you the orders, and do nothing. Wait until they email for an update, wait a little bit more and say there's a delay. And just keep going on like this until all of their customers are pissed off.

Then send an email shot to the delayed customers inviting them to post on rip-off report or something like that, slamming the company and destroying their reputation.
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Friend, this is how one develops a bad reputation.

Cshark said:
NO ONE can tutor you to become a better salesman for your own services, than yourself.

Follow this:
Click to expand...

Cshark said:
NO ONE can tutor you
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Cshark said:
NO ONE can tutor you
Click to expand...
Cshark said:
NO ONE can tutor you
Click to expand...
 
Is it that far fetched to develop a reseller or affiliate type program to handle the sales situation? It seems like if the rest of the work is being handled and is a smooth process, adding such an element would "complete the puzzle" so to speak. Am I way off?
 
Not sure what you are selling... but I think I want some, pm me about what is is you do, always looking for good service providers...

For not being good at sales you hooked me and I dont even know what it is you do
 
Thanks for all the help guys. I got paid something last night and went back to doing some work for that company, but I'm definitely going to use your advice to improve sales, diversify sources for accounts, etc.
 
You mentioned 2 friends on your original post. Are either of them good at sales? If not, you must know at least one person out there (we all do) that is a gifted salesperson. If there's money to be made I'm sure you can find someone to do the selling.
 
I read that you have something that needs to be done and works, for "local".

If it works then with my one little offline business alone you could make plenty. Forget being the grunt then running your service through several middle-person's, get paid direct. If I recall, in a different thread, CCarter simply takes a cut from business generated for local, he sells upfront (as I recall), but in this thread alone I see several people knocking at your door.

As has been said in this thread, if it works, getting paid is the easy part. Start with me or anyone else in this thread - you will make money, crap I pay 10% invoice for leads I generate to salespeople (that they close) and they get 20% for their own leads on five figure deals - that's 10% on the table for leads and I am no one around here (a true peasant compared to many).

If it works for local you have a sale - just send a PM, no social anxiety worries here - and that is a lesson for the future - local businesses need stuff that works. Period. If you have something that works, then there is no "sale", it is a matter of showing it works, then collecting your check.
 

I talked to OP, his service can be used by 90% of WickedFire members in my opinion. It adds SEO value and brand value as well. And from what I see, it's not of the low quality nature.

Now, people are really going to be interested OP... Time to buy a BST :D​
 
CCarter said:

I talked to OP, his service can be used by 90% of WickedFire members in my opinion. It adds SEO value and brand value as well. And from what I see, it's not of the low quality nature.

Now, people are really going to be interested OP... Time to buy a BST :D​
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Dat social proof.

You on dat JV warriorforum time?
 
Fatbat said:
You mentioned 2 friends on your original post. Are either of them good at sales? If not, you must know at least one person out there (we all do) that is a gifted salesperson. If there's money to be made I'm sure you can find someone to do the selling.
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Nope. 1 guy is on the ball but similar to me when it comes to social stuff/sales. The other guy seems to have his own ideas and is determined to compete solely on race-to-the-bottom pricing, and that's not what I'm trying to do. So I might not be dealing with him anymore, except I can think of a couple uses for him.

Somehow I think it's going to work out OK.
And, FWIW, I truly was not trying to sell anything here. I was looking for advice mainly on 1. How to deal with big client/middleman screwing me on money and 2. How to either make sales or outsource sales for my services, which I expected mostly requiring offline.
 
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