Selling IM/SEO

Zos0r

Zos0r

New member
Oct 15, 2009
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So I recently signed a contract with a small firm in a sales position. I'll be in charge of the whole sales process from beginning to closing the deal, while these guys service the clients (hehe service...)

Anyhoo, I'm doing a fair amount of prospecting/data mining to find good candidates for our services and I've got a nice juicy spreadsheet of folks who could benefit.

I'm unsure of how to break the ice/get in with these folks. Showing up to someone's office unannounced sounds like a bad idea. Cold calling is a pretty shitty method in my experience. Direct mail and targeted email blasts seem like my best bet, but I'm unsure.

Anyone interested in sharing some insight into this part of the sales process?



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because of the fantastic asses in this thread i will try to be helpful -

1. mailing definitely works, but don't expect results until the 4-7th time they see a post card.

2. you can customize a letter to each prospect, hand signed - introduce yourself and what your company does, then list 3-4 things specific to their business that they are doing wrong on their website, and how your services can increase their revenue by fixing / doing the following things.

Some might call you based on the letter, but this allows you to break the ice so to speak long before you cold call them.
 
i wouldn't discount walking into their offices so quickly.
It's a really effective method and they're much more likely to hear you out

When i first started my bnm I spent two weeks walking around town into each and every business and met all the owners and talked them up. I literally parked my car at my office and walked in a giant loop around town stopping at every one. It did wonders for starting out and they were a lot more friendly than i originally expected. The first 10 you walk into will be kind of nerve racking but after that it becomes super easy. The best advice I can offer when walking into an office cold don't be in a rush to get through the receptionist to the person you really want to talk to, because in the end she's the one who's going to be the one to complete all the sales paperwork and make sure it gets done and she's the one whos in charge of getting rid of salesman at the door so they don't bug the boss. Walk in and behave as if she's the only person you're looking for and you'll get through every time

Another idea is, if this is a local business (sounds like it since you said you were considering doing walk ins) join the chamber of commerce. They usually all meet there every week.
 
Barman: I'm going to go ahead and order some mailers this weekend. Thanks man : )

Eli: I'm probably going to need to get past my approach anxiety for this to work. Fuck it. Fear no gatekeeper!

+rep guys (like you need it) Thanks a ton!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk2jeE1LOn8"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]
 
Consultative sales approach usually works best for SEO services, find their websites, see which keywords they're targeting (through meta tags and backlinks) and then do an analysis of their competition. Make a few graphs and show them what it would take to outrank them, and how you (if they hire you of course) could do it all for them.
 
Ok forget postcards! That's a waste of time if you are in a crowded metropol or city or w/e it is you are in.

Here are some tips, I worked in a digital signage and digital billboard (huge ones) venture and family is involved in this type of local business so I learned a couple things about the brick and mortar world.

First, make a standard proposal template that you can edit easily edit.

2. Make a list of the top 100 companies you want to reach out to and really see some potential in making something good for them.

*They all want to see some numbers so be sure you can make some solid assumptions about what you think you can do to them.

Approach the big guys, and charge high. Dont get into small business persons unless they really look like they have something good going on. Its not worth it to discuss prices, you set up an offer, you guarante results and they will pay you w/e it is if you follow up and look the real deal. Be genuine and open about how you do stuff, dont make yourself look like a 500 fortune company if you are not.

3. Take one day and study the crap out the company and the bosses, find out what you can about the owner, what he is into or w/e.

I used to call the office just to get some info out of the receptionist. Really Im not kidding, sometimes just check out ther ride parked out front, you might see a golf club sticker or something like that that you can use to your advantage when speaking to them and bonding.

4. Play on their terms, make them feel that you really look up colaborating with them and you want to give them a try.

5. Read some persuasion books, really if you haven't. They work, its not even motivational shit, some advice is quite logical, but when you see how it plays out you really can get away and closing almost every fricking sale. DALE CARNEGIE! This stuff changed stuff for me. Some people will say otherwise but meh.

Again, go for 100 of the big guys and commit to them. Dont get carried away thinking of volume. Just 2-3 solid clients can give you a damn decent income and your reputation will stand for it.

Build a good portfolio and start projects at $6,000-$10,000 and then charge a goal based monthly price quote.


Good luck there, I guess the best advice I can give is to make them feel important and that you are a real honest guy, not a company looking for another client.

Fran

There always so much stuff to learn here, I just digg this kind of stuff.
 
ayzo said:
Consultative sales approach usually works best for SEO services, find their websites, see which keywords they're targeting (through meta tags and backlinks) and then do an analysis of their competition. Make a few graphs and show them what it would take to outrank them, and how you (if they hire you of course) could do it all for them.
Click to expand...

I have a friend that does local SEO work and this works wonders for him. Chamber of Commerce is also a great way to meet other business owners/managers etc. If your outgoing and sharp, you can get some good business just from the networking luncheons.
 
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