My 9 day challenge $0 - $1,500
- Thread starter pa2phoenix
- Start date
You can have Tempe... My least favorite part of this city..
UPDATE: Had some personal shit I to deal with today, so I would say I prob only worked a total of 2 hrs looking up and calling on businesses... Talked to some interested people.
Rough stats:
-around 30 calls made
-Mostly answering machines today for some reason
-3 Not interested
-2 just had a website built in the last month
-1 Face to face appt set for next week. (client is sold on website, but wants a face to face consult so I can explain what needs to happen to rank their site)
- 1 callback for tomorrow, and if he is available he wants to meet. (should also be an easy close for me)
No new money generated today.. Also my first appointment's friend who also owns a business has been telling her he wants a website, just doesn't know who to talk to etc.. That was an easy referral and he will be sold within a week as well.. Sucks I couldn't put in a full day today, but tomorrow I should be able to.
Grew up back and forth between Philly and Allentown. Both places that I strangely miss... People here in phoenix/scottsdale are just not my style.. I'm a little to "direct" for them lol
What kind of businesses are you targeting? Lawyers? Doctors? Are you targeting specific occupations or casting a wide net?
I target pretty much everyone except for any kind of business that does artsy type shit where I think they are going to be a pain in my ass when it comes to designing the website..
looks like a good start...
question though to soupyone and pa2phoenix or anyone else running this type of biz.. i used to basically do this same thing before i ever got into affiliate marketing although i was really just a sales rep for a company using this type of biz model and making a good commission on every sale.
My only pet peeve/problem with going out and doing this myself was that the clients usually more than half the time were a pain in the ass or didnt put in their content. We specialized in doing more of a template type site with a simple what ya see is what ya get editor and allowed the clients to put in their info (although most of the time we wound up doing most of it for them) they also rarely if ever had any type of digital material such as their logo, photos, info etc.
So I wound up doing a lot of extra work to get this stuff for the site and also deal with their requests like "could you make the background all look like leather?" (horse-farm) if anyone here reads theoatmeal.com its basically those type of situations.
do you offer a selection of colors/templates for them to choose from? Do you offer any graphic design type stuff included or charge them extra?
Just curious on how some of you guys deal with/avoid some of these clients turning into more work then their worth. Of course with this type of biz you need to work with people and its more involved than most AM type stuff which anyone should expect, but if you have any tips or pointers feel free to share.
question though to soupyone and pa2phoenix or anyone else running this type of biz.. i used to basically do this same thing before i ever got into affiliate marketing although i was really just a sales rep for a company using this type of biz model and making a good commission on every sale.
My only pet peeve/problem with going out and doing this myself was that the clients usually more than half the time were a pain in the ass or didnt put in their content. We specialized in doing more of a template type site with a simple what ya see is what ya get editor and allowed the clients to put in their info (although most of the time we wound up doing most of it for them) they also rarely if ever had any type of digital material such as their logo, photos, info etc.
So I wound up doing a lot of extra work to get this stuff for the site and also deal with their requests like "could you make the background all look like leather?" (horse-farm) if anyone here reads theoatmeal.com its basically those type of situations.
do you offer a selection of colors/templates for them to choose from? Do you offer any graphic design type stuff included or charge them extra?
Just curious on how some of you guys deal with/avoid some of these clients turning into more work then their worth. Of course with this type of biz you need to work with people and its more involved than most AM type stuff which anyone should expect, but if you have any tips or pointers feel free to share.
^^ a contract.
"Cient can choose from a selection of pre tested and proven design templates......bespoke customizations beyond those provided in template editor are charged at $xxx per hour.....SEO agreement is persuant to client provided copy meeting all copy guidelines..... changes to client supplied copy will be charged at $xxx per hour.."
Obvioulsy just something i threw togetter as an example, if doing any volume get your contracts looked over by a lawyer
"Cient can choose from a selection of pre tested and proven design templates......bespoke customizations beyond those provided in template editor are charged at $xxx per hour.....SEO agreement is persuant to client provided copy meeting all copy guidelines..... changes to client supplied copy will be charged at $xxx per hour.."
Obvioulsy just something i threw togetter as an example, if doing any volume get your contracts looked over by a lawyer
I'm really not a hater I just don't get what's so fascinating about this thread. So you're starting a web design company and you're cold calling people out of the yellow pages? What am I missing that's getting everyone else excited? I'm not against doing it, in fact I used to run a web design business (albeit I still do... just not so cookie-cutter anymore). If this is indeed just a web design business I wish you luck, but beware and be prepared to handle a ton of support calls, especially if your customer base is made up of old-timey "anti-website until you came along" types... It gets to be a serious burden. And customer service believe it or not is pretty hard to outsource or subcontract when you're dealing with local clients who each have specific needs and a history with you. Again though I haven't really read that much of the thread so correct me if I'm wrong.
^ I agree with bizzy but it's still cool he's documenting the startup and ins/outs - most people here are dying in this industry looking for cheap quick flips. Used to run a design biz as well and can relate to everything stated, however if it's quick automation and proper foundations with each client, it's a nice monthly recur within 6 months plus new rev. If you can handle a few hundred clients a year with minimal/autoamted support sure it can be lucrative and passive.
Wish you luck if you take it past the test, lot's of money in local biz it's just what you do with your time, and everyone here enjoys the (idea of) passive automation without having to deal with idiots for $ one to one. I say who cares how you make your million or what you test to do it to get them in your funnel. If I could tie shoelaces for a year straight to ensure me a million I'd do it.
EDIT: http://www.fiverr.com/users/amandajo713/gigs/show-you-how-to-creatively-lace-your-shoelaces << Fuck even that idea is gone.
Wish you luck if you take it past the test, lot's of money in local biz it's just what you do with your time, and everyone here enjoys the (idea of) passive automation without having to deal with idiots for $ one to one. I say who cares how you make your million or what you test to do it to get them in your funnel. If I could tie shoelaces for a year straight to ensure me a million I'd do it.
EDIT: http://www.fiverr.com/users/amandajo713/gigs/show-you-how-to-creatively-lace-your-shoelaces << Fuck even that idea is gone.
I HATE the design business, dealing with people with NO eye for design who insist on getting things exactly the way they want and being cheap about it? No thanks.
Selling SEO and letting the minions do the work? boom... Headshot.
Fun Fact: Last year my average design client paid $1,300. This year our average marketing client paid $5,550.
^ Absolutely right, I should have said 'media' business, and yeah seo was in there along with countless other toptier and random as fuck services... Took me 12 years and some big ups and downs to realize that servicing is just not for me, and delegating other top talent/skill became hard.
Fun Fact: Since I became my own client, I've never taken on another one
But if you have what it takes to run a good profitable shop more power to you!!
Fun Fact: Since I became my own client, I've never taken on another one
But if you have what it takes to run a good profitable shop more power to you!!
^ Absolutely right, I should have said 'media' business, and yeah seo was in there along with countless other toptier and random as fuck services... Took me 12 years and some big ups and downs to realize that servicing is just not for me, and delegating other top talent/skill became hard.
Fun Fact: Since I became my own client, I've never taken on another one
Agreed. Servicing clients is a pain in the biotch. Everyday I'm closer to never having to speak to a customer again. The system is becoming the asset.
I don't know how I could do that with design the way we are with SEO.
Update:
Friday - spent a few hours calling and set 2 new appts. 1 for this week. 1 for next. Went to meet with 1 client and got 700$ upfront for 5 page site + places optimization. Collected another 200 dollars for SEO work that will be continuing every month.
So far 900$ out of my 1500 dollar goal has been met with this method.
Today - Spent all day working on infrastructure for another part of my business. I will make some more calls this afternoon.
Goal for the rest of the week is to go out on 4 appts and see how much I can squeeze out of them. I'm hoping for close to 3,000$ with just doing this. Tomorrow I'm going to spend at least 3 hours calling my local area here setting more appts.
I will continue update.
Friday - spent a few hours calling and set 2 new appts. 1 for this week. 1 for next. Went to meet with 1 client and got 700$ upfront for 5 page site + places optimization. Collected another 200 dollars for SEO work that will be continuing every month.
So far 900$ out of my 1500 dollar goal has been met with this method.
Today - Spent all day working on infrastructure for another part of my business. I will make some more calls this afternoon.
Goal for the rest of the week is to go out on 4 appts and see how much I can squeeze out of them. I'm hoping for close to 3,000$ with just doing this. Tomorrow I'm going to spend at least 3 hours calling my local area here setting more appts.
I will continue update.
Somewhere between your sales script and "If you don't buy this award winning service in the next 29 seconds, your dick will explode." is what you want to be saying.
LOL.. I have a TON of experience in high pressure sales, and well... I'm just fucking tired of it, and those clients who you get them to buy while their in the ether end up becoming a major pain in the ass... I use more "high probability selling" now just because I don't feel like doing all the typical sales tactic bullshit anymore.. However, when I do bring in a sales team shortly, they WILL be doing all of that bullshit.. And I will not be dealing with any customer service issues with those clients..
So how fast are your turnarounds? How long do you tell your clients to wait until they see results on the google? Do you outsource any/all of your work? Do you accept rusty trombones as payment?
Good stuff though... actually motivated me to answer some emails for clients heh... love it when i dont need to sell them.
As far as turnaround time for google I tell them at least double what my expectations are. If I know I can do it in 3 months, I tell them 6.. Keeps complaints low...
Right now the only acceptable forms of payment are money or hookers and blow..
Sounds like lots of Phoenix people in here. I'm selling some really prime Tempe/Scottsdale web properties. Let me know if you're interested.