I had a very interesting chat with a potential client today. It wasn't my first similar situation, but I felt like making a thread about this on WickedFire to share my thoughts and hear your opinions.
I was contacted by a potential client asking whether my SEO services could make him about $6k a day off his landing page. I had a rather interesting chat with him. I'm not going to be revealing the identity of the client for obvious reasons, mainly because I know he didn't mean to be an ass but was just clueless about how things actually work and just acted like any other rational human being would and secondly because I don't want to piss him off or hurt his feelings in any way.
The only reason I'm starting this thread is because I want to share the experience with you guys. It isn't meant to attack anyone personally nor is it meant to make the client feel stupid and dumb. He was being perfectly rational in his place.
Phase 1: The Inquiry
This is just the same as any other discussion where the client inquires about the various packages you have available and the pricing. You tell them what you offer and what they can expect. Now suddenly, he asked me if I had any senior SEO experts who could make his landing page rank NOW!
I told him that there's no way on Earth anyone could make his landing page rank NOW for a fairly competitive keyword. He then explained that he meant "within 2 weeks" when he said "NOW".
However, it is still difficult considering Google is sometimes sluggish and lazy in picking up links hence WhiteHat is not the way to go. Possibly GreyHat or Blackhat would do but we don't encourage blackhat much so the SEO guy wouldn't be suggesting any techniques himself, he'd just implement the ones you ask him to.
So far so good, he wanted his landing page to rank for a fairly competitive keyword within 2 weeks, Achievable! However, the shock came in later.
Phase 2: Build be a fuckin' BLOG NETWORK
Whoa!!
He then tells me that he'd want my SEO guy to build him a blog network with a thousand blogs to make his landing page rank. I asked him his budget because it is quite unusual for someone to just talk about a 1000 blog building order during the first chat with an outsourcing company. He claimed, "I make $20,000 a day so don't talk to me about money!". I must say, I was rather surprised but a bit annoyed too at the way he reacted to me asking his budget. (Like I was supposed to know he makes that kinda money).
Anyways, leaving that aside, he wanted to hire one of our senior SEO guys to build him a blog network of 1000 websites. I informed him that he'd require a team of 8-10 junior employees working on the project if he wanted a 1000 blog network to be ready within 3 months. It is kinda impossible within 2 weeks!
However, he showed interest here and I thought he probably is potentially a huge client who would get the company business of about $30,000 a month since he'd probably hire a team of 30-40 in the hopes of getting results in 2 weeks even though I strongly insisted that it is impossible.
Phase 3: Explaining his goals
He then continued explaining that he wanted to make atleast $6k a day off the landing page within 2 weeks. He'd be willing to wait it out for a month or so if the need be but 2 weeks would be preferable.
I didn't LOL at him because I didn't want to sound rude but I did crack up silently.
He then asked me why I was suggesting that he should hire a team of SEO guys? He thought I was trying to sell him as much of my crap as possible.
Honestly, this whole time, I was doing my best to explain that his goals are unrealistic but at the same time I didn't want to lose a client so I said it a bit subtly because he was convinced that this is possible because there is a friend of his who is making that kind of money.
Now here's where I got kinda worried about this entire deal.
Phase 4: Don't try selling me BullShit!
The way the conversation was turning out, it seemed to me like he was convinced I was trying to rip him off. He mentioned that he had a friend making $2k a day off his landing page thanks to a company whom he pays $1.3k a month to!
He wanted to know why I was charging him $2.3k for just one senior SEO specialist when he could get an entire company working for him for $1.3k a month. I didn't want to get into details so I tried explaining to him that e wanted to build a blog network with a 1000 blogs, that was why I was charging him so much.
He insisted that it shouldn't cost so much.
He also said that making $6k off a landing page in 2 weeks is possible because others were doing it. (Even though I suggested that those people have their foundations built pretty firm and that's why they can do it, he just thought that I was too much of a newbie to do it and that's why I was discouraging him from having aims that far fetched.)
Phase 5: The BYE-BYE
I suggested that he should try using the same company too...and he stopped answering on AIM :|
______________________________________________________
C'mon guys, you must understand one thing. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
It gets irritating talking politely to clueless people who try bargaining with you giving examples such as:
My friend is using a company that does the SEo for $1,300 so why should I pay you $30k a month when I can get the same shit cheaper?
This is the kind of answer you'll get: Because you're not getting the SAME shit!. You're just getting shit for $1,300 a month. If you're paying $30k a month, you'll get something worth the $30k a month you'll be paying.
So here's my question to WFers, do you guys face such situations often? If yes, how do you deal with 'em?
NOTE: ONCE AGAIN, I HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF PERSONALLY ATTACKING THE CLIENT WHO CONTACTED ME ASKING ME STUPID QUESTIONS. I WILL LET HIS IDENTITY REMAIN UNDISCLOSED BECAUSE HE WASN'T AT FAULT, IT IS JUST THE WAY ANY NORMAL HUMAN BEING WITH LITTLE SEO KNOWLEDGE WOULD BEHAVE WHEN THEY'RE OUT HIRING!
I was contacted by a potential client asking whether my SEO services could make him about $6k a day off his landing page. I had a rather interesting chat with him. I'm not going to be revealing the identity of the client for obvious reasons, mainly because I know he didn't mean to be an ass but was just clueless about how things actually work and just acted like any other rational human being would and secondly because I don't want to piss him off or hurt his feelings in any way.
The only reason I'm starting this thread is because I want to share the experience with you guys. It isn't meant to attack anyone personally nor is it meant to make the client feel stupid and dumb. He was being perfectly rational in his place.
Phase 1: The Inquiry
This is just the same as any other discussion where the client inquires about the various packages you have available and the pricing. You tell them what you offer and what they can expect. Now suddenly, he asked me if I had any senior SEO experts who could make his landing page rank NOW!
I told him that there's no way on Earth anyone could make his landing page rank NOW for a fairly competitive keyword. He then explained that he meant "within 2 weeks" when he said "NOW".
However, it is still difficult considering Google is sometimes sluggish and lazy in picking up links hence WhiteHat is not the way to go. Possibly GreyHat or Blackhat would do but we don't encourage blackhat much so the SEO guy wouldn't be suggesting any techniques himself, he'd just implement the ones you ask him to.
So far so good, he wanted his landing page to rank for a fairly competitive keyword within 2 weeks, Achievable! However, the shock came in later.
Phase 2: Build be a fuckin' BLOG NETWORK
Whoa!!
He then tells me that he'd want my SEO guy to build him a blog network with a thousand blogs to make his landing page rank. I asked him his budget because it is quite unusual for someone to just talk about a 1000 blog building order during the first chat with an outsourcing company. He claimed, "I make $20,000 a day so don't talk to me about money!". I must say, I was rather surprised but a bit annoyed too at the way he reacted to me asking his budget. (Like I was supposed to know he makes that kinda money).
Anyways, leaving that aside, he wanted to hire one of our senior SEO guys to build him a blog network of 1000 websites. I informed him that he'd require a team of 8-10 junior employees working on the project if he wanted a 1000 blog network to be ready within 3 months. It is kinda impossible within 2 weeks!
However, he showed interest here and I thought he probably is potentially a huge client who would get the company business of about $30,000 a month since he'd probably hire a team of 30-40 in the hopes of getting results in 2 weeks even though I strongly insisted that it is impossible.
Phase 3: Explaining his goals
He then continued explaining that he wanted to make atleast $6k a day off the landing page within 2 weeks. He'd be willing to wait it out for a month or so if the need be but 2 weeks would be preferable.
I didn't LOL at him because I didn't want to sound rude but I did crack up silently.
He then asked me why I was suggesting that he should hire a team of SEO guys? He thought I was trying to sell him as much of my crap as possible.
Honestly, this whole time, I was doing my best to explain that his goals are unrealistic but at the same time I didn't want to lose a client so I said it a bit subtly because he was convinced that this is possible because there is a friend of his who is making that kind of money.
Now here's where I got kinda worried about this entire deal.
Phase 4: Don't try selling me BullShit!
The way the conversation was turning out, it seemed to me like he was convinced I was trying to rip him off. He mentioned that he had a friend making $2k a day off his landing page thanks to a company whom he pays $1.3k a month to!
He wanted to know why I was charging him $2.3k for just one senior SEO specialist when he could get an entire company working for him for $1.3k a month. I didn't want to get into details so I tried explaining to him that e wanted to build a blog network with a 1000 blogs, that was why I was charging him so much.
He insisted that it shouldn't cost so much.
He also said that making $6k off a landing page in 2 weeks is possible because others were doing it. (Even though I suggested that those people have their foundations built pretty firm and that's why they can do it, he just thought that I was too much of a newbie to do it and that's why I was discouraging him from having aims that far fetched.)
Phase 5: The BYE-BYE
I suggested that he should try using the same company too...and he stopped answering on AIM :|
______________________________________________________
C'mon guys, you must understand one thing. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
It gets irritating talking politely to clueless people who try bargaining with you giving examples such as:
My friend is using a company that does the SEo for $1,300 so why should I pay you $30k a month when I can get the same shit cheaper?
This is the kind of answer you'll get: Because you're not getting the SAME shit!. You're just getting shit for $1,300 a month. If you're paying $30k a month, you'll get something worth the $30k a month you'll be paying.
So here's my question to WFers, do you guys face such situations often? If yes, how do you deal with 'em?
NOTE: ONCE AGAIN, I HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF PERSONALLY ATTACKING THE CLIENT WHO CONTACTED ME ASKING ME STUPID QUESTIONS. I WILL LET HIS IDENTITY REMAIN UNDISCLOSED BECAUSE HE WASN'T AT FAULT, IT IS JUST THE WAY ANY NORMAL HUMAN BEING WITH LITTLE SEO KNOWLEDGE WOULD BEHAVE WHEN THEY'RE OUT HIRING!
