I’ve been a longtime lurker on this sub, doing extensive research through this community, almost to a detriment. I was, shit...I suppose I still am, a bit scatterbrained and easily enticed by the successes of others on this sub. I was stuck in analysis paralysis for…..longer than I’d like to admit, and to be frank I put myself into a position where I no longer could afford the investment capital needed to spend on any physical product. At that point, I decided to shuffle my feet forward and make progress towards my goal of starting a successful business.
My experience working for an ad agency helped me refine my skills and introduced me to some really talented people I could use as resources. Sweet, I thought, I’ll start a digital agency.
FUCK. This was A LOT harder than any post made it seem, that’s for fucking sure.
Like most agencies starting out, I wasn’t sure whether to attack a specific service and limit my opportunities, or cast a wide net by being a full service. I soon realized I didn’t have the resources to compete with full service agencies and decided to focus on the two things I was good at, and figure the rest out as business came in.
I decided to focus on SEO, web design, and E-commerce consulting since they were the areas I was most confident I could bring value to a client. After exhausting my network, I decided to do cold calls. When I first started making calls, I wasn’t sure which service I should try to sell first so I did some testing the process. I called hundreds of businesses selling them on the benefits of a site redesign. This was SUPER difficult. With all the web page builders out there and all the cheap labor available on places like upwork/fiver, I really had to sell my technical abilities and customer service.
I knew I needed to refine my approach. There’s a million designers out there, how could I really separate myself from the pack without lowering my prices? There’s no way I could compete with those kids abroad.
I changed my approach and decided to start calling as a marketing firm. I used this approach because ‘marketing’ is a very broad term, and a lot of services fall under the umbrella. I would do some research on the company beforehand and only call companies who I knew I could help, low hanging fruit if you will. I’d initially send them over a custom (somewhat custom) marketing proposal. Yes, some of you will say it’s spamming, and it kinda is, but when you put together a 30 page custom branded proposal, you’re bound to see more open rates. After sending them an email, I would wait a day or two and call the office often asking for the owner/manager by first name only, sometimes even in a nickname I think they might go by. Only do this when an assistant answers of course.* A lot of times I would get asked to leave a message, which I never do because they’ll never call me back. I am always friendly with the person on the phone and most of the time they are willing to tell me the best time of the day/week to call to most likely get them available.
I’d start off the conversation like this… “Hey Name, I found you through the chamber of commerce (found this tip in another thread, awesome because it shows your a local and someone involved in the community), and wanted to reach out. We’re a boutique marketing firm specializing in content marketing and SEO, I’m sure you get bothered my these types of calls all the time, and I’m sorry, but I’m just doing my due diligence in trying to grow a reputable company and thought your business would be a perfect fit for a case study for our business. I know you’re probably busy so I’m happy to drop by the office for a quick introduction to show you how we can help your business gain more traction. Do you have a 15 minute opening next week? I would also follow up by suggesting a specific time/date, leaving this up to them means nothing will ever happen in my experience. Something like...How does Thursday or Friday sound? Great, would the afternoon work best? How does 4 or 5 sound to you? That sorta thing I’ll usually end the convo by saying something along the lines of...Let’s meet either way, I’d love to build relationships with local business owners. I phrase it in a way that makes it seem like I am much more interested in their relationship than I am their business. I’m honest about it though, I am interested in meeting new people/friends as much as I am about getting new business, so either way it’s a win for me. People have to realize that not everyone you contact wants/needs your business, but that’s still not a wasted opportunity. The more you grow your network, the more you can leverage it. I’ve formed a few relationships through cold calling that have led to business down the line one way or another, use these people as resource!
Once I’m in the office and I go over my presentation, I mention if they’ve given any consideration to redesigning their website considering it’s a crucial element in the ecosystem. What good is SEO if the site looks untrustworthy, and vice versa, what good is a nice looking site if there isn’t any traffic? Most of the time this ends in us closing a deal on web design and SEO services, with data consulting something we just recently started upselling, even though I hate upselling...
I hope that was somewhat helpful to some of you….
Don’t let the outside noise in, just focus on you. You’ll probably never find the PERFECT idea, just pick something and devote yourself 100%. Don’t think of selling services to clients, think of ways you can provide VALUE. Otherwise you’re just another shitty Web/SEO person screwing over clients for short term gain and making it difficult for real professionals in the field! People are trusting you, don’t fuck them, eventually it will come back around…
Thanks to the people who put in the time to provide insightful info to us readers out there!
Cheers.
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