Hey everyone,

I have meeting tomorrow with a big manufacturing company. I'm going to be presenting in front of the 3 owners () and explaining to them what I can do in web design and SEO. That's what their interested in and desperately need. Their current website is terrible and their ranking for basically nothing but some keywords when searched from IP's in their area.

It is a warm lead and I do know one of them. I also know their business isn't doing too well. I'm just hoping they don't think Oh this will only cost a couple hundred bucks.

I just started offline but I'm experienced in SEO and have some affiliate websites that do pretty well. I have a designer that I'll be paying 50% of the web design if I land the deal.

I have freshbooks setup and I'll be using docusign for the contract.

I have a powerpoint I printed out and I'll be going through it with them. I'll post it hear if I close them to show you what I did. It's pretty simple and I'm sure it's very far from being the best. I just hope enthusiasm and getting them to see the big picture will be enough to get them to move forward. They have a huge opportunity because I've actually found one other company in their industry that has done seo work and in the past months that companies traffic went up 3000%.

I have zero sales experience but I'm going to go in there confident but not cocky and show no signs of neediness and hope I don't start to shake

I'll be offering the following prices (I also have detailed proposals)

Natural SEO Campaign:

• Initial Setup Fee, Keyword Research, Web-site Optimization: $500

• Monthly SEO Campaign Cost: $1,500

• Contract Duration: 12 Months

Local SEO Campaign:

• Initial Setup Fee, Keyword Research: $250

• Monthly Local SEO Campaign Cost: $750

• Contract Duration: 6 Months

Custom Wordpress Template Design:

• Initial Setup Fee: $500
• Custom Wordpress Design: $1500
• Updates and Maintenance: $50 per hour

Gold SEO Package: (Local SEO + Natural SEO)

• Initial Setup Fee, Keyword Research, Web-site Optimization: $700

• Monthly Local SEO + Natural SEO: $2,000

• Contract Duration: 12 Months

Platinum Package: (Web Design + Local SEO + Natural SEO)

• Initial setup fee: $1,000
• Custom Wordpress Template Design: $1,250
• Monthly Local SEO + Natural SEO Campaign: $1,500
• Updates and Maintenance: $50 per hour
• Contract Duration: 12 Months

Just wanted to share with everyone because I love reading other forum members experiences and I hope I can make one of those 10,000 dollars a month in 6 months thread.

Wish me luck guys

Looks awesome to me man .... Go ahead with it ... Since you know one of them, you shouldn't be all that nervous, the more nervous you are the more you will be screwing up. Relax practice the pitch at home with your friends if you have to and then go talk to them.

All the best!

Hey just wanted to pop in and say best of luck to you! I just got my 1st 2 clients this month, I think business people are keen to spend money for targeted customers if they can get a return. You will do fantastic, keep it dollars and cents focused they dont know or want to know any SEO terms. All they want to know is what you can give them and when can they get it. If you can convince them they need you, there will be that 1st client for you!

Best Wishes.

Don't be nervous, just treat them like friends. Before you start your presentation say "sorry I'm not a polished speaker, I'm a tech guy and not really a Sales guy"
This will actually help them to relax....because being a tech guy gives the image of someone who fixes problems. Remember, nobody likes to be sold too....the best Sales people in the world are the ones who really want to help their clients and treat them more like friends than customers.

update please..

Hey guys and thanks for the good luck wishes

ok so here's how it went.

Got to the office 10 minutes early, Signed in and waited about 7 minutes. I was lead to an office and was met by the 3 owners and the accountant. Before hand I printed out 3 powerpoint presentations, 2 of them had to shared because I didn't know I was presenting in front of 4 people.

During the first slide i was pretty nervous and slipped up on a few words but once moving to the next slide I just got in the zone.

My presentation went over local and natural seo. Everything went smoothly and there was even some laughs.

Once finished with the presentation I showed them one of there main competitors that had a fully optimized website that was done correctly meaning each page they had was optimized for a specific keyword and how all there pages had a very specific call to action. They loved it and wanted something just like it. I then gave them my proposal. Took them through what I actually would be doing (how i get my backlinks, the timeline of how things would go if they moved forward ect ect)

Then I handed them my pricing sheet. The head owner kept mentioning if we take the platinum package and then he would ask a question. I answered all questions perfectly but I still think I may have overwhelmed them a little bit even though I was trying to make it as simple as possible. (they knew very little about the internet) They were also worried about if something happened to me what would they do. I explained to them they wouldn't have to do anything. By that time I would have built up such a strong foundation that there site would pretty much stay in the same position.

I believe even though I made it very simple some thing just weren't getting through. One thing that was pretty strange was that they were worrying about getting leads from people that they don't or can't service and they would need to spend more time filtering and reviewing the leads they were going to get. Which to me sounds like a pretty stupid thing to worry about. More leads equals more business and the only leads their getting were through some directory site were they pay a specific amount for each keyword and it didn't bring in much business

After they looked at the pricing they were interested in the platinum package. It ended with "were going to need to process and discuss this"

They told me thanks and that they loved the information and presentation.

The meeting lasted an hour and a half. They asked alot of questions and because of all their questions I think it made it sound more confusing than what I laid out.

I felt 2 of them were on board and the other two were a little overwhelmed. I also felt they may have been worried about the price. I mentioned nothing about price. They said, so this would cost this much and I just said yes.

I feel the one thing I could have done better is focus on them making a return. I did mention it multiple times but I feel I should have talked about it more.

All and all I think i'm going to get this client, but even if I don't it feels good knowing that if I did this well in front of 4 business owners. talking to smaller business owners should be no problem. It also felt good being the one with the power and knowledge

I would say to anyone worrying about presenting in front of people, just do it, if you actually understand SEO and online marketing whatever questions they ask will be extremely easy for you to answer.

When do you guys think I should send a follow up email if I don't hear back?

Look, get the accountant out of the room next time, (most) look at costs only.

Did you explicitly tell them the benefit of all this SEO mumbo jumbo ? Eg, the higher you are in the search engines the more traffic you'll get. The more traffic you get the more MONEY you'll make even if your conversion rate stays the same.

Give them a hard example, 'if you make $10,000 now with x amount of traffic, you'll make this much with 1.3x traffic'

If you did then good, if not contact them now with this type of information. Gooluck

Congrats. It takes balls to do what you did!! Remember, you are the one with the knowledge. Keep it simple. All they care about is "will this really work?" and "price". They dont care how it gets done because they wouldnt be able to tell you if you were doing it wrong or right anyway. I hope you get the contract.

You can follow up the next 5-7 days if they not responding, back-up some useful information about SEO and how they can benefits on having implemented it. GoodLuck!

Good job man. Sounds like you gave a great presentation and I think it is OK to overwhelm some of the crowd.

Don't forget to send a thank you note individually to each person to whom you presented....or at LEAST to the owners.

Good job! Accountants can be a tough sell!!! One of my clients is a CPA so I had to dumb the internet talk down and make it about $$$.

Good Luck For You mate, I wonder if this is your first time with a client? Don't be nervous, ;D just be calm and enjoy the ride,

In my sales days I always tried to close the sale right there on the spot a couple of times. ABC= Always Be Closing. Try this close next time:

So, aside from the price (if they were objecting price), is there anything else that would keep you from moving forward today?

As they bring up excuses, eliminate them and keep closing. What you are doing is getting rid of all objections and getting to the root of their hesitation. I used to get to the point where I put my clients at a loss for words because they could not come up with anymore excuses. Those guys would not buy if it were free. Time wasters.

If they're concerned about the price, they're going to let you know or just not call back. If they don't and you call back. Make sure to emphasize the value in what you're selling to them. Try to touch on the average lifetime value of their customers and make sure they know they will potentially get xxx clients per month which equates to $xx,xxx revenue more a month and $xxx,xxx lifetime value (or higher) and they only pay $x,xxx a month. (something like that).

JUST NOTICED: Contract for 12 months? That's pretty intimidating to a business if they're not completely convinced in your service. Try offering a re-evaluation after three months. Here's the deal, once you get the campaign going and show them their great website and all. They're not going to want to throw away that investment after 3 months when they see the progress of the campaign. Having a 3 month re-evaluation will put the company more at ease with going in on this, but also secure you're money and most likely it will turn into the 12 month contract.

Custom Wordpress Template Design: $1,250

very serious money for such an easy task i believe.


if you can deal for the platinum the prices are extremely good for you

Originally Posted by ILoveCSharp

Custom Wordpress Template Design: $1,250

very serious money for such an easy task i believe.

How you can say that if you didn't see the design ?

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

I'll definitely be sending a thank you letter to the owners (good tip)

It's funny too because now I just want to go back and make a few subtle changes that probably would have made the world of difference.

One great thing is if they decide not to go with me I have another way to talk to another owner in the same niche and like a said its wide open for one of these companies to come in and dominate the online market. So one way or another i'm going to get a client in this niche.

Today you 10 folded your value! No matter if you get this client or not you have invested in yourself and will gain confidence and knowledge that will pave the way to a successful future.

Don't worry about loosing a client you never had.
Do Not Sell them a Service. Sell Them the BENEFITS e.g. More money, customers high ROI.

Project them in the future, ask them questions like "How much would 5 new customers be worth to you a month? "

But maybe more important than anything. Listen to them! Understand their language, business and concerns. You already sound like a wizard if you mention PPC,SEO and PR :-). Tell them you are going to meet with couple other places (their competition). And Please DO NOT Appear to be Desperate !


On the hand: you mentioned they are concerned about filtering the calls/leads.

If it were me I would have jumped on there and offered special "leads filtering service" :-)
but than again I ran lead generation company and own a manufacturing marketplace to redirect the "leads". Get paid both ways.


Anyway, All best to you!!
Practice - Practice and Numbers game - Statistically you have to close some.

Originally Posted by KraftyKyle

If they're concerned about the price, they're going to let you know or just not call back. If they don't and you call back. Make sure to emphasize the value in what you're selling to them. Try to touch on the average lifetime value of their customers and make sure they know they will potentially get xxx clients per month which equates to $xx,xxx revenue more a month and $xxx,xxx lifetime value (or higher) and they only pay $x,xxx a month. (something like that).

JUST NOTICED: Contract for 12 months? That's pretty intimidating to a business if they're not completely convinced in your service. Try offering a re-evaluation after three months. Here's the deal, once you get the campaign going and show them their great website and all. They're not going to want to throw away that investment after 3 months when they see the progress of the campaign. Having a 3 month re-evaluation will put the company more at ease with going in on this, but also secure you're money and most likely it will turn into the 12 month contract.

Thank you Krafty Kyle, At the last moment I changed the contract from 6 months, to a 12 month contract, why, idk, i felt i had nothing to loose but now that you brought that up I'm even more confident that if I implement what you said above and cut the contract to 3 months it will be more than enough to get them to move forward.

Originally Posted by ILoveCSharp

Custom Wordpress Template Design: $1,250

very serious money for such an easy task i believe.


if you can deal for the platinum the prices are extremely good for you

I understand your concern but my designer does amazing work and it will be worth every penny they pay.

Originally Posted by AdisLCS

Today you 10 folded your value! No matter if you get this client or not you have invested in yourself and will gain confidence and knowledge that will pave the way to a successful future.

Don't worry about loosing a client you never had.
Do Not Sell them a Service. Sell Them the BENEFITS e.g. More money, customers high ROI.

Project them in the future, ask them questions like "How much would 5 new customers be worth to you a month? "

But maybe more important than anything. Listen to them! Understand their language, business and concerns. You already sound like a wizard if you mention PPC,SEO and PR :-). Tell them you are going to meet with couple other places (their competition). And Please DO NOT Appear to be Desperate !


On the hand: you mentioned they are concerned about filtering the calls/leads.

If it were me I would have jumped on there and offered special "leads filtering service" :-)
but than again I ran lead generation company and own a manufacturing marketplace to redirect the "leads". Get paid both ways.


Anyway, All best to you!!
Practice - Practice and Numbers game - Statistically you have to close some.

Project them in the future, ask them questions like "How much would 5 new customers be worth to you a month? "

This is something I definitely will not forget to do in my next meeting.

I also did not come of needy at all. I've been studying Oren Klaff's book, Pitch Anything and the chapter that really stuck with me so far after one read was the chapter on eradicating neediness

appreciate the tips

$1,000 set-up fee might be kind of harsh?

We're all counting on you.

Don't blow it.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by Fenchel

$1,000 set-up fee might be kind of harsh?

We're all counting on you.

Don't blow it.

Best of luck.

setup fee is essential for some of the unique services I provide that other SEO's don't

lulz i'll try not to

You got the hardest part out of the way. Usually, I like to charge a higher start up fee than monthly fee, but whatever you want to do.

Congratulations on your presentation. I had to do a similar presentation a few months back with a paint manufacturer and ended up landing a $1995/month contract. I will edit this post with the thread I made here in a minute.

You did Good, even if you don't get this customer. You took the first step and actually went and took action. Next time you go in to pitch a potential client you will be much more confident and relaxed.

Like others have said it this thread, sales are a numbers game....you have to expect to fail X amount of times before you win one. So don't be afraid of failure...each failure just means you are another step closer to a WIN.

+repped and thanked.

keep your chin up mate- well done and hope you sign big fat contract

Originally Posted by daveguy

You got the hardest part out of the way. Usually, I like to charge a higher start up fee than monthly fee, but whatever you want to do.

I agree. Give higher set up fee then lower monthly fee. Typically you would give lower monthly for longer contracts. Not the opposite.

personally I would go

set up fee
monthly fee

and 6 month contract - then month to month - to me that says your confident in your ability to produce and they don't have to worry about being locked into something if it doesn't work -- while at the same time giving you a set amount of money.

12 months guaranteed without providing cases and results that you already worked on maybe daunting to some people.

absolutely get that some people just don't get it - suggest when that happens to lay out a plan for first 6 months and then second 6 months - so they can focus on a little less at a time.

anyway hopefully they get back to you.

cheers

Originally Posted by Danny1111

personally I would go

set up fee
monthly fee

and 6 month contract - then month to month - to me that says your confident in your ability to produce and they don't have to worry about being locked into something if it doesn't work -- while at the same time giving you a set amount of money.

12 months guaranteed without providing cases and results that you already worked on maybe daunting to some people.

absolutely get that some people just don't get it - suggest when that happens to lay out a plan for first 6 months and then second 6 months - so they can focus on a little less at a time.

anyway hopefully they get back to you.

cheers

Thanks for your feedback Danny. I did provide proof by showing them a graph of my analytics of a niche site i started three months ago.

They haven't got back to me but next week I'll be following up and seeing what they have to say. If their undecided or worried about price I'll try lowering the contract duration. If they pass I'll be moving on to their competition

great job. way to take action and move forward. good things are on the horizon.

For the record I ALWAYS lead with a 12 month contract. Why? When they start negotiating they focus more on the terms than the price.

wow man! looks awesome.. That's a good project breakdown. I wish you very best with your project. I think you NAILED the presentation actually ..CHEERS !!!

I'm going to be following up with an email tomorrow. Any advice on how I should present it? Should I mention lowering the contract on my initial email or wait to hear what they think of my services?

Any tips or advice are much appreciated.

Tell them I am meeting up with so and so company tomorrow to offer my services and that once that deal is locked in it will be difficult to work with them for some time.

Just make them anxious about losing you and make yourself seem valuable as if you are needed by almost everyone else, this will make them place more trust in your services if other people are willing to buy it.

Say this kind of offers that I pitched to you don't come around every other day and that if you pass it down you will lose out.

Just make up some mumbo jumbo phony baloni to make them value you more because they prob lacking in trusting you with a large amount of money, more than the fact that hey can't afford it.

JUST NOTICED: Contract for 12 months? That's pretty intimidating to a business if they're not completely convinced in your service. Try offering a re-evaluation after three months. Here's the deal, once you get the campaign going and show them their great website and all. They're not going to want to throw away that investment after 3 months when they see the progress of the campaign. Having a 3 month re-evaluation will put the company more at ease with going in on this, but also secure you're money and most likely it will turn into the 12 month contract.

Any real business that is worth your time as a client because you are going to build a long lasting relationship with them will not be scared off by a contract of 12 months. Many opt for 6, but you can still do 12 fine - if you start to go over that you're going to raise some eyebrows.

If you can't close the 12 then you aren't presenting something right it has nothing to do with that number.

Kudos. That's a big step that a lot of people on here don't take - including myself.

Originally Posted by Danny1111

6 month contract - then month to month - to me that says your confident in your ability to produce and they don't have to worry about being locked into something if it doesn't work -- while at the same time giving you a set amount of money.

Thanks for the great idea. I think I might take it down to 3-4 months, and explain that its so they can see results. Im thinking that this will lower expectations of instantaneous results and also show confidence with the lack of contract after that time.

Congrats, just saw you got the contract on another thread. Try and keep us updated but I think you're going to be busy for awhile