First Client (Shitting Bricks)

[Koncord]

Hey fellow IM. Yesterday I took a trip down to my local bike repairman to repair my bike. We started discussing jobs, etc, small talks. I mentioned that I'm in the initial face of starting up a Local SEO agency and he said that he needed some help with Facebook ads, SEO and a simple website. I told him that's something I'm good at and that I would be happy to help. So we schedule a meeting on Monday.



I'm happy but a little bit nervous about the meeting. How should I lay up the presentation so I don't come off as unprofessional? What an appropriate price for SEO (Low Comp) Facebook ads, (Wordpress) website. Everything has happened so fast, hasn't even registered my business name (something he's aware of). I'm just at the beginning of writing my business plan, haven't even thought about my expenses and how much I need to charge.

Should I blow it off, or pursue it?

 

[t2van]

Have you already had a meeting and has he told you what he wants? Assume no. So no need for a presentation.

Go there. Have questions ready.

Take notes.

Leave.

DONT GIVE A PRICE THERE. DONT!

Go back home and write him an email thanking him for his time. Give him a run down of what he wanted / what you discussed.

Give him some options and time frames and a very real expectation on ROI and improvements IF any.

Give him a price with pricing options OR give him package options. That's for you to figure out.

Good luck. It will be fine.

 

[FUTUR TIM]

You don't know what he wants exactly, thus don't mention the price.

 

[TomTheCat]

Pursue it! Don't think at expenses since is your first client (obviously you have a price in mind and add up some amount for ads, pictures, etc.). Then if you can't at least break even, you will learn how to handle future clients.

 

[eNzim]

First off, I'd break it down to hours. How many hours would you work daily on the project and how many hours total it would take. Take a bit above average hourly rate of your country, multiply, add your expenses such as domain, host etc. there you go, that's your price. Measure by the value of your work quality and the value of your time.

Although you can't calculate any of that if you don't know what he exactly wants the site to do.. You know all the functions. Do you have to write the content?

Since it's your first project I would tell him that he gets a discount and you'll use the site as reference work. (but you have to do a damn good job). So you have to be fully transparent about it. Honesty pays off.

 

[fb3003]

as others have said, dont give a price. pursue this opportunity, but treat it as an internship, meaning dont be thinking about profit. treat as a stepping stone for setting up your practice. i am not running a seo agency or thinking about it. not even positioned to even go that route. however, have a lot of experience helping start ups to jump start their practice.

 

[MrT131]

I can give you one simple tip for your first meeting :

Don’t talk about buying/selling/price/cost!

Just tell him what you can do and note what he wants.

 

[t2van]

First off, I'd break it down to hours. How many hours would you work daily on the project and how many hours total it would take. Take a bit above average hourly rate of your country, multiply, add your expenses such as domain, host etc. there you go, that's your price. Measure by the value of your work quality and the value of your time.

Although you can't calculate any of that if you don't know what he exactly wants the site to do.. You know all the functions. Do you have to write the content?

Since it's your first project I would tell him that he gets a discount and you'll use the site as reference work. (but you have to do a damn good job). So you have to be fully transparent about it. Honesty pays off.

No don't give him a discount.

You don't need to ask permission to use the site for a reference in return for a discount. You can just tell your next client this is my past work.

Working out the hours and all that is fine. That comes AFTER You find out what he wants.

As I said go there, relax, have questions and take notes. Go away email and price him a day or two later.

 

[Koncord]

Thank you guys for your inputs will implement them during the meeting.

 

[r99ty]

Check out this thread: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/s...-close-rate-for-b2b-digital-services.1177344/

This should help you to get a structure and be focused on whats important etc.

 

[GenesisOne]

Hey fellow IM. Yesterday I took a trip down to my local bike repairman to repair my bike. We started discussing jobs, etc, small talks. I mentioned that I'm in the initial face of starting up a Local SEO agency and he said that he needed some help with Facebook ads, SEO and a simple website. I told him that's something I'm good at and that I would be happy to help. So we schedule a meeting on Monday.



I'm happy but a little bit nervous about the meeting. How should I lay up the presentation so I don't come off as unprofessional? What an appropriate price for SEO (Low Comp) Facebook ads, (Wordpress) website. Everything has happened so fast, hasn't even registered my business name (something he's aware of). I'm just at the beginning of writing my business plan, haven't even thought about my expenses and how much I need to charge.

Should I blow it off, or pursue it?

This post may help you:
https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/...our-next-client-with-a-well-designed-proposal

 

[CustomBotShop]

You can just tell your next client this is my past work.

Don't ever do this in SEO without your previous client's explicit permission to use their name.

 

[t2van]

Don't ever do this in SEO without your previous client's explicit permission to use their name.

Why?

I can understand that if the OP wants to make his name in the bike repair shop world of SEO then moving from a competitor to competitor and mentioning clients is a shitty thing to do full stop.

But to say oh I ran some SEO for this bike shop this is a case study while trying to get SEO work for the local pizza shop I can't see no harm in that and in fact most if not all companies I've worked with do exactly this. I'm not saying to go around giving full disclosure of what is done but saying he done work for X I can't see no harm in that at all.

Unless I'm missing something stupidly obvious.

 

[Chris Newman]

You are not fully prepared, but that is NOT a big deal at all. It is your confidence that matters. You can tell him that once you get details of what he is looking for (SEO, etc), then you would get back to him in around 2 days with your pricing. Get all details from him (SEO keywords to target, etc, etc). Speak very confidently. After the meeting, do not waste time, do everything needed to give him a quote and go from there. It is the rapport and confidence in you, that you build with a client that influences a client the most.

 

[InstagramDude]

DONT GIVE A PRICE THERE. DONT!

Go back home and write him an email thanking him for his time. Give him a run down of what he wanted / what you discussed.

Give him some options and time frames and a very real expectation on ROI and improvements IF any.

Give him a price with pricing options OR give him package options. That's for you to figure out.

Huh? The conversion rate decreases drastically if you go home and send him an email, instead of closing him right there on the spot. And even if you gave an offer when you came home instead, you should do it by phone so you can close him right there on the phone.

 

[t2van]

Huh? The conversion rate decreases drastically if you go home and send him an email, instead of closing him right there on the spot. And even if you gave an offer when you came home instead, you should do it by phone so you can close him right there on the phone.

So the guy wants a website, SEO work, facebook and who knows what else, your just going to price that on the spot?

When you get a builder to come around and give you a quote for building an extension, adding the plumbing, doing first and second fix does he give you a price there and then or a written quote?

Giving a price on the first meeting is just plain stupid. You may not have taken everything in, quote $1000 and there's $2000 worth of work because you missed something.

The first meeting you get to speak about the project, discuss what he wants and what he needs, it allows you to go and research the competitors IF PPC or any Ads have come up.

You can then reply back with a detailed cost to do the job and then give the client some kind of idea on advertising spend for WHAT he needs. JUST because it's a bike shop does not mean he wants to advertise that or all of his business he might just want to focus on a specific side of it? How can you price that on the spot?

You price on paper / email. You can both see what is on offer then if needs be you can go back or call on the phone to discuss - you don't need a hard sell when someone might not understand the fuck your talking about it just going to make them feel pressured and close down.

The connection was made via a friendly chat in the bike shop. This guy wasn't going out of his way to get a client, and the client wasn't actively looking for web/seo work. It needs to be treated as such.

You can sit there get the guy pumped up about his business and what could happen, work out some kind of budget if he has any, get him interested and then come back and quote like a professional. Sitting there telling the guy while looking up at the air trying to pull the right number out of the sky just makes you look like a dick.



You might like the high flying close on the phone like they do in the movies. But in the real world and when you want to work with people and businesses willing to pay you more than a couple of hundred they want it done the way I outlined - the right way.

 

[InstagramDude]

So the guy wants a website, SEO work, facebook and who knows what else, your just going to price that on the spot?

When you get a builder to come around and give you a quote for building an extension, adding the plumbing, doing first and second fix does he give you a price there and then or a written quote?

Giving a price on the first meeting is just plain stupid. You may not have taken everything in, quote $1000 and there's $2000 worth of work because you missed something.

The first meeting you get to speak about the project, discuss what he wants and what he needs, it allows you to go and research the competitors IF PPC or any Ads have come up.

You can then reply back with a detailed cost to do the job and then give the client some kind of idea on advertising spend for WHAT he needs. JUST because it's a bike shop does not mean he wants to advertise that or all of his business he might just want to focus on a specific side of it? How can you price that on the spot?

You price on paper / email. You can both see what is on offer then if needs be you can go back or call on the phone to discuss - you don't need a hard sell when someone might not understand the fuck your talking about it just going to make them feel pressured and close down.

The connection was made via a friendly chat in the bike shop. This guy wasn't going out of his way to get a client, and the client wasn't actively looking for web/seo work. It needs to be treated as such.

You can sit there get the guy pumped up about his business and what could happen, work out some kind of budget if he has any, get him interested and then come back and quote like a professional. Sitting there telling the guy while looking up at the air trying to pull the right number out of the sky just makes you look like a dick.



You might like the high flying close on the phone like they do in the movies. But in the real world and when you want to work with people and businesses willing to pay you more than a couple of hundred they want it done the way I outlined - the right way.

I charge an hourly wage, so no matter what I quote him, I will still make the same hourly. And if I close a client on the spot I usually add between 25-50% to the price, just to be on the safe side. Hasn't failed me yet.

And that's fairly easy as well. If I can't do my work on the spot, can I really do my work then?

 

[TheVigilante]

Interesting thread with different perspectives on how to deal with the client I am following this thread

 

[t2van]

I charge an hourly wage, so no matter what I quote him, I will still make the same hourly. And if I close a client on the spot I usually add between 25-50% to the price, just to be on the safe side. Hasn't failed me yet.

And that's fairly easy as well. If I can't do my work on the spot, can I really do my work then?

He can't price per hour or anything if you read his post he was landed this out of the blue. You can't tell him to close when he has no idea what his costs are. HE needs to go away and price it.

So you just tell the client I charge X per hour. With an open-ended contract because you have not gone away worked out the time involved to give him some kind of time frame and estimated hours?

The small businesses you work with must be cash-rich.

Granted with experiance you can estimate times and costings. But that's all it is, an estimate. Id not close any deal on the spot with a hairy fairy price. Regardless of my hourly rate. Be a pro, go away work it out and come back with a real quote.

 

[InstagramDude]

He can't price per hour or anything if you read his post he was landed this out of the blue. You can't tell him to close when he has no idea what his costs are. HE needs to go away and price it.

So you just tell the client I charge X per hour. With an open-ended contract because you have not gone away worked out the time involved to give him some kind of time frame and estimated hours?

The small businesses you work with must be cash-rich.

Granted with experiance you can estimate times and costings. But that's all it is, an estimate. Id not close any deal on the spot with a hairy fairy price. Regardless of my hourly rate. Be a pro, go away work it out and come back with a real quote.

Ok.

And sometimes. I prefer to tell my clients my hourly rate face-to-face because most people become scared when I tell them I charge 300 euros an hour.

Pros don't go away and work out a "real quote". Pros have their material and knowledge ready to close.
I may make an offer sometimes where I end up with 250 euros an hour. I'll survive.