Meeting with a potential client tomorrow - feedback wanted

[MattL]

So I have a meeting with a potential client tomorrow and could use some feedback and information.

let me give you a little background on how I came about this. Basically I have worked on this clients website before, making content changes, adding pages, converting to a CMS. I called them last week to schedule an appointment to meet and talk to them about internet marketing for their business.

I did some research last week on their rankings and their competitors rankings, along with reviewing on page seo of their website and their competitors. I also reviewed off page seo and then other marketing such as youtube and facebook for the competitors.

Tomorrow I'm basically going to show them my keyword research and where they rank for specific keywords that are already bringing in targeted traffic to their website. The thing is they are in 2-5th place for all the keywords. So improving their rankings would bring in new leads for the business.

I created two excel files with my research. The first one displays 10 keywords that bring in traffic to their website. It lists their rankings and their competitor rankings (for both organic and 7 pack).

The next excel file lists the company's and competitors strengths and weaknesses. Basically it shows if keywords are in the title tags, if meta tags are being used, are h1 tags being used correctly, backlinks, keywords in backlink anchor text, adwords advertising, bing advertising, youtube marketing and facebook marketing.

I want to show the client where they rank and that ranking higher could bring in more leads to the business. The second excel document will show them what we can do for seo and internet marketing, some of which their competitors are already doing.

anyways, some feedback on my approach would be great.

I'm also working on a list of questions to ask the client, I only have 3 so far so if you can think of anything else that would be important:

Are you using any other ways to market your business?


Do you track where calls come from / how people find your business?
(yellow pages, drive by, referral, etc?)


What is the value of a new customer to your business?


​

I will also be bringing some printed screen shots of the Google results pages.


Thanks for your help!

 

[seanjohn]

Go into the d/l section and get Consulting Tycoon. There's a document of NLP-type questions that I use to help clients come to their own conclusions (in my favor, of course).
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[MattL]

Hi Sean, thanks for the information. I was able to find a download for this and I'm about to review the section you mentioned.

 

[krzysiekz]

I'm having trouble finding the consulting tycoon in search.. i've found a request where Peter providing a link to his own thread, but that is now closed?

 

[theimfactory]

i looked for it also but couldnt find it

 

[krzysiekz]

MattL, could you please link the one you found? I searched "consulation tycoon" in "member only section" which returned 5 pages and I couldn't find it in those 5. I found one, but as above, did not work.

 

[aReJay]

Firstly, I usually prefer to bring clients into our office rather than going to visit them. If you must go visit them, take a lacky ie secretary or receptionist. People don't want to be dealing with one man shows, they want to know that they are so important to you that not only the boss has gone to see them, but also brought the young/hot junior sales executive.

Put together a power point presentation firstly showing the benefits of SEO and then how it relates to their business.

Show them the current traffic stats, and then a quick graph on the number of $$$ they could expect to realize from a particular ranking.

Finally dress well, nice suit (but no tie, cos your in advertising and not an accountant), nice watch, make sure you shave well and do your hair.

Clients don't want to hear what you do they want to hear what they get!

Relate everything back to how what you do will improve their business its going to improve their business.

Don't ever mention a price until they are gagging for it and would give away their first born child to have you work for them.

aReJay

 

[becky]

After the initial introductions, start by asking a lot of questions. Ask about their current situation, what they've done so far in IM, what their results have been, why are they looking for help, what help are they looking for, what results do they expect, etc.

Try to find out what their problems are that they need solved. Have they been affected by the economic downturn? Ask them, to the extent appropriate about the implications of problems? Sales are down -- has that affected employee morale, etc.

The answers to these questions should give you a ton of good info as far as what to emphasize when you talk about your services. Hopefully, you'll be able to match exactly what they need to the services you can provide.

Remember that you are selling solutions to their problems. And you're selling yourself as much as your services. If they trust and like, they will be much more likely to hire you.

Good luck!

 

[MattL]

Consulting Tycoon Download Links:
I was also unable to find links on this forum but I found them else where. Either way here are the download links:
remove the xx and change to tt - I'm still not allowed to post links :-\

hxxp://hotfile.com/dl/45704089/0bdb8b3/1_-_Consulting_101.zip.html 
hxxp://hotfile.com/dl/45704224/a63df8e/2_-_Business_101.zip.html 
hxxp://hotfile.com/dl/45704341/f09645d/3_-_Marketing_101.zip.html 
hxxp://hotfile.com/dl/45704504/2400014/4_-_Advanced_Marketing_-_Consulting_and_Persuasion.zip.html 
hxxp://hotfile.com/dl/45704677/251e5cd/Bonuses.zip.html

Thank you both aReJay and becky. You have provided me with some information that should be helpful.

I should mention again, I have been working with this client already on their website but it has not been related to internet marketing.

on another note, I do not have a team of people (I just recently turned 20). I currently work by my self for the most part and this will actually be my first local internet marketing client of my own (I have worked with other SEM and Web Design businesses on their clients before).

Tomorrow was a planned meeting where I would mainly just be giving them information. As I said, I did a bit of research for them and wanted to show how it could help their business. If they are interested, which I believe they will be, then I was planning on writing up a proposal.

Keep the feedback coming, I appreciate the help you guys are providing.

 

[elitesystem]

I will say it in words.. its simple! you get lots to learn from BHW than any other BS forums, believe me... blackhat is just a word that confuses people; it does almost everything! lets make it simple..

Before you meet your client, make sure you know everything about your stuff. Dont worry about the sales pitch, just make sure you know what you are talking about cuz thats what matters the most. If you can show them the technique/popularity/importance of seo/link building/advertising, you will be in business my friend.! whatever you do, just keep it straight and real! good luck!

 

[MattL]

I will say it in words.. its simple! you get lots to learn from BHW than any other BS forums, believe me... blackhat is just a word that confuses people; it does almost everything! lets make it simple..

Before you meet your client, make sure you know everything about your stuff. Dont worry about the sales pitch, just make sure you know what you are talking about cuz thats what matters the most. If you can show them the technique/popularity/importance of seo/link building/advertising, you will be in business my friend.! whatever you do, just keep it straight and real! good luck!

You know, I think that might be some of the best advice I've gotten so far. I will make sure to review my stuff a couple of times so that I can really speak intelligently about what I do and how it helps their business and also in a way the client can understand.

 

[Jacer]

How did it go Matt?

 

[krzysiekz]

Jacer, he still has yet to have the meeting.

MattL, legend. Thanks for posting the links to the files, kind of you.

I have a website (which I am doing the same thing as Matt) that is currently ranking first page, number #8 on google. I am waiting for it to get a little higher hopefully, and then i'm going to install tracking software on it so I know exactly how many visitors I'm getting per day on it.

Also, I am going to put a number there, a "call us for a booking" with a service that redirects numbers. So, on the website it is going to say, "Call us for a Booking 000-111-222" and this number will redirect to a local business number. From this, the service provided I use to redirect the number to the business shows me the stats of how many people have dialed the number 000-111-222 and the duration of the calls, etc etc. So then, realistically, when I go into a meeting, I can say that I have tested and tried and my website get's X amount of visitors per day, of which Y amount call per day.

I think this is a good idea. You can just input any business number, let them get some free leads while you test out how many people are actually calling from your website. At least you will know yourself if you will be providing something good for them or not. If it turns out a lot of people are calling, like 10+ people per day or something, you can even ask "Have you noticed an increase in calls in the last week" in which case thye would IDEALLY reply "yes" and you say, that's because i've had your number on my site and I can prove it has had 50 calls this week from my site, etc etc... you get the point.

Now, to the proposal. Do you guys get lawyers to write up a basic form that they sign, like - when the people say YES, charge me $2000 per month, do you get them to sign papers, etc?

Sorry if there is a lack of formality in this post... just wanted to throw some ideas out there

 

[aReJay]

^^

Yes, get a contract. I can't tell you how important it is to get them to sign a contract and a debit authorization. Also make sure that the fine print states that you don't guarantee ranking or traffic.

-aReJay

 

[inumel]

each of these points are valid. Just like many said before, Know your stuff and make sure your information is easier to understand. I know many seo "specialist" are constantly using terminology way above their clients heads and nobody likes to feel dumb. So dumb down your information to a point where they could understand and you will be good bro.

 

[krzysiekz]

aReJay,

Thanks for that. Very helpful.

I didn't even think of the payment methods, I was thinking a long the lines of them paying at the end of each month. IE - On the 30th/31st of each month, they send a payment through. Obviously we would decide on the payment terms, ie - paypal, bank transfer, cash, etc.

I would imagine it is quite hard to get it to automatically debit their bank info, wouldn't that require a lot of hoops and loops to go through to get it done?

Then again, if we agreed for them to make the payments each month, wouldn't that negate the need for a contract, since it is basically mutual month to month, if they stop paying, stop the service...

But then, further again, if you have it all done automatically, perhaps every time they MANUALLY send that pay check for $2k per month or whatever, then they won't think about it every time if it is 'worth' it, where as, if it is all automatic... then I guess they don't think or question it so much?

 

[ragster]

 

[silexian]

--- to be deleted ---

 

[loran]

be nice, and trusly.
You said you worked on this client, so you know your files nearly by heart.
One point is to be able to justify every choice on the work done. Be precise and give examples.
And be confident of yourself.
Hope it helps a bit, it seems you needed some comfort.

 

[J1218]