[OFFLINE METHOD] Telephone Strategy

[manmusic]

The strategies discussed here are good if your offering Local SEO offline business services.

Please, let's make this a running thread guys. I'm sure many people have ideas they can contribute.

Method
Basically you want to call business owners and companies when they are closed, this way you can leave them with an Important Official Sounding Voice Message and you don't have to deal with a human. The message you leave is the key. In a nutshell you basically want to leave an official sounding message that will stick in their head, and make them think it is very important to get back to you ASAP.

Here is one example I came up with:
Hello this is bla bla bla. We have conducted an audit on your website and it is very important that you call us at your earliest convenience. Our number is bla bla bla.

The word audit can paint a variety of images in their minds. There are plenty of other words and things that you can say in a voice recording. The bottom line is you want them to take the voice message very seriously and you want them to call you back ASAP.

Once they call you back, you should know what to do, that is the second step. For this thread we'll stay on step one. If anything I'll create a running thread for step to.

Ok guys give me your best ideas! What would you say on a voice recording to get their attention without breaking any laws?

 

[sanjeev2010]

That's really sneaky and a great idea. Nothing sells like fear.

Don't have any input, but I'll be watching this, that's for sure!

 

[flx89]

why not call them in the business hours, so you can talk with a human ?

 

[50cent]

have you ever tried this with any success? i personally hate any sales related message left on my phone, especially if the caller is trying to sell me something and wants me to call him/ her back at my expense.

 

[sanjeev2010]

Don't think it'd have anywhere near the same impact.

 

[imperial109]

why not call them in the business hours, so you can talk with a human ?

I guess the point of this exercise is pull sales instead of push.

Have you tried it OP, or is this just an idea?

 

[mathdoc]

First, let me say I have no experience selling services to businesses, so you probably shouldn't listen to anything I have to say. Nonetheless, it seems to me this method would not work. If your goal is talk to someone on the phone, why not just call during business hours? Even if this method "works", in the sense that you get a call back, I don't see how it leaves you in a position to make a sale. If anything, I think it puts you in a bad light. At some point, they will realize the message was just a gimmick to sell them something, at which point they will probably not be very happy with you. Just my thoughts. Anyone actually tried this?

 

[ferma231]

Well insted of calling when they are closed , you could send that company email. it would be the same

 

[manmusic]

That's really sneaky and a great idea. Nothing sells like fear.

Don't have any input, but I'll be watching this, that's for sure!

At least hit the "thank" button

why not call them in the business hours, so you can talk with a human ?

Why would you want to talk with a human when you can be more efficient without talking with a human, think about it, you can knock out more calls faster, more stream lined, and you don't have to deal with objections so early in the game, and is a more systematic approach. When you call and speak directly with someone up front, your gonna deal with the gatekeeper and you have already lost! By leaving the message if they return your call, most likely it won't be the receptionist or the gatekeeper that calls you back, it will be a decision maker!

have you ever tried this with any success? i personally hate any sales related message left on my phone, especially if the caller is trying to sell me something and wants me to call him/ her back at my expense.

You're missing the point bro, and you didn't read my initial thread. I specifically said to make it "sound official" you don't want it to sound like a sales call. You want to sound like an official agency without breaking any laws, think about it, if i call your phone and tell you that "I did an audit on your website and it is out of compliance and you need to call 444-4444 immediately to resolve this issue, or you could face consequences, bla bla bla" I think that will get your attention, and you won't be thinking much about a sales call!

 

[manmusic]

First, let me say I have no experience selling services to businesses, so you probably shouldn't listen to anything I have to say. Nonetheless, it seems to me this method would not work. If your goal is talk to someone on the phone, why not just call during business hours? Even if this method "works", in the sense that you get a call back, I don't see how it leaves you in a position to make a sale. If anything, I think it puts you in a bad light. At some point, they will realize the message was just a gimmick to sell them something, at which point they will probably not be very happy with you. Just my thoughts. Anyone actually tried this?

See the comment I made to 50cent, and you answer.

Well insted of calling when they are closed , you could send that company email. it would be the same

people delete email very fast, and they can see where the email adddress is coming from so if your business / email address doesn't have a truely official name to it, it probably wont work.

 

[mathdoc]

Why would you want to talk with a human when you can be more efficient without talking with a human, think about it, you can knock out more calls faster, more stream lined, and you don't have to deal with objections so early in the game, and is a more systematic approach. When you call and speak directly with someone up front, your gonna deal with the gatekeeper and you have already lost! By leaving the message if they return your call, most likely it won't be the receptionist or the gatekeeper that calls you back, it will be a decision maker

Good point. So, rather than discussing hypotheticals, why not implement it and let us know if it worked.

 

[manmusic]

Does anyone else have any feedback for this?

 

[rodnice1]

I am going to give this a shot. I have years of sales experience and I know this approach has a lot of potential!

 

[albaniax]

Thanks for the idea, I'll take that in mind when working on my offline trip with sending individuall SEO prospects in mass ( within a team ).

 

[MagicMike]

I used to send automated vm messages after hours and had a mediocre response rate. My fear with this method is that you probably will get a decent number of callbacks (using the word "audit") but as soon as they find out you're trying to sell services, you may wind up with an abundance of "pissed off" prospects who feel tricked into a sales call.

 

[manmusic]

I used to send automated vm messages after hours and had a mediocre response rate. My fear with this method is that you probably will get a decent number of callbacks (using the word "audit") but as soon as they find out you're trying to sell services, you may wind up with an abundance of "pissed off" prospects who feel tricked into a sales call.

You could have pissed off customers or you could have happy clients that fall in love with you, its all in your presentation, and your already focusing on step 2. The purpose of this tread is to figure out how to get them to call you back. That is the only purpose of this thread, to generate ideas on how to get them to call you back.

Regarding them being pissed off, when you talk to them on the call back, that is a lack of skill and delivery on your part if that's what results. There is a totally different strategy that must be implemented on the call back.
The customer that calls back is like a 2 double edged sword, it can benefit you (make the sale,etc) or it can harm you (pissed off customer), its all about how you handle that sword my friend. Focus on achieving step 1 first. Then you can always modify step 2 if you are getting the wrong result right?

Isn't that what A/B split testing is all about? Someone is directed to your landing page and they are pissed off, so they click the back button. What do you do? Modify, refine, and test again. Its the same with this call strategy!

 

[blacksocks]

This sounds like a good way to weed out the people who could care less about their website and those who call back would be a little more qualified?