Cold Calling / Webdesign Sales -Questions

[ShadyContent]

I plan to start cold calling tomorrow, I'm going to use vanillasoft CRM and leads scrapped from Google maps. Is anyone doing anything similar? If so can you please answer some questions and give me any advice you may have to help me succeed.

How successful have you been cold calling and making sales for web design & development?
Is it worth paying the $30 a month to accept credit cards over the phone with Paypal or will emailing Paypal buttons work?
I'd like to avoid meeting clients how possible is it to make the sale on the phone/email and never meet?
How many calls should I plan on making each day?

Also does anyone have success selling temples if so how do you go about pitching them?

 

[seeplusplus]

I'd certainly want to be able to take credit cards. Looks more professional.

And you should want to meet clients face to face if it's logistically possible, you can charge more $$$! You just need a laptop and tie.

The average Joe on the street has no idea how much (or how cheaply) a website can be made for, so look to charge as much as you can my friend!

The number of calls required is how many it takes to get a client(s). Just hammer it.

Oh, and yes your doing the right thing by putting your self out there and doing this, there are people out there with a lot of money, look after them and they'll look after you. And once you've proved yourself they won't give a shit if your a one-man-band working out of your bedroom/whatever.

Source: 20 years cold calling experience.

 

[ShadyContent]

Thanks!I hate the idea of meeting clients. If it was a big project $1,500+ I wouldn't mind but most are going to be like $350-$600 since i'm just starting and targeting local small business.

 

[christianbed]

Good for you, man. Do be sure to look at the laws regarding cold calls in your country/state...you could face stiff penalties if someone reports your number for unsolicited phone calls if they are on a DNC list.

 

[KevinZaki]

Plan on doing this when I set up everything for my company. Do you have a portfolio?

 

[ShadyContent]

Pretty sure no laws calling b2b.

My site is way out dated I don't know if it's going to affect business

www.SoftICEDesign.com

 

[DIe$el]

We get our leads from yellow pages, you can call and ask for their fax number and email address. Keep material and pitching material ready that you can fax to the interested customers instantly or you can email them or mail fliers to the office too.

 

[ShadyContent]

That's why I got the CRM so i can email stuff right away and keep track of all the calls, emails and call backs. Makes you 100% more productive I think

 

[tony_d]

ShadyContent, if you want to successfully sell websites by cold calling, and average a 35-50% conversion rate, follow the steps below. It worked for me, back in the day, and the same concept will work for you.

- find ugly/shitty websites that are old and need a re-work (no offense, but just like yours)
- do the re-work, using a template. Make it look amazing. Should take <2hrs all in all.
- call them, and say "I found your website, and no offense, it looks old and crap. So I made you a new one. I think you'll love it. Let me send you a link to it, and if you like it, you can buy it from me. If you don't like it, you owe me nothing at all".
- either sell it to them for $400/$500, or rent it to them for $28/mth for 2 years, and tell them the upside to renting is that every 2 years they'll get an updated design, included in the package!
- repeat steps 1-3, and make >$5-10k a month, from your very first month.
- with a suite of 5-10 templates, there's not much that you can't crank out in a few hours.
- OPTIONALLY, hire virtual/remote staff for the design part.

 

[THUNDERELVI]

ShadyContent, if you want to successfully sell websites by cold calling, and average a 35-50% conversion rate, follow the steps below. It worked for me, back in the day, and the same concept will work for you.

- find ugly/shitty websites that are old and need a re-work (no offense, but just like yours)
- do the re-work, using a template. Make it look amazing. Should take <2hrs all in all.
- call them, and say "I found your website, and no offense, it looks old and crap. So I made you a new one. I think you'll love it. Let me send you a link to it, and if you like it, you can buy it from me. If you don't like it, you owe me nothing at all".
- either sell it to them for $400/$500, or rent it to them for $28/mth for 2 years, and tell them the upside to renting is that every 2 years they'll get an updated design, included in the package!
- repeat steps 1-3, and make >$5-10k a month, from your very first month.
- with a suite of 5-10 templates, there's not much that you can't crank out in a few hours.
- OPTIONALLY, hire virtual/remote staff for the design part.

That's some really great advice, try it out. It's like wasted method but with calling instead of mailing, although I think you will have a higher CR with mailing.

 

[TeKn1qu3z]

Great advice from tony d.

That helped me as well. Makes sense what he did

 

[pwptv]

Cold calling works great for website design and seo. Looks to make around 150 calls per day and leave VM. If you are doing this over voip, you can get a softphone that will leave your pre-recorded message for you so you can save 30 seconds per call.

 

[mschum]

I have been hitting this hard lately. Few tips for you.

Have a portfolio to show your clients. I learned this the hard way. I only have affiliate sites, so when a prospective client asked me to show them some work it was a little weird.

Have prices set in stone and know them. You're going to get rejected a lot. I get rejected so much that when I finally get a positive response I tend to tense up. Don't let this happen.

Take a look at the straight line persuasion technique. This will also help you a lot.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[mschum]

ShadyContent, if you want to successfully sell websites by cold calling, and average a 35-50% conversion rate, follow the steps below. It worked for me, back in the day, and the same concept will work for you.

- find ugly/shitty websites that are old and need a re-work (no offense, but just like yours)
- do the re-work, using a template. Make it look amazing. Should take <2hrs all in all.
- call them, and say "I found your website, and no offense, it looks old and crap. So I made you a new one. I think you'll love it. Let me send you a link to it, and if you like it, you can buy it from me. If you don't like it, you owe me nothing at all".
- either sell it to them for $400/$500, or rent it to them for $28/mth for 2 years, and tell them the upside to renting is that every 2 years they'll get an updated design, included in the package!
- repeat steps 1-3, and make >$5-10k a month, from your very first month.
- with a suite of 5-10 templates, there's not much that you can't crank out in a few hours.
- OPTIONALLY, hire virtual/remote staff for the design part.

This is a great ideal. Quick question. Do you just host it on a free wordpress domain? And then if they like it move it to their domain?

 

[tony_d]

This is a great ideal. Quick question. Do you just host it on a free wordpress domain? And then if they like it move it to their domain?

No, just create a subdomain/subfolder on your server for each client site. It takes about 3.6 seconds to do so - and you can then send them a link directly to that.

And yes, if they buy it, you can send them the files or even offer to set it up on their server for free (again, should only take a few moments).

If they rent it, you should include hosting (just get a reseller account for $20 a month) and then change their name servers on their domain to your hosting account... that way, if they stop paying their rental, and don't want to take your calls to discuss it, their site can be taken down.

 

[The Scarlet Pimp]

this could be helpful. i'm starting a new business and i'll have to contact local companies to get sales.

 

[sleepdegree]

Extremely useful advice Thanks Tony D.

 

[ShadyContent]

Great tips! Making a new site for each client before they even agree to buy sounds like a lot of work but if you used a hand full of templates all you have to do is change the logo and text a little. Keep the ideas coming

 

[ShadyContent]

Yea I think hiring a staff to do design and maybe even a data entry person to go threw all the leads and only save the one with sites that could use some attention.

 

[ShadyContent]

I been watching and reading a lot about pitching design & development can you give me a run down of how your pitch goes when I was working in a phone room using just one word differently seemed to make a huge difference on your pitch.

Also you think I can get away with charging a one time setup fee of say $60 + $28 round off to $85 for the first month?