Got my first client after only sending out 3 packets

Forgive me for this long post but I want to explain a method that seems to be working well for me so far. I got some of the stuff about the packet I will be explaining from something that I found on here a while back - I can't remember what the actual article was called though. I have also seen methods similar to this mentioned by other people here, so I am not trying to take any credit for coming up with it. I just want to let you all know that it is working good so far for me.

As I said in the title, I have only sent out 3 of these information packets to potential clients so far. I got the first call back on Friday afternoon and met with the owner of the business today. After talking for a little while, he agreed to purchase my Google Places Optimization service to start off with. This is a 3 month contract and he will consider some of my other SEO services once he sees some results from the Google Places Optimization.

The informational packets took me about 45 minutes to put together but I'm sure this will become a lot faster as I make more of them. Personally, I think that this method will be better than just calling businesses to try to get clients since there are already so many other people and organizations calling also. This will be something that the business owners don't see everyday and should get their attention better.

Here is the process that I take to make the packets:
1. I print a screenshot of Google Places results that does not have their business in the results for a relevant keyword.
2. I also print out a screenshot of the Adwords Keyword Tool site with the broad results of that keyword showing them how many potential clients they are missing out on each month by not being on the first page of Google.
3. I print out the first page results of the Google search for that keyword with a local modifier (ex. electrician insert city or state here). I check the first 3 pages of the search results to see if their business or website is listed. I make a note of what page it is on or if it is not on the first 3 pages.
4. I cut out their ad from the YellowPages in the phone book or the newspaper.
5. I include a brief letter that I have printed explaining who I am and that I noticed that they are not listed on Google in a place where customers can easily find them. I let them know that I would like the opportunity to help them get to a better position so that they can gain more customers who are searching for their products or services online.
6. I put these together with the ad that I cut out attached to the front of the stack and mail them in a full document envelope (the kind that you don't have to fold the paper at all, like a manilla envelope).

This way when they get the packet they will be curious as to what it is and open it. The first thing they should see is their ad that was cut out. This will grab their attention even more and entice them to take a look at the other things I have included.

This is all it took to get them to call me to find out what I could do to help them. This got me in the door to talk to them face to face which is where you want to be when you start talking about actual amounts and fees so that you can judge their reactions to know how much to charge them.

I hope this helps anyone else who is unsure of how to go about getting new clients. :thumb:

6. I put these together with the ad that I cut out attached to the front of the stack

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Is that ad being which you cut out from the YellowPages in the phone book or the newspaper ?

This is really good. Thanks for the share.

simple but effective +6 rep

cutting their ad out I think is VERY KEY to getting their attention/response so good job..

are you targeting small local business?

how much did you charge for your first client?

Nice Gammbyt! I have a few questions for you if you don't mind.

1) Did you use a return-address on your envelope?
2) Did you print or handwrite the sender's address?
3) Did you print colors or black/white?
4) How long did it take before they call you back?
5) Did you market youserlf as a company or a solo marketing consultant?

I was about to start cold calling today but I really like your method and like you said, it makes you stand out compared to the others company calling them, so I'll start right away and build up a good list of prospects and prepare their marketing materials to be sent out. Thanks a lot for sharing your success and have a great one!

This method is a ditto to this WSO shared here:

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...e-maps-placement-letter-gets-new-clients.html

anil2006 said:

Is that ad being which you cut out from the YellowPages in the phone book or the newspaper ?

Click to expand...

I will attach both if I can find one in each. For the 3 I have done so far, one of the businesses had a Yellow Pages ad and an ad in the local paper, while the other 2 businesses had ads only in the Yellow Pages.

t0mmy said:

simple but effective +6 rep

Click to expand...

Thanks

gmarch25 said:

cutting their ad out I think is VERY KEY to getting their attention/response so good job..

are you targeting small local business?

how much did you charge for your first client?

Click to expand...

Yes so far I have only targeted one plumber, one heating/ac company, and one construction company in the city that I live in. The computer repair company that I manage is also a member of a local business network here. We meet once a week and each week a different member gets a chance to talk to the group about their business. I am working on setting up a power point presentation to show the group the next time I get a turn to speak.

In reference to the price, this first client is paying $300/month for just the Google Places Optimization. The ad that he is paying for in the Yellow Pages is costing him $350 so this is cheaper than the Yellow Pages advertising. I am not charging him a set up fee and the monthly fee includes targeting 4 keyword phrases.

Wings[SENSE];3474525 said:

Nice Gammbyt! I have a few questions for you if you don't mind.

1) Did you use a return-address on your envelope?
2) Did you print or handwrite the sender's address?
3) Did you print colors or black/white?
4) How long did it take before they call you back?
5) Did you market youserlf as a company or a solo marketing consultant?

I was about to start cold calling today but I really like your method and like you said, it makes you stand out compared to the others company calling them, so I'll start right away and build up a good list of prospects and prepare their marketing materials to be sent out. Thanks a lot for sharing your success and have a great one!

Click to expand...

1. Yes. I currently manage a computer repair store and the building right next to ours is vacant. I just used that Suite # as the return address for now.

2. I printed it out on a label and attached it to the envelope.

3. Color - personally I think that makes it stand out better and allows me to highlight the parts of the screenshots that I really want them to focus on (the number of searches, etc)

4. I sent them out on Monday and Tuesday last week and got the first call back on Friday. The one that called me back was one that I sent on Tuesday so 3 days for that one. I realize they won't all be that fast but I am not waiting around for them to call back either. I am just putting the information in their hands and making them aware of what they could be missing out on - if they actually call me then I know that they are genuinely interested and I will make arrangements to meet with them face to face. If they don't call back then there are plenty of other competitors of theirs to target. I have put together a few more packets to send out this week.

EDIT: I forgot to answer your last question. I am marketing myself as an individual consultant right now but plan to form an LLC to operate as asap.

webnise said:

This method is a ditto to this WSO shared here:

Click to expand...

Yeah that's the WSO that I had downloaded. (Sorry I had to remove the link from your quote to be able to pass the URL filters since I haven't been on here long enough). Thanks for sharing that link. I had downloaded it, along with a lot of other things, and had forgotten which thread it was from. I highly recommend anyone who wants to take this route of contacting new clients to download that WSO and read through it. There are some great ideas in it.

I didn't like the sticky note idea. Even though it might draw their attention to something you want to tell them I just think it made the packet look less professional. I did like the idea of highlighting the important information on the pages that you print out to draw their attention to that information. I also typed in notes at the top of each page before the picture of the screenshot addressing the important areas of that screenshot instead of hand writing notes in the margin.

another question I had was...

do you look for companies that have no website that exists?

or ones that already have a site just with poor SEO?

I would think you would want to start fresh with a company that has no websitethat way you can optimize on page seo and off page...

If a company already had a site you would need to get into their webmaster tools which seems like a hassle

if you could elaborate that'd be great

I'm also wondering Gammbyt, did you use the cover letter template in the WSO or you made another one?

Also, did you basically follow the WSO and copied everything in it or you made some modifications to it? I'm asking this because I've started reading the WSO and it looks your example converted better than theirs.

gmarch25 said:

another question I had was...

do you look for companies that have no website that exists?

or ones that already have a site just with poor SEO?

I would think you would want to start fresh with a company that has no websitethat way you can optimize on page seo and off page...

If a company already had a site you would need to get into their webmaster tools which seems like a hassle

if you could elaborate that'd be great

Click to expand...

I have sent out 10 packets total now. 6 of the businesses that I targeted already had sites built (although they are really horrible sites in my opinion) 3 had no site at all, and as best as I can tell it looks like 1 was using a Facebook page as their main site. The one that I signed the contract with in my initial post already had a site that was very outdated and not optimized for SEO at all. I am only working on the Google Places optimization for them to start with, but I had someone I know from one of my web design classes through together a quick redesign of what could be the client's home page so that they can get an idea of what their website could look like if they wanted to have it updated. We will see if they decide to do that after they start seeing more results from what I have agreed to do so far.

I also had 2 other people call me back. One of them has no website at all and the other is the business using the Facebook page. I have appointments set up with them next week.

Wings[SENSE];3476589 said:

I'm also wondering Gammbyt, did you use the cover letter template in the WSO or you made another one?

Also, did you basically follow the WSO and copied everything in it or you made some modifications to it? I'm asking this because I've started reading the WSO and it looks your example converted better than theirs.

Click to expand...

I made my own cover letter. It was not as long as the one that was included in the WSO but I did use that one to gather the key points that I wanted to pass on to the potential client. The one included in the WSO seemed good, but it seemed a little too much like a template and didn't seem personal enough.

As far as rest of the WSO goes, I did follow along with a lot of it:
- I printed out the screenshots in color and highlighted the things I wanted to draw their attention to on each page.
- However, instead of hand writing the notes on the page, I typed the information about what they were looking at on each page at the top of it, then pasted the screenshot.
- I did not use any post it notes - this made it look less professional in my opinion

I think that the WSO would convert if it was done exactly as the author wrote it, I just like to make it look as professional as possible while also making it look like I actually took the time to write a letter specifically to that client instead of using a template and filling in their information.

WOW tx for the share.

Great share. Thanks.

what are you charging for your services?

what is your call to action?

are you putting your prices in the packet?

Congrats Gammbyt.

I'm a little surprised though. From my experience, I would tend to move away from any sort of direct mailing. That is indisputably losing it's effectiveness, and making packages can be costly in money and time (interchangeable).

The sad reality is, most business owners won't even see it. I've found that many throw most of it away since they are so used to seeing 'junk mail' even if it is of value. Hell, I've had clients throw away contracts, invoices and important documents by accident, so I wouldn't put it past them to throw away these packages either.

I also read that WSO but to be honest it still seemed like he was trying to hype it up since many will say direct mailing has horrible conversion rates. I am not a huge fan of cold calling, but I have found it converts better than mailing because this way you get a direct response right from the decision maker as opposed to mailing where only a few may actually read it.

Let us know though after you do more testing. I'm curious to know if you just happened to hit an interested business, or if it's 'so powerful' lol, that you can get a client out of 5-10 mailings.

I saw someone here was thinking of doing 50 mailings right off the bat ... heh ... that would require a significant amount of time, no? Interested though.

anil2006 said:

Is that ad being which you cut out from the YellowPages in the phone book or the newspaper ?

Click to expand...

Yes,you can cut out either a newspaper ad or a YP ad.

I did the same back in August. I got two replies out of 30 packets, although they were not local firms I sent them to. If you charge a high enough fee for your services it is very worthwhile to do.
I am going to try the local ads route, as the OP did. I'm sure I'll get a better response rate because you are clipping out their ad and showing them their GP ranking, or lack thereof.

I am currently testing this method from the original WSO .
I have sent out an initial email to the potential clients with an introduction of myself, my services and how they can help the clients business.

Now I have completed the packs and will be sending these out tomorrow.
I can report back here if it would help others.

How much have you charged for your services, do you see your clients ever being interested in a mobile website?