Total Noob Selling Web Design Packages (help needed please)

cozziola

Senior Member
Joined
May 20, 2014
Messages
1,156
Reaction score
192
First off I have never sold a website in my life. But I do have some basic WordPress skills due to SEO.

On Monday I have a meeting with a local business who may be interested in a website for the business.

My plan is to outsource the design and creation side of things.

This is my first meeting with a potential client of any kind.

I am thinking I need my iPad to show examples of some sites for them.

What should I be doing and asking at this meeting?

I just want to add that my plan is to sell pretty cheaply as the business is only small.

Any help and tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
What if he asks to see a portfolio?
 
My plan is to get potential designers in place now and take there examples along with me to show.
 
My plan is to get potential designers in place now and take there examples along with me to show.

Cutting it rather fine mate to say the least.

I'd have sourced potential designers, hammered out all this months ago regarding pricing, TATs, portfolios etc.
Then done your own site and added these details.
Then after getting some nice business cards printed, then started to go out and look for clients.
 
Yeah that would have been best haha.

But this is the situation i am in. Worst case scenrio is client says no.

I just want to make that worst case scenario as least likely as possible.
 
Yeah that would have been best haha.

But this is the situation i am in. Worst case scenrio is client says no.

I just want to make that worst case scenario as least likely as possible.


If he is a plumber, get samples of plumbing sites and show him those. Get price from your suppliers, double the price to the client but offer him a discount as he is your first order of the month and the first order placed each month get a 25% discount ;)
 
Thats a good idea. I may well use that line mate. Thanks.
 
If he is a plumber, get samples of plumbing sites and show him those. Get price from your suppliers, double the price to the client but offer him a discount as he is your first order of the month and the first order placed each month get a 25% discount ;)

Should I ask what features they want? Or should I just go in and show them some examples and that's that.

Or let them tell me what they want and then price it accordingly?

I am thinking that I should not try and close the sale on the first meeting. Would you agree?
 
Don’t show designs during the initial meeting.

The initial meeting is to get a feel of what the biggest pain point for the company is.

Example:
Manager of Company X:
We need more email signups on our website!

You:
Why do you need more email signups?

Manager:
Because we need to send out more emails!

You:
Why do you need to send out more emails?

Manager:
Because our sales department isn’t attracting enough leads...

You:
Great. So you need more email signups in order to have the sales department be able to contact more potential leads. I get it (write it down.)

And is there any other reason why you would like to have more email signups? Can you think of any other reason?

Manager:
Because we plan to update our email newsletter and send it out on a regular basis.

You:
And why do you want to send out your email newsletter on a regular basis? I know that the “why” questions are annoying, but I need to ask them to fully understand what problems your company is facing in order to help you the best way. Any other reasons?

Manager:
.....
Because everyone is doing it and our biggest online competitor is killing us.

(Now you know that they are facing stiff competition and you can start asking questions about the competition and what it is that they are doing and why your client isn’t doing that.)

Forget about talking design and plugins and MailChimp. Find out what the biggest problem is. Most of the time it turns out to be something completely different then a “redesign” of the website.

Ask “why”, and then again “why” up to the point where it gets fucking annoying.

Also, when you step in, tell the persons you have a meeting with that you got 30 minutes and then you have to leave. Then ask if everyone that needs to attend the meeting is there. If not, reschedule the meeting.

And on the topic of scheduling a meeting: never ask the client when they have time. This makes it sound like you got nothing to do and are available when it is convenient for them.

Tell them; “Hey, I’m really interested in getting to know more about your company. If you like we can set up a meeting on Tuesday 13:00 or Thursday at 16:00. If that doesn’t fit into your schedule, let me know and I can see if I have some time available in two weeks time. (You are fucking busy, not jerking your dick while watching porn all day long.)

And that is only the beginning. But the biggest takeaway should be that you are setting the agenda and not your client. This isn’t Fiverr...
 
Back
Top