59 replies to this topic

[websage]

Hello,

I want to ask a question about how you acquire new customers.

To be fair, I am providing some information about myself:

I have been developing websites since 1995 (as a result I have had very little time to spend on my own sites :-) and started reading the SearchEngineWatch and doing SEO work for my employer while a website manager for a software company in early 1999 (I know it is nothing in comparison with the veterans). Most of my freelancing revenue has been from web development and most of my SEO clients are former web development clients of mine.

If I am to rank how else I have acquired new customers, next would be those somehow related to my pro bono web development practice (volunteering works!), then those who responded to a few case studies and articles I have published, posts in forums and email lists, links from some of my client's sites, and presentations in local user groups.

Most of my clients "local" residing in two states, Virginia and Georgia. The rest are from Europe where I come from -- I help introduce their business in the US via the web, as I have a degree in International Business.

I have never made a cold call/email to a company offering my services.

I am curious how you acquire new customers. Any best practices?

Thanks in advance!
Mitko

[deborah2002]

I have met a ton of folks through the Chamber of Commerce. It's a great place to network locally.
I have been to the functions for both Orlando and Kissimmee, and have had pretty good success with it, not too mention knowing people from useful standpoints. I met a terrific lady who's gonna do my business cards for a steal (I pick them up on Monday! ), a local contractor who wanted me to "fix up his site" (repeat that with a HEAVY Southern drawl....), a lady who specializes in promo products (pens, notepads, etc), who's looking for a "trade" of some sort.

Good luck!
deb

[Jill]

Split the off topic posts to here in the Pub.

Let's carry on with this thread, as it could be a good one if it stays on topic!

Jill

[OldWelshGuy]

When i started, i started 'cold', the business we sold a while ago contractually stopped me from doing any advertising/marketing form of business with the customers for 5 years.

I got on the phone and told people who i was, a local guy who was just setting up, but had a wealth of marketing experience, and i wanted to pass on what the web could do for them, and then what i could do for them, i offered to go along for a quick chat to see if i might be able to help them, as 'until we meet i have no idea how i can help you, but it will only take a few minutes and it could end up a really good 10 minute investment in your business'. I spoke to lots of people, i started to do business with one or two, I did however keep the details of the other people, and re-visited them later.

I then had some success with the marketing job i had done for the businesses that said yes, so i asked them if they knew any of the people i had spoken to previously? if the reply was yes then i asked if it would be ok to mention how well their website was doing for them? they mostly agreed, this then led to a referral back to someone i had previously spoken to.

I called them with a pitch of we spoke last year about the web, and i said i would keep in touch, but David peters of peters & Co suggested i call you as he is over the moon with how well his site is doing for him so i will call in on xxxxx. This then grew and grew, but i still had to cold call.

Once you get high ranking sites you will get incoming business from their competition, I have taken the strategy that i will not work for competing businesses, this is a STRONG selling point, and closing point as i will always make 2 appointments with businesses who are in competition with each other.

The second bonus of this strategy is that i can turn a job down, then feel happy telephoning my customer and asking him for a nice referral to replace the work i turned down so i could be exclusive to him.

There are a lot of web bods around here, to be different you have to do something different, the world and his brother are touting at networking do's, personally i think they are overrated (although it is probably that they do not fit my style) I hate ties .

I was approached by a company in London who carry out credit checks for corporate bodies, and company formations. I offered them a steady income stream by offering a website as an add on for new company formations. This is a structured package , set pages set content set price, plus they add on their £100 broker fee, i invoice them, they invoice their client, the client only knows who i am after the order is placed.

Debora mentions a company who print business stationery, i have a relationship with about a dozen or so print shops who operate on the same basis as above.

I know this is networking, but it is easy, its a simple COLD CALL when i say, i have an opportunity that can make both myself and you happier and wealthier, it is totally legal and all it involves is mutual marketing, where i point my customers at you and you do the same for me, they almost always say yes to a chat, after that it is up to you to 'sell' them on the concept, but if you build a quick site for them then you are in control, especially when they are getting business from it, as you can turn the screw for more referrals .

hope this helps, but i will say that cold calling is the most efficient way of doing it, and do it YOURSELF, don't get a girl to make appointments, YOU speak to THE MAN at the other end, in my experience you will get a better response if THE MAN (or the WOMAN) at the other end knows he/she is talking to THE MAN at your end, there is a kind of small business empathy that wants all small businesses to succeed.

One thing i will say though is always use the phrase, 'i wonder if you can help me' and ask the name of the owner, many times you will be speaking to the owner, but invariably we ALL like to think we can help others, so they are more receptive to that comment, if you get through to the owner, then open with a TRUE statement that will whet his/her appetite such as ' I wanted to pop along and have a chat about how your business and my business can make us both a bit more money, simple and accurate no messing about, sell the appointment not the product, sell the product when you get there.

If you want me to, i would be happy to mail you some notes on successful cold calling, these are not bunkum notes , but real world stuff that has always worked for me and people who have worked for me, and also now with my customers.

[OldWelshGuy]

Apologies for the looooooong post previous

[qwerty]

Long, but well worth it. I don't know if I have the stomach for cold calling, but I'd definitely like to read your tips, OWG.

I have determined that nothing is going to stop me from attending that networking meeting next Tuesday morning. I had a pretty good meeting (in person) with a potential client last week (I need to get back in touch with them on Monday and remind them of all the wonderful things I can do for them), so maybe I do have the ability to schmooze in person after all.

[OldWelshGuy]

Scmooze, that is such a great word lol, that is one thing that i love about cross border web contact, the local phrasiology.

I will write something up, and post a link unless there is a better way? thing is I write as i speak, so i stop typing a sentence when i need to breath, punctuation is something to do with boxing, and diction is what happens if you tie a torch to your willy. oops thinks this may now get edited

[OldWelshGuy]

The first thing to do BEFORE you cold call is ask yourself if the customer will benefit from your services, if the answer is yes, then you SHOULD call them, after all if you saw someone drop some money, you would have no problem shouting Hey Mate you dropped your money, even though he is a total stranger, because you believed he would want to hear what you had to say.

Rejection is not personal, and cold calling is easier when you have grasped that even a blind pig in a field will eventually find the food if he walks about enough

NOTE TO JILL:
would it be ok for me to post some tips on cold calling on the forum? or a link to a page and i will post them on my server?

[webstream]

To add a couple of suggestions to OWG's wonderful cold calling advise, I would practice a few times. Remember to be a very good "listener" and focus on the customer's needs, not your own.

People buy for their own reasons, not for yours or mine.

Rejection is not personal, and cold calling is easier when you have grasped that even a blind pig in a field will eventually find the food if he walks about enough

Did you teach that to all the Spammers?

Webstream

[OldWelshGuy]

Hang on now Webstream, i will hold my hand up to many things if guilty, but please not the spammers... they eat babies don't they

[Scottie]

I think it would be great if you posted some cold-calling tips, OWG. I know I can't do it... I just am not that brave.

What has worked for me is sending out a direct mail brochure, then following up with a phone call to see if they received it and had any questions. (I should note that tactic has been successful for my businesses in other fields that are locally based.)
Not too expensive, I designed a 3-part brochure using MS Publisher and printed it on glossy paper on the inkjet. If I were doing it for the web biz, I'd invest in a professional print-fold-mail service, but for the local biz, it looks fine. Sending something first lets them know who you are and what you are about so that when you call, there is a little name recognition and you don't have to work as hard to convince them to talk to you.

OK- to be truthful, my husband does any calling. I've probably mentioned how much I hate the phone.

[air-dog]

OWG is absolutely right. Cold calling is one of the most, if not the most, powerful weapons a small business can have in its arsenal. Some people make a fortune out of it but many just use it to fill the gaps between contracts.
I started my empire at the age of 13, selling containers of cheapo cleaning liquids door to door, so cold calling comes quite natural but I wouldn’t know where to start if asked to write it down - looking forward to reading OWGs outlines, tips and techniques.

However, a couple of practical tips regarding cold calling that may come in handy and work for me:-

Any phone will do but good phone helps a lot, I have a digital cordless with more features then I care to remember never mind use. A cordless phone means that you can stand up with a good posture and pace around the room while calling, not sure why this works… it just does.

You need nerves of steal, so getting rid of any stress is good. I have a punch bag used for working out and this always gets a good kick-in before a calling session.

Vocal exercises: Personally, I just clear my throat although I’ve heard of people doing a few scales. Its up to you but you may want to avoid sounding like a teenager whose voice has just broken.

Edited by air-dog, 25 October 2003 - 08:30 PM.

[dragonlady7]

OWG-- if you want your tips written up into a proper article, say the word! I'm still working on writing up all the fabulous stuff from the Starting Your Own Freelance Biz thread, but I'm not just saying that-- I actually have a completed draft on my computer and part of the thingy will be up today. I promise!!

I haven't got many procedures in place for gaining customers except subtly plugging myself in forums (:halo: ) but I'm planning on doing something along the lines of what OWG said-- I certainly had nothing as concrete in mind, but since I'm planning on relocating to a town I feel strong local connections to, I had figured that working with local businesses couldn't hurt.
Problem is I'm not sure how good I am at networking! I figured I'd find out pretty darn quick if it wasn't going to work. I don't know how good I'd be at cold-calling either, but I can be sure that my boyfriend won't be helping me out because he hates the phone even more than I do. I know a surprising amount of people who are otherwise normal and sociable who would rather eat hot glue than call a stranger on the phone. I actually had to take a job for a while where I had to make calls, so I sort of got over the phobia, but I still would rather do many things sooner than use the telephone with anyone but my mom and a select few others. (There are even *friends* I'd rather not speak to on the phone.)

The town I'm moving to (I know, the post is getting long, but I wanted to set forth a scenario) is one with a strong regional culture and a weak economy-- so there are a *lot* of expatriates. It had occurred to me that some of these places my boyfriend missed during his exile could actually ship their stuff to expats and make some more dough. I had heard a story of one local deli getting a call from an exile to Texas or something asking if they would mail him some of their mustard that he just couldn't get and missed like hell, and they obliged but were astonished because nobody'd ever asked before.
And a lot of companies in that city do now ship their stuff (foodstuffs, all) regularly-- you can buy sort of "best of buffalo" gift baskets and the like. One of the local chains even opened up one more store in a distant state-- so it's on say, Oak St., Main St., Niagara Blvd., and ... Wyoming or somesuch. (Says it on all the bags.)
So I had thought of trying to put together website packages to sell these types of people. Problem is I don't really want to do whole websites!
So I have to work out a plan for that. I certainly can't sell something if I don't know quite what I want to sell. But I have a few months until the move, so I have some time to brainstorm a bit and come up with things!
(An aside: this city, Buffalo NY, has an actual tourist campaign along the lines of "come home and visit Buffalo, and drag your friends who've never been there with you." I'm serious. It's a laugh riot. But it worked for me...)

[webstream]

If you are really serious about getting into your own business, or are struggling making ends meet, I would look into taking some sales and marketing classes, or read some sales and marketing books, or magazines. I am always amazed how many people with great knowledge within a field try to sell their services and never think of spending some time studying sales and marketing. OWG's blind pig I would bet doesn't eat too often.

You can also find a wealth of S & M information on the Internet too. For those starting out I would recommend checking out SCORE.ORG, they offer free business advice and other services for all types of startup businesses. They are a nonprofit association made of retired executives, etc...

I received 3 telephone spam calls yesterday in my office and I asked them if they knew, or worked with "OldWelshGuy".

OWG, don't give those spammers new ideas with your cold-call sales tips & ideas.

Webstream

[webstream]

Even though I am kidding around with OWG, notice he says he has a "wealth of marketing experience". That gives him a tremendous advantage when starting out his business.

For the gentleman who started this thread I see a lot of foreign manufacturers looking for help trying to tap into the U.S. market. That could be a great niche if you have some foreign contacts to start your portfolio with.

Webstream