10 replies to this topic

[rolf]

Anyone who sells to businesses has undoubtedly had meetings with potential clients where ultimately another company gets the work, nothing unusual there, that's just business. Some you win some you lose. But I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by losing sales to someone promising 'first page on google guaranteed' because they 'have a special relationship with the big search engines' or some other such rubbish, which is at best a half truth but often is an outright lie.

Obviously if I were to get the opportunity to discuss this with the potential client I would try to point out the problems with what they've been promised, but often I only see what has happened when, some months later, I see their site and can see what they've bought into.

I've just seen the website of a company I talked to earlier in the year, a company who have good inteliigent people working there and a budget that could really work well for them. They have a reasonably nice looking site but it's not very search engine friendly and does nothing to create any kind of action. Their intent (as far as they told me) was to use the search engines to bring in traffic and create phonecalls - which is not going to happen. Looking through their web designer's site (who handily put a link on every page) they are selling all sorts of snake oil and magic bullets. Obviously I don't know what aspects of this the client has paid for, but the types of things they're selling suggest that they're not actually very good at anything except selling questionable services to small businesses - although, to be fair, they're not too bad at design either

In such meetings I concentrate on what I can do for the potential client and tend not to talk about all the charlatans out there or the problems these people can cause unless they ask (I don't want to introduce negativity into the discussion), but how else can I get it across to potential clients that anyone who is offering a magic google bullet is not going to be able to deliver, and may even do them harm? Or should I just take the attitude that it's their problem and move on?

[Jill]

Or should I just take the attitude that it's their problem and move on?

Bingo!

Don't be surprised if they come back to you in a year or so when they realize they're worse off than before. We've had that happen.

[nethy]

A lot of industries develop a difficult to break norm of lies. Eg everyone know that the price you pay when picking up a rental car has nothing to do with the price you get quoted when you book it. Doesn't matter how much you interrogate them beforehand. Insurance, out of town fees, petrol extortion, second driver, under 30s, etc.
But what are you gonna do (as a car rental companies)? You can't advertise an $80 sticker when everyone's got $29!!! And the market has responded to BS over the years.

Same with mobile phones. The selling headline (at least down here) is $500 calls on a $45 plan for only $35. WTN does that mean? Basically, you would think it means just better rates. But every 'plan' has its own rates table anyway. To actually compare costs you need to multiply things by 3 or 4 parameters.
How do they keep making the deal sweeter without charging you less. They change the 'small print' ie the actual cost of calls. $1 per minute on a $45 plan with $500 calls for just $35 p/m. or $.75 per minute on a $55 plan with $350 calls for just $40 p/m.
Actually the per minute thing is not that simple. It depends who you call, when, the flag falls are irregular (sometimes 1 min sometime 30 sec) and what phase the moon is in plays a role if you're calling your aunt.

Maybe its not an outright lie but it's definitely purposely blurring information.

[Randy]

Personally, I always threw in something about the snake oil salesmen and the real damage they can do into my pitch when I still did SEO. Nothing long, just a mention. Usually towards the beginning of the presentation so that there weren't any negatives towards the end of the pitch.

I did this on the theory that even if they went with the snake oil hopefully they'll remember who it was that warned them about that kind of thing, bringing the back to you without some huge RFP process the second time around. I had clients back in the day who came back months later who told me flat out it was my warning that got them out of it quicker than they'd have otherwise jumped ship.

Besides, fear and trepidation can be an powerful emotional trigger that produces a sale you wouldn't otherwise get.

[1dmf]

Sometimes Rolf, you can't compete with black hat SEO, they have access to a network of domains to put links on (apparently without any footprint), i've been approached by such SEO companies, and if what they say is true, you cannot beat them and they will get your company's website to page 1.

How long that lasts and whether you end getting your site banned from google , I'm unsure, the jury is out on that one, i'm not sure G! can tell with some of these links that they are from a company with access to 1,000 & 1,000 of websites to add links.

So unless you have access to 1,000's & 1,000's of websites to put your links on , how are you going to compete?

I've been pondering this one myself, still looking for the answer if anyone has it

[rolf]

Thanks for the feedback on this, it's good to hear some other opinions and perspectives on it.

I've not had anyone come back to me after having gone with these companies yet, although I'll try following your method, Randy, and see if it makes a difference for me.

cheers all :-)

[MadMaxB]

Thanks for the feedback on this, it's good to hear some other opinions and perspectives on it.

I've not had anyone come back to me after having gone with these companies yet, although I'll try following your method, Randy, and see if it makes a difference for me.

cheers all :-)

Why don't you try following up with them and see where they stand. A phone call or email definitely couldn't hurt.

[incrediblehelp]

Thanks for the feedback on this, it's good to hear some other opinions and perspectives on it.

I've not had anyone come back to me after having gone with these companies yet, although I'll try following your method, Randy, and see if it makes a difference for me.

cheers all :-)

Create an appt. in your calendar to check on them (call/email) in 6-9 months and see how they are doing. You will be surprised how many client will come aboard.

[rolf]

Why don't you try following up with them and see where they stand. A phone call or email definitely couldn't hurt.

Create an appt. in your calendar to check on them (call/email) in 6-9 months and see how they are doing. You will be surprised how many client will come aboard.

Darn fine ideas, I'll write it in my diary.

I can totally see that after a few months of dealing with these types of companies they might be getting a bit disilusioned and might welcome a call from someone who isn't claiming to offer a free lunch. If nothing else, it could provide useful information about how these companies operate and how their customers feel about it after the fact.

Cheers

[JakeG]

I've had exactly the same problem with losing clients to companies who offer guarenteed first page rankings etc.

Even for existing clients I find it hard to convince people that it is traffic, not rankings that are important. Some companies seem happy with having a number one ranking for a keyword that nobody is searching on!

[harpsound]

Look very carefully at what type of potential client you are attracting - some will always be krill for the Blackhat SEO whale. It is their nature to want something for nothing yesterday. Build a picture of what it takes to earn a $ on the web long term. Also build a picture as to the long term consequences of what short term fixes can do as G will eventually find them out - every scheme leaves a footprint.

I purposefully only build sites for people who have already had a failure - they are then ready and patient enough for the real work ahead.
There is a reason that so many small businesses fail early on - short term decision making.

S