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I have a follow up call with my first prospect - how do I close the deal?

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

drpeppehr

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I found business that has a website with a ton of issues, and by cold calling I asked questions and offered my services.

We spoke about his issues, and he was down for a follow up call from me on Thursday. I told him I'd go over his site and come up with a plan to tackle his problems

My plan:
- rebuild his website from scratch with a new domain and better design
- build him a facebook/twitter/instagram page to rank better on google

I'm pretty nervous on how I'm going to call him back and close the deal. I've never closed a deal before and I don't know if thursday is the time to do it, or if it's better to schedule a third call.

In my brain, I think that if I call him back and explain "hey, I worked on some ideas and the best possible plan for you is to build a new website from scratch and also have social media built, it will be $800" it might get rejected right away.

I know I can provide serious value for this guy, I'm just not sure how to close this with him. Any advice yall?
 
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Twiizlar

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First, communicate the value and make sure he understands the value you can provide for him. At the end, give him your pricing and go for the close.

Also "build him a facebook/twitter/instagram page to rank better on google" is not how SEO works.
 

drpeppehr

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First, communicate the value and make sure he understands the value you can provide for him. At the end, give him your pricing and go for the close.

Also "build him a facebook/twitter/instagram page to rank better on google" is not how SEO works.


Will do. I'll focus on the end result which is him getting more customers.

I know that social media doesn't actually help you rank better on google, but I sold him on that because he doesn't have social media but all his competitors do.

I should've said that creating good quality content and keyword research for his site will rank him better.
 

Twiizlar

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If you know SEO, then you should upsell that.

If you know SMM, then you should upsell that.

But you shouldn't just create him social profiles and put that on the website, there is no value there.
 
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Charnell

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Watch this video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVwBLXWlZiI

Not the same niche but take his approach. You're not trying to hard sell this guy.

Do you know exactly what he wants yet? How many pages, recurring articles, any ongoing costs? Have you asked him what his budget is? You might be thinking $800 and he might be thinking $8000.

I'm not saying to gouge him for as much money as you can, but if he's expecting to spend 10x what you're invoice is, he might see your service as cheap.

Do you have a price for each item you're going to produce?
 

drpeppehr

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be crystal clear with the next step you want them to take, and assume they will take it, and ask if you can get started on XYZ on Monday next week (for example)

Will do this. Thank you.


If you know SEO, then you should upsell that.

If you know SMM, then you should upsell that.

But you shouldn't just create him social profiles and put that on the website, there is no value there.

I agree I guess I got carried away with him and just told him everything he needed. He's not technical at all so explaining that I'll provide SEO, social media marketing, etc isnt valuable to him if he doesnt know what it means. I basically sold him on the idea that, hey you are missing a lot of things that other businesses aren't let's get you caught up.
 
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drpeppehr

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Watch this video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVwBLXWlZiI

Not the same niche but take his approach. You're not trying to hard sell this guy.

Do you know exactly what he wants yet? How many pages, recurring articles, any ongoing costs? Have you asked him what his budget is? You might be thinking $800 and he might be thinking $8000.

I'm not saying to gouge him for as much money as you can, but if he's expecting to spend 10x what you're invoice is, he might see your service as cheap.

Do you have a price for each item you're going to produce?

Didn't think about that at all actually...

I didn't ask him about his budget but I told him that I've built $2,000 websites before (I lied) but he kept talking to me for 10 minutes after I said that.

He said he's happy with his current site but he knows it's super old and is willing to see what I can do.

I'll check out the video. Thank you!
 

Twiizlar

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You'll learn to be upfront about pricing. I always state a bracket monthly rate (for me I usually say $1-3k) so you guys are at least on the same page.

It's a waste of time for both parties if he's looking for a $100 website. You can't convince these kinds of people and you just have to let the lead go.
 

drpeppehr

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You'll learn to be upfront about pricing. I always state a bracket monthly rate (for me I usually say $1-3k) so you guys are at least on the same page.

It's a waste of time for both parties if he's looking for a $100 website. You can't convince these kinds of people and you just have to let the lead go.

Got it. Appreciate your help.

What are your thoughts on helping him if he's cheap? For example let's say over the phone I conclude my proposal and offer the site for $900 and he says it's too much. Should I work with him if he'd be willing to pay let's say $300?

I'd still be able to use his website on my portfolio, and to be honest $300 would still be really helpful to me with where I'm at. That's almost my rent for my bedroom.
 
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Twiizlar

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Got it. Appreciate your help.

What are your thoughts on helping him if he's cheap? For example let's say over the phone I conclude my proposal and offer the site for $900 and he says it's too much. Should I work with him if he'd be willing to pay let's say $300?

I'd still be able to use his website on my portfolio, and to be honest $300 would still be really helpful to me with where I'm at. That's almost my rent for my bedroom.
Yes, if your OK with working for a low price then why not? Especially if your just starting you can charge low prices, build your portfolio and slowly scale up to bigger projects.
 

ShamanKing

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Didn't think about that at all actually...

I didn't ask him about his budget but I told him that I've built $2,000 websites before (I lied) but he kept talking to me for 10 minutes after I said that.

He said he's happy with his current site but he knows it's super old and is willing to see what I can do.

I'll check out the video. Thank you!



Why did you lie.
 

Stargazer

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To create credibility and be more convincing.

I can understand why you thought you had to but I promise you that you do not need to make things up.

Think about it. 'I lied to create credibility' How does that come across to you?

Here is an incredibly successful and famous Ad campaign for you to adapt as you are a newbie.


Good advice from the guys above.

Stick to one thing when selling (the redesign in your case) plus 1 add on (your strongest field)

Too many options leads to having to think about it. It is confusing. and once you hang up they are not thinking about you at all so it is pretty much dead.

Dan
 

drpeppehr

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I can understand why you thought you had to but I promise you that you do not need to make things up.

Think about it. 'I lied to create credibility' How does that come across to you?

Here is an incredibly successful and famous Ad campaign for you to adapt as you are a newbie.


Good advice from the guys above.

Stick to one thing when selling (the redesign in your case) plus 1 add on (your strongest field)

Too many options leads to having to think about it. It is confusing. and once you hang up they are not thinking about you at all so it is pretty much dead.

Dan

I agree with you. After looking up that ad campaign I realize that I have more to offer than the big name web designers in my town - I have more time and attention to give.

I will stick to your recommendation. I think keeping it simple will be good enough instead of offering him 3 different packages.

I now plan to sell him a resdesign of his site; 5 pages, including a logo, new domain, and much better content + the ability to schedule appointments. My add-on would be SEO to try and bring him up on Google.

A question: would it be better to give him my plan, then offer price, or start the call off with the price and then give my plan?


Thank you Dan, this was extremely helpful.
 

Barry_M

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hi - why are you getting the guy a new domain name? If the guy already has a domain name and Google recognises the domain as being for his business, and Google is not penalising it for any reason then you would be better to keep it especially if you are doing a SEO campaign.

Do you know anything about SEO? What is the target market and what are the clients expectations from the SEO?

Is it local SEO, Ecommerce, national/international, niche market SEO?
 
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Barry_M

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- build him a facebook/twitter/instagram page to rank better on google

I think you will need to look in to this more. Do you understand this? This will help for NAP results but not much else. If your client has any decent competition in their field, his competition will rank for selected key phrases (not words) so you need to research them first and see what they rank for. Do not have a shot in the dark approach to SEO (you might not be, I dont know). Also as your price range seems to be so low, I will have to assume you are very new to SEO and so you really do need to research SEO before you offer it as a service.

If the SEO shit hits the fan, it will all splatter in your direction. (lol Copy Right Barry_M 2019)
 
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