30 clients in 30 days or money back

[Andy Black]

Here’s my definitions:

Enquiries (phone calls, form fills, etc)
-> Leads (people interested in their services)
-> Buyers (people who buy their services, once)
-> Customers (people with a custom of buying their services - aka repeat buyers)

...

Personally, I don’t guarantee results. I even state it when I speak to people interested in hiring me: “We don’t guarantee results, just that we follow a process, and our process is this: blah blah blah.”

Even when we can’t get results for a new client and they have to disengage, they understand the process we went through and often still refer people to us in the future.

Maybe it goes against all the sales and marketing books, but I sell the process that should get results, not the results. I speak at length about the process. Prospects can visualise what we will do for them.

If they engage and we start the process then they will “see” the process in action and “get” it. Even if they don’t get results, understanding this process is extremely valuable for them because they can use it for any other business idea they have.


I’m not saying my process is my USP.

Again, contrary to sales books I don’t believe we need USPs. I believe we just need to get the right offer in front of the right people at the right time.

I’ve been on local courses for business owners - as an attendee. At the start folks are asked to introduce themselves and what they do.

“I’m Andy. I do them little ads on Google.”

Ta-da. That’s enough for anyone looking for help with Google Ads to make a note and come speak to me at the coffee break.

What was my USP? Did I even say I was good at it?

Nothing... I was just in the same room as them.

...

Check out the Inbound/Sales braindump in my signature.

 

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[rwhyan]

Clients =/= leads

Client = repeat buyer that you are providing a service for
Lead = someone interested in your offer

Andy Black has a post out there somewhere with good definitions of these terms.

 

[Sanj Modha]

I think its a bad idea: who's closing these leads?

Your entire business model depends on someone you can't control (most service clients suck at sales and don't know how to close).

 

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[Fox]

Your USP isn’t suitable for a lot of businesses. It’s too many leads and they would know that.

Lots of businesses need more than a day to take on a new client. My friend had a safety company that can take weeks to onboard a new company. Telling him he can have 30 new clients makes zero sense.

I’d try link this to a business goal rather than a random stat. Sure “30 in 30” sounds cool but to attract the right clients you will want something with substance.

Also how can you refund them fully - does that include ad spend? That could be thousands of euros.

I would work with something like this...

> my biggest fear with AdWords is... it doesn’t make any money

> promise that it will make money...

> “Profitable AdWord Advertising or 110% of your management fees refunded”

Something like that maybe.

Honestly though what will sell even better is focusing on the problems businesses have and using the great results you already got other businesses to build sellable stories.

 

[mdivljina]

So I'm starting my digital agency (will file for LLC when I get 10 clients on a regular basis). I specialize mainly in Google AdWords since I know how to do it, but as luck may have it, it also fulfills some needs for my clients.

I've been working on my USP and would like you people to comment on it.

The USP is:

30 clients in 30 days or money back.

It sounds good and, when I commented it with my friend she described it as shining and sparking haha.

My main problem is I don't actually get my clients (local business owners) sales with adwords but rather leads. If they don't track the calls (leads) properly they're not going to recognize my value. I'm also working in Croatia which gets you at about 500 clicks per month (in Zagreb, Croatia's biggest city) for a certain niche and I'm not really confident they can convert that much.

TLDR: The USP is in bold, I'm not sure if I can deliver.

Whaddyall think?

 

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[Johnny boy]

Promises and guarantees are tools to increase acquisition rates but can very often greatly increase the obligation to a point that it becomes not worth it.

It’s the payday loan of sales. You’ll say something to get them to sign up but pay for it later. Too high of an interest rate unless you’re desperate.

Another way to look at it is like taking a girl out on an expensive date. You can spend more money to get a girl to like you but it’s just not worth it. Better to do some sit-ups and be the more attractive guy that doesn’t have to work so hard to impress her. Don’t bend over backwards for the customers making crazy promises, cut the promises out and just sell it as is, but talk to more customers. Always be the hot guy, not the chump paying for dates.

Advice: Better marketing so you can sign up as many people but without promising results, don’t lose customers or have to refund them, make more money in the end.

 

[MHP368]

why not start the agency with no USP and see what you can actually convert and then

"a lead every 48 hours or your money back", or "two new paying clients a week or your money back" or however it hashes out

end of the day is the same smoke and mirrors, you could use the fact that a car has an internal combustion engine and gets you from point a to point b as a sales point if you worded it the right way

Also why can't you simply track the leads you're sending?

google adwords->landing page->callrail and a google voice number that forwards to the client

boom, you can track how many leads your sending them

 

[Real Deal Denver]

I like it, but I think 30 is way too high of a goal.

I would lean towards whatever they are paying you. If they are paying you $1,000 a month, I would say their profits cover your expense or their money back. That's no risk to them for 30 days, which is hard to turn down, and you stand a very good chance of making money too. That's a total win-win. Your time and expertise are worth something so don't sell yourself short.

 

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[Sanj Modha]

A better idea is: I will send you 10 qualified leads per week - make it a two way process.

If the client is as good as they say they are - they'll close 2 or 3 out of 10 leads.

 

[Real Deal Denver]

Usually I come in and say hello, did I get X? They respond with a yes. Then I say I found about you through Y, you're advertising there, am I right? They say yes and then I say I'm not selling anything (we both chuckle a bit) and offer them a free demonstration of how they can get more clients online. No mention of AdWords or any technical stuff. Then they got some objections I handle and it's pretty much a deal or no deal. But not selling anything, that's the most important part.

This is a great approach. You have a lot of knowledge to offer and you are not selling anything. You are putting the customer's interests first. Great job.

Then today, I changed the script with a last one and told him I do digital marketing and asked him would he be interested... the guy cut me off in the middle of a sentence and just said no thank you. I tried with a "but it's (free)", didn't even get a chance to say it till the end, the guy just said no thanks again and cut me off.

This approach puts you in the sales mode, even if it is free. Free is such a bait term, which creates suspicion, and it doesn't sound professional. If you really want to say free - say - "a totally free trial period to introduce you to our system." After the trial, if we don't deliver great results to you, there is no sense in going on - wouldn't you agree? Ask questions and WAIT for an answer - make this interactive. You want to be in the authority mode where you have something valuable that he should want to know about. If you approached it as offering some valuable information, I think almost everyone would be very receptive.

Make it valuable. Say, but I'm so sure this is going to work so well for you that you will want to use our systems to grow your business (state the benefit!) every month (show confidence - don't beg and don't use bait words - you will get respect that way). For example - Hello Mr. Smuck - I am calling today because I help businesses like yours find customers and grow. Now because I don't know how your business operates, (you're backing off here - so their defenses will go down) I would like to send you a link to a detailed case study of a local business we (not just you alone) have been working with for a few months now (this is not overnight success get rich plan) that will show you exactly (power word) how we have grown their business every month, even starting with the very first month (make it sound doable). Now THAT is interesting and exciting! All I need is your email and I will send you a direct link to our private (we don't give this valuable information out to just anybody) webpage that has the step by step method that we use fully explained. I think you will find this can be of great help to you and your business as well, but if not, I don't want to waste yours or my time if, for example, you are busy and don't have the time or resources to take on more customers (I have talked to businesses that have told me they are so busy they are turning down work - and I knew these people, so I know they weren't lying). Is there anyone else that I should send this to in your company that should know about this, besides yourself? Ask questions - be interested - don't sound like you are reading from a script. Establish yourself as an authority and you will get respect.

Now you will get clowns that think everyone that is selling something is evil. If they say "we're not interested" - be blunt - say something like, "really? Why would you not be interested in just looking at how we can help your business grow?" Push buttons. Every business sells something - a service or a product. So every business has one common goal - they need customers. I don't mind "getting face to face" with someone if they are shutting me down. If they are going to shut the door on me, I figure I have nothing to lose anyway. And you WILL lose some of them. God made idiots - you can't talk sense to idiots. So don't let it bother you. Let them stay in the stone age that they live in - and go to their competitors and say something like - I just talked to XYZ and they weren't even interested in talking to me. How would YOU guys like to see my marketing system? I'd love for you to use this to gain an advantage over XYZ, because, frankly, I don't like talking to close-minded people, so this may be a great day for you. I can send you a link to a web page that has all the details right now. Look at it at YOUR convenience.... and on and on.

The trick here is to COMMUNICATE with people. Everyone wants to hear from an expert - everyone wants to know the inside track of some trick that will help them. Be that person for them. Forget about selling them anything. Your job is to INTRODUCE them to your system - and the system will sell itself. You can even tell them that. Say, I'm not here to sell you something in 5 or 10 minutes. All I want you to do is to LOOK at what we HAVE already achieved and see if it would be something that you can use for your business. It's not for everyone, but for the ones that we do work with, it's giving them GREAT results. See? No selling. No pressure. No bait words. One on one coaching is the style you should be using.

 

[Sanj Modha]

All these info and knowledge which you posted in the forums......did you learn all of this from starting and running your business and learning along the way, or were they picked up from business/marketing school?

Yes, I figured this out myself from 7 years of pain, suffering, tears, breakdowns etc.

I've learnt that anxiety, stress, depression is a great teacher. Don't fight your lizard brain - use it as fuel to fire your ambitions.

That nagging voice inside your head is telling you something important. If you want more information on this - read The Chimp Paradox by Prof Steve Peters. It's changed my life.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Just have to add how much I love your tag line; formally a chess piece, now a chess player.

LOVE it! That might even be worthy of a tatoo!

Do it!

Its taken me a long time to get from piece to player too. I'm just happy to share my journey now.

 

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[Roli]

30 clients in 30 days or money back.

It sounds good and, when I commented it with my friend she described it as shining and sparking haha.

Man, that's one hell of a claim, if you could deliver on that you would be rolling in business, it's why I clicked on the thread. Really powerful, but can you do it . . ?

Croatia which gets you at about 500 clicks per month (in Zagreb, Croatia's biggest city) for a certain niche and I'm not really confident they can convert that much.

This is the problem, you are giving up control if you get the leads, and then the business doesn't convert, I mean there could be a million reasons why a business doesn't convert, from a bad website to a rude receptionist, and there's no way you can cover all of them unless you go in and top-to-bottom consult for them.

You see, in Croatia we don't have a word that substitutes the word lead. So I cannot say 30 leads in 30 days in Croatian because the word for a lead is non-existent.

I love hearing about this stuff, I'm a real languages freak so this interests me massively.

I'm guessing it's because in Croatia you don't place much stock on interest, somebody is either a customer or not... Because I'm sure you could word it I can get you 30 people who are interested in your product in the next 30 days. However that doesn't really have the same impact, and would probably be met with a cold response.

So conclusion, it's a nice idea and it definitely would work as a hook, however I don't think you can deliver on this promise because of the variables.

Also, seeing as you're online do you need to restrict yourself to Croatia? You seem to have an excellent grasp of the English language, why not try some other territories?

 

[mdivljina]

Okay, all great responses, love them all.

I like it, but I think 30 is way too high of a goal.

I would lean towards whatever they are paying you. If they are paying you $1,000 a month, I would say their profits cover your expense or their money back. That's no risk to them for 30 days, which is hard to turn down, and you stand a very good chance of making money too. That's a total win-win. Your time and expertise are worth something so don't sell yourself short.

I had a chuckle when I read the second sentence. Nobody ain't paying me that amount of money in Croatia. When a local service spends 5000HRK (754,71USD) he's a F*cking God. For that client I am getting paid 75,47 USD (or 500HRK) per month. The market is small and poor and 5000HRK is above the average paycheck down here. Now before you respond to this message read everything else I'm going to write because stuff is linked.

This is the problem, you are giving up control if you get the leads, and then the business doesn't convert, I mean there could be a million reasons why a business doesn't convert, from a bad website to a rude receptionist, and there's no way you can cover all of them unless you go in and top-to-bottom consult for them.

Okay, that's the thing I've come to realize after Andy Black's reply and I've acted on it. I dropped that as the USP and I've decided to play on something more subtle. The thing is, when talking to people I've got this ability to sound like "one of them". I can get the slang right and I talk differently with an electrician and a doctor. You get the gist. People love me on the phone for that and out of 8 cold calls I've managed to secure 2 definite presentations (giving one tomorrow) and 1 next week. Two guys are also interested but they're not really good with their time (logistics) so I'll have to contact them again if I don't land a client out of those 2 presentations. And my client (the only one I've got) just today told me he really likes me and said that I "get what he does". I believe I'm pretty good at building personal rapport with my clients. Just I'm not sure how that's all gonna work when I land 50 of them...

Also, seeing as you're online do you need to restrict yourself to Croatia? You seem to have an excellent grasp of the English language, why not try some other territories?

My goal right now is to get 5 paying clients in Croatia so I can have a portfolio and I can produce some real results. Then I'm gonna start going after US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and UK clients. Pretty much the English speaking world. Although, I am very worried how am I going to conduct outreach. Cold emails just don't work. I've tried it. Cold calling, I've got no idea how I'm going to get someone to answer a phone when they see a +385 number (Croatia state number). They might as well think the Nigerian prince is calling haha. And even if I get them on the phone, what do I ask for? Like I cannot ask for a meeting because well... F*ck. And I just don't think local business owners will trust someone on the other side of the ocean, or Europe. I've worked with a British guy before, he was an online marketer and travels the world so he gets the concept, but I just don't see an electrician in Leeds, Nottingham or Winston-Salem talking to me via Skype and being very responsive (maybe that's Croatia talking out of me, don't know). Everybody's doing that shit on the internet and they're bad, they destroy the reputation of good marketers. So about reaching people online, still haven't figured it out and I've done a lot of outreach, sales courses, etc., etc.

Your USP isn’t suitable for a lot of businesses. It’s too many leads and they would know that.

Lots of businesses need more than a day to take on a new client. My friend had a safety company that can take weeks to onboard a new company. Telling him he can have 30 new clients makes zero sense.

I’d try link this to a business goal rather than a random stat. Sure “30 in 30” sounds cool but to attract the right clients you will want something with substance.

Also how can you refund them fully - does that include ad spend? That could be thousands of euros.

I would work with something like this...

> my biggest fear with AdWords is... it doesn’t make any money

> promise that it will make money...

> “Profitable AdWord Advertising or 110% of your management fees refunded”

Something like that maybe.

Honestly though what will sell even better is focusing on the problems businesses have and using the great results you already got other businesses to build sellable stories.

Actually I'm pretty much closing businesses right now that get to the client in a matter of hours so that's not a problem. Need a car towed? You call the towing service I'm doing AdWords for. Need a light switch fixed? You call an electrician. Those are the kind of businesses I'm closing right now. But I do see your point.

The 30 for 30 number isn't so random because I got 33 clients for the towing service client past month. Like when he covered the ad spend and my cost he was 100% profitable (not counting the fuel for the trucks and the payroll). The interesting thing he said to me was that this month was surprisingly bad overall, so I'm expecting more closed leads this month.

But again, I do see your point and I pretty much agree with it. The USP sounds sparkling, but it's not in my control and nobody guarantees somebody will get those clients, lie to me about the results and ask for a refund.

 

[mdivljina]

There is one more thing I'd need your point of view on.

I called a guy today (he was third and last for today), it might be just calling fatigue (or whatever you call it) because I call one after another, no in between time, and I decided to change the script a bit.

Usually I come in and say hello, did I get X? They respond with a yes. Then I say I found about you through Y, you're advertising there, am I right? They say yes and then I say I'm not selling anything (we both chuckle a bit) and offer them a free demonstration of how they can get more clients online. No mention of AdWords or any technical stuff. Then they got some objections I handle and it's pretty much a deal or no deal. But not selling anything, that's the most important part.

Then today, I changed the script with a last one and told him I do digital marketing and asked him would he be interested... the guy cut me off in the middle of a sentence and just said no thank you. I tried with a "but it's (free)", didn't even get a chance to say it till the end, the guy just said no thanks again and cut me off.

I know this stuff happens and I know it should happen more often than it did for me (8 calls and 2 presentations is some crazy numbers) but it left me with a bitter after taste and it lingered the whole afternoon.

I guess my question here is, what kind of mindset and point of view should I adopt towards situations like this? I know it's going to happen in the future so I better be ready for it. Advice anyone?

 

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[Sanj Modha]

I was working with a dropshipping broker based in HK (they source the cheapest items in bulk for major retailers like Target, Wal-Mart etc).

Anyway, they wanted lots of B2B leads with the lowest cost per lead (who wants to pay more?). I sent them 1000+ using landing pages and chatbots but they weren't closing many.

When I dug deeper, I found that their sales teams were trying to "close" via email (LOL) when I had the lead's contact number!

The moral of the story - you can plan for a lot of things but clients close the leads and that's something you can't influence unless you give them a script and help them close (if that's possible).

 

[Real Deal Denver]

I was working with a dropshipping broker based in HK (they source the cheapest items in bulk for major retailers like Target, Wal-Mart etc).

Anyway, they wanted lots of B2B leads with the lowest cost per lead (who wants to pay more?). I sent them 1000+ using landing pages and chatbots but they weren't closing many.

When I dug deeper, I found that their sales teams were trying to "close" via email (LOL) when I had the lead's contact number!

The moral of the story - you can plan for a lot of things but clients close the leads and that's something you can't influence unless you give them a script and help them close (if that's possible).

Just have to add how much I love your tag line; formally a chess piece, now a chess player.

LOVE it! That might even be worthy of a tatoo!

 

[Roli]

The thing is, when talking to people I've got this ability to sound like "one of them". I can get the slang right and I talk differently with an electrician and a doctor. You get the gist.

This is a golden skill, and you are right to highlight it. Trust me, most people when they try this sound corny, so keep sharpening that pencil!

Cold calling, I've got no idea how I'm going to get someone to answer a phone when they see a +385 number

You can buy internet numbers these days to make you look like you're in any country.

And even if I get them on the phone, what do I ask for? Like I cannot ask for a meeting because well...

A Skype meeting?

I just don't see an electrician in Leeds, Nottingham or Winston-Salem talking to me via Skype and being very responsive (maybe that's Croatia talking out of me, don't know).

There was a guy once at Dekker records who didn't see the public going for another boy band, so the Beatles got their deal with someone else. You don't know till you try, and it will cost you very little to find out.

Usually I come in and say hello, did I get X? They respond with a yes. Then I say I found about you through Y, you're advertising there, am I right? They say yes and then I say I'm not selling anything (we both chuckle a bit) and offer them a free demonstration of how they can get more clients online.

This links to the one above, if that works in Croatian, I'm pretty sure it'll work in English....

PS the Slavic accent is very much liked over here.

PPS sorry if Croatian is not Slavic, my geography is not great

Then today, I changed the script with a last one and told him I do digital marketing and asked him would he be interested... the guy cut me off in the middle of a sentence and just said no thank you. I tried with a "but it's (free)", didn't even get a chance to say it till the end, the guy just said no thanks again and cut me off.

I know this stuff happens and I know it should happen more often than it did for me (8 calls and 2 presentations is some crazy numbers) but it left me with a bitter after taste and it lingered the whole afternoon.

Huh? Why would you do that?

Back in the day when I was a cold-calling salesman, I would start on a project, perfect the pitch then sell like crazy. Then after awhile I would notice sales drop off, and this would happen on every project, you know why?

Well one day I analysed the script that I had been using, I realised that every five or six pitches I would change a couple of words here and there. The result was that every couple of days my script was noticeably different, technically it meant the same thing, however words can be beautifully subtle, they are the conduit for meaning, and some times just a simple "and" there or an "if" here can change the way we think about what is being said.

We have a saying here in England it says; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I guess my question here is, what kind of mindset and point of view should I adopt towards situations like this? I know it's going to happen in the future so I better be ready for it. Advice anyone?

Everyone's different, however I used to get over it by saying some really quite disgusting things to them ... after they hung up the phone.

I'm serious, I would get quite creative over varying sexual positions that I felt they should try out with different members of their family, I would get right into it until I made myself laugh, then I'd move on and make the next call.

Somewhat ironically,, when someone calls you after they've been laughing, they make you feel good and you're more likely to buy from them! :-D

All these info and knowledge which you posted in the forums......did you learn all of this from starting and running your business and learning along the way, or were they picked up from business/marketing school?

Click the link in his signature, it explains everything from start to finish.

 

[mdivljina]

As of today -- 27.05.2019., I've got 2 new clients in Croatia (out of cca 30 calls) and have started cold calling in the US (US towing services, getting more cash calls for them). That makes for 3 clients total.

I called at about 20 people in the US by now, little less than half picked up. Some said not interested, some said call us tomorrow (happy Memorial Day to my US counterparts here, didn't know it was a holiday until today).

I'll be calling more people tomorrow and will lead with the fact that I'm not selling anything over the phone, it really breaks their pattern of saying "I'm not interested" or "Please take me off your list" and makes them listen as I've found out on a small sample.

Also, some mindsets I've adopted are:
1. Failure is only failure if you stop calling and learning.
2. I'm going to find out if a person is a fit for my company and not try to sell them something over the phone.
3. Seek conversations.
4. Hold onto your niche and bang it through. Go through 2000 leads, call them all and then decide whether that's an industry worth pursuing. If you jump too fast, you won't achieve anything.

If you're looking for cold calling lists, telephonelists.biz provided me with 5000 leads for 99$ per month (I've quit the subscription when I downloaded the leads, those 5000 will last me longer than one month). But you'll have to first go through all the leads and vet them yourself. For instance I wanted towing services only but they put lots of auto body repair shops, etc., etc. which are not my niche. Also they put lots of leads that have a broken website, an outdated domain, etc., etc. If you're starting, it's a good start. I don't have the money to pay more right now.

 

[fred303]

"I do website design, do you have a minute? " this is your problem.
You win or lose the attention of your potential customer in the first seconds if you don't manage to link the results of your solution with the goals of the customer. What you're telling him is about YOU, all he cares about is HIM.

If his problem is really "not enough customers" talk about his problem, he needs to see that you understand his business and problems. The website is just the tool you will use to fix this problem . If you go to a car mechanic and want your car to be fixed, the last thing you care about is which screwdriver he will use.

But do you know the goals of the customer you're calling?
I know it sounds silly but I called many small companies who didn't want more customers, they just had enough work or not enough employees and the last thing they wanted was more customers.
Have you done any campaigns for towing businesses? Why did they buy from you? What was their real problem? Ask why your offer is interesting to them, listen really good to what they tell you and what words they use to describe it, use these words later in your conversations.

Another approach is to go into an easy conversation and to ask him for his opinion or help.
This is how I would do it, some might not agree, I don't care this has worked well for me in the past and I do this for a living.

I'm not a native English speaker so the wording can probably be improved.

You:
Hi this is MD , i saw that you are running your towing business in XYZ (his city)
I'd love to hear your opinion on the towing business in XYZ- city ,
or I wonder if you can help me out with something related to the towing business in XYZ-city,
would you have a minute to chat or am I disturbing you with something?
(i like to ask if I'm disturbing because it takes the pressure out of it and gives them a feeling of control)

Him:
Best case: Yeah sure, what is this about?
Or less good but still OK: Why?

You:
I worked with a company in ABC city
(not in his towing area but a city he knows and that is similar to his city)

and they told me that in the last years the business became tougher because of
[ a problem you know of in industry] do you see the same happening over here?

problem examples:
fewer customers because
-so much competition entering the market, piece of cake is getting smaller (
- less cars on the roads
- the new law making it easier to open a towing business


His reply either depends if you hit or don't hit a pain point.
Yes, we get much lesser calls than 3 years ago.
Yes, cops are not as strict as they used to be.
Yes, we had to let go of 3 people because of business decrease.

You:
Yes, it's the same as in XY, the company I worked with told me.
(If you want you can put the finger deeper in this wound, magnify the problem, to increases the chance of him to act on the problem.)
If you have some more time I'm happy to share with you how I managed to help increase new customer rate by x%. (ask again for the no, give him control)

and then you pitch your solution - not your tools.
You can also explain him why his business decreased, how people nowadays look for towing services, etc. but don't go technical.


In case you didn't hit a paint point and he says something like:
No, this is not an issue for me, I have more work then I can handle.
I don't care anymore, want to close business soon anyway

He disqualified himself and you should move on. If you want you can still ask him if he would you like to stay in touch anyway in case he needs more customers one day and ask for his email, when to call again etc. depending on what exactly he is telling you.


Anyway, this is getting too long, I'd try to get into a good conversation with the companies and check if they have a problem you can fix. Of course, this approach works better if you know of a specific problem in a certain industry.

 

[Walter.LV]

So I've called 30 tow trucking businesses today and it was a hot F*cking mess.

I need some feedback. Whatever you say, just say something. Give me something. I feel like I want to pull my hair out.

So I call them and in 50% cases I get a dispatcher on. He/she can't make a decision so asks me to leave a message. F*ck that. I know the owner won't be convinced, even if they actually do pass the message along. (Oh yea, and F*ck the company that sold me the calling list. What am I supposed to do with dispatcher numbers? I could've done that myself by Googling them...)

I naively thought that I'd get owners on the phone (because all the people I called in Croatia were owners).

So even when I get the owners on the phone they cut me down or whatever's the usual response to cold callers. I don't even feel the rejection at this point. It's just frustrating to put in an hour and a half into cold calling and to get zero, zilch, nada, nothing out of it. Straight no's.

Out of 30 people, there were 2 who said I don't have the time and said call me later... which I will do later today.

I set out to make 50 calls today, but with this rate I just F*cking said, F*ck it. Before you say something like : "You shouldn't have quit, etc.", the answer is yes. I should have. I didn't get a single F*cking objection. I don't need to call 300 people or 3000 for that matter if I just get shut down and no's all the time. Without a single objection from any of 30 people I called. Something needs to change. Be that my method of outreach, my script or my offer. But 30 calls without a single objection means something's not going well here.

Cold calling is a F*cking tedious job. It's like banging my head onto the wall again, again and again and expecting the wall will break before my head does.

I even changed my script from last week. I started off with hello, I found you through Google (it's a F*cking lie, but it's at least believable) and then I say: "I do website design, do you have a minute?" Most of them say no right here and I just F*ck off. I rarely got into my pitch of offering a free preview of a website that includes no involvement on their side whatsoever (they don't need to pay for it and I don't waste their time).

For those of you who were not tuned in, last week I was offering a free demonstration of how they could get more cash calls online.

Any comments, feedback, anything from you guys?

What do you think? Should I skip to another niche? I really don't care about the tow trucking niche. The reason I chose it was the prices on AdWords for the towing industry were not competitive at all. I could've easily given them value (more cash calls) and taken their hard-earned dollars in exchange. But if the owners are constantly on the road, I cannot catch them to even get a chance to talk to them, what's the point?

Do you think I should move onto another niche where I can add the same value (website design and AdWords)?
What is a man to do?

Give me something...

Hey bro, cold outreach is a tough business. I did like 2k cold emails this past winter (in the U.S. market.) I did most of it manually, scraping the info one by one. I did manage to get a few meetings but I decided to stop doing it.

Here's the thing - when you're cold calling a business, most of the times you reach the gatekeeper. To get to the decision maker, you have to befriend the gatekeeper first. Then, even if you're lucky (or skilled) enough to get to the decision maker, it's not an impulse buy. It's something they have to carefully decide upon weighing all the pros/cons.

Now what are the chances of you calling a business, and they:
1. Know, like and trust you
2. Are in the market for your service
3. And are ready to BUY NOW?

Well, they're pretty slim. Another thing, when I was visiting my relatives in the U.S. they got like 5-10 cold calls a day. That's to their home, not a business. Now imagine how many other marketers cold call a business in a given day. That's why it's hard to get past the 3 sentence "no thank you."

What I'm transitioning into right now is content. Create the best content in your niche. Educate the business owners on how they can run their own ads on Google. Give them all the ins and outs. Show them every little detail you know (how to buy ads, what keywords to bid on, how to write compelling headlines, how to spy on their competitors, I mean every little tactic you've uncovered.) I know this sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out...

This will create goodwill and brand recognition for you. This will build the know, like and trust factor. And then once the business owners are actively searching for "how to run google ads for a towing company", they see all the content you've created, who are they gonna do business with? The cold caller, trying to hustle a 'free presentation' or you?

Make sure all of the content you create has a subtle pitch at the very end. Something along the lines of "Hey if you enjoyed this video/article/podcast and you'd like me and my team to run your ads, make sure to click this link and let's schedule a time to talk."

Now they're in your funnel. Now they're reaching out to you. And the best part is that you're building your brand.

Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps.

 

[mdivljina]

This Andy's "personally I don't guarantee results" is something that really resonated with me. I believe I can sell that point at any time face to face.

Maybe I don't even need a clear cut USP. I've made 5 cold calls and scheduled 2 free demonstrations. That's worth it now, isn't it?

 

[Andy Black]

There is one more thing I'd need your point of view on.

I called a guy today (he was third and last for today), it might be just calling fatigue (or whatever you call it) because I call one after another, no in between time, and I decided to change the script a bit.

Usually I come in and say hello, did I get X? They respond with a yes. Then I say I found about you through Y, you're advertising there, am I right? They say yes and then I say I'm not selling anything (we both chuckle a bit) and offer them a free demonstration of how they can get more clients online. No mention of AdWords or any technical stuff. Then they got some objections I handle and it's pretty much a deal or no deal. But not selling anything, that's the most important part.

Then today, I changed the script with a last one and told him I do digital marketing and asked him would he be interested... the guy cut me off in the middle of a sentence and just said no thank you. I tried with a "but it's (free)", didn't even get a chance to say it till the end, the guy just said no thanks again and cut me off.

I know this stuff happens and I know it should happen more often than it did for me (8 calls and 2 presentations is some crazy numbers) but it left me with a bitter after taste and it lingered the whole afternoon.

I guess my question here is, what kind of mindset and point of view should I adopt towards situations like this? I know it's going to happen in the future so I better be ready for it. Advice anyone?

Sorry... I can't help you. I don't cold call or cold email!


Have you worked your way through this?

• Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

 

[Cvince]

It's better to over deliver and under promise. Then to under deliver and over promise.

 

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[mdivljina]

PS the Slavic accent is very much liked over here.

PPS sorry if Croatian is not Slavic, my geography is not great

Where you from, so I know where to start when I go international haha.
Yea, Croatia is Slavic. It's in between Western Balcans and Central Europe.

Huh? Why would you do that?

Back in the day when I was a cold-calling salesman, I would start on a project, perfect the pitch then sell like crazy. Then after awhile I would notice sales drop off, and this would happen on every project, you know why?

Well one day I analysed the script that I had been using, I realised that every five or six pitches I would change a couple of words here and there. The result was that every couple of days my script was noticeably different, technically it meant the same thing, however words can be beautifully subtle, they are the conduit for meaning, and some times just a simple "and" there or an "if" here can change the way we think about what is being said.

We have a saying here in England it says; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Yea so I don't have a script script, but a script that serves me as a guideline so I know the course of my call. I switched it up just to see what happens. I've scheduled two meetings and I pretty much believe I'm going to close at least one of them to become my client and I don't want to have two guys in a same niche because of conflicting interests obviously.

Because of that I decided to play a bit and see what happens. As of now, it seems people have a knee jerk reaction when someone bluntly mentions the term "digital marketing".

Everyone's different, however I used to get over it by saying some really quite disgusting things to them ... after they hung up the phone.

I'm serious, I would get quite creative over varying sexual positions that I felt they should try out with different members of their family, I would get right into it until I made myself laugh, then I'd move on and make the next call.

Somewhat ironically,, when someone calls you after they've been laughing, they make you feel good and you're more likely to buy from them! :-D

This is funny, but I don't think it'd be right for me. It reminds me of Ari Gold methods hahaha.

I'm just going to shrug it off and continue with my endeavors. It's bound to happen cca 10% of the time. Swallow that shit up and just continue.

Sorry... I can't help you. I don't cold call or cold email!


Have you worked your way through this?

• Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

I've been through your other posts. They're all gold. I'm reading this one right now and I'm really feeling it. I did the digital agency thing cca. October last year, but everyone around me was busting my balls pretty much and I gave into the pressure. Lesson learned, moved on. That's why I haven't been talking to people about what I'm doing, but will definitely try out your methods.

 

[focusedlife]

The very first thing I thought of was what if your USP was something like:

Positive ROI or your money back

This way you don't have to beholden to any specific # claim, only that you can make them profitable.

Whether they wanna invest $500 or $50,000 so be it.

So long as based on your assessment you feel you can make them profitable, go for it.

What are your feelings on this?

 

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[mdivljina]

Okay so let's update this bitch.

After very clean 20 no's in a row, I decided to change my offer. Up to now I was cold calling and offering a free demonstration of how I can help towing services in the US get more cash calls online.

I've decided to offer them a free preview of how their website could look. It's something I'm going to try out next week (gonna do 150 calls).

Right now I'm vetting the lead list I bought. Lots of broken links to the website and non-relevant leads.

Will update soon.

 

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[mdivljina]

Clients =/= leads

Client = repeat buyer that you are providing a service for
Lead = someone interested in your offer

Andy Black has a post out there somewhere with good definitions of these terms.

I know the difference between a lead and a sale, that's not what I'm asking here.

You see, in Croatia we don't have a word that substitutes the word lead. So I cannot say 30 leads in 30 days in Croatian because the word for a lead is non-existent.

This is a pretty specific problem and what I'd like to know is simply are the average numbers from people on this forum with experience in local lead gen with AdWords.

Are the expectations too high if I expect 30 closed deals out of cca. 300 clicks per month?

@Andy Black care to wager in?

 

[Xeon]

I was working with a dropshipping broker based in HK (they source the cheapest items in bulk for major retailers like Target, Wal-Mart etc).

Anyway, they wanted lots of B2B leads with the lowest cost per lead (who wants to pay more?). I sent them 1000+ using landing pages and chatbots but they weren't closing many.

When I dug deeper, I found that their sales teams were trying to "close" via email (LOL) when I had the lead's contact number!

The moral of the story - you can plan for a lot of things but clients close the leads and that's something you can't influence unless you give them a script and help them close (if that's possible).

All these info and knowledge which you posted in the forums......did you learn all of this from starting and running your business and learning along the way, or were they picked up from business/marketing school?

 

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[Roli]

The Chimp Paradox by Prof Steve Peters

Thank you!