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How's my sales approach / strategy?

Marketing, social media, advertising

Xpo

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Hey there fellow entrepreneurs!
I've started designing & selling websites 1 year ago without a lot of success to say the least :happy:
Anyways, I've figured my problem was my sales approach and strategy- I've tried selling websites on IG and tried promoting it there, it did not work very well...
Moreover, I did not explain and transfer to the potential customers & leads I had the value of a website to their business, but now, after finding this forum and going through some of Fox's great content (Thanks a lot BTW @Fox ) I've changed my sales approach and I also want to try cold calling & cold e-mailing.
But I have a few questions before I'm restarting that I'm sure some of you which are more experienced in sales & marketing could answer.

First of all, do you guys think that cold calling & cold e-mailing is the best way to go for me ATM?
Cold Calling is quite obvious, but how is cold e-mailing done? Do I just spam email addresses with my services?

Thanks :fire:
 
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Itizn

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Cold call.
Cold email in my experience is a lot harder with regards to breaking through the noise.

Assuming you aren't a nervous wreck when it comes to calling people out of the blue, all you need to do is ask them questions that a) show you can aid them somehow and b) try and get concrete answers from decision makers.

Aim for 20 calls a day and periodically build it up.
 

Black_Dragon43

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Hey @how2rich,

Both cold calling and cold email can work, however the rate of effectiveness is generally small, and in some niches VERY small.

When you approach anyone cold, their INSTINCT is to get away from you. To them, you represent potential danger. Think of the last time someone cold called you. Likely you started thinking how you can get away from them immediately.

So you’ve got to dig yourself out of that pit to start with, and you have very little time to do it. It’s easier through cold calling, cause less people do it and people find it harder to get away from you by phone.

The other approach involves making friends with your prospects, engaging them, and creating interest for what you can do. But attempting this form of sales while you have no experience, no past projects, no portfolio is almost impossible.

My recommendation, honestly, would be to join Upwork or similar and start doing projects there. Learn to get projects that pay you well ($500-$1,000+) and build a portfolio, skills and reputation. You can make a living that way rather than working a job. It’s not fastlane, but guess what, it works, and you can easily do it. Get some projects under your belt, build your own website, build a profile on LinkedIn, start networking with people… that will come with time.
 

Antifragile

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Read:
1. Pitch anything
2. 100M offer

3F37EBE6-0252-4413-9BB8-41C72D5EF5F0.jpeg
23E2A220-78C8-410C-92E0-304767B4CE78.jpeg
 
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Xpo

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Cold call.
Cold email in my experience is a lot harder with regards to breaking through the noise.

Assuming you aren't a nervous wreck when it comes to calling people out of the blue, all you need to do is ask them questions that a) show you can aid them somehow and b) try and get concrete answers from decision makers.

Aim for 20 calls a day and periodically build it up.
Hey @how2rich,

Both cold calling and cold email can work, however the rate of effectiveness is generally small, and in some niches VERY small.

When you approach anyone cold, their INSTINCT is to get away from you. To them, you represent potential danger. Think of the last time someone cold called you. Likely you started thinking how you can get away from them immediately.

So you’ve got to dig yourself out of that pit to start with, and you have very little time to do it. It’s easier through cold calling, cause less people do it and people find it harder to get away from you by phone.

The other approach involves making friends with your prospects, engaging them, and creating interest for what you can do. But attempting this form of sales while you have no experience, no past projects, no portfolio is almost impossible.

My recommendation, honestly, would be to join Upwork or similar and start doing projects there. Learn to get projects that pay you well ($500-$1,000+) and build a portfolio, skills and reputation. You can make a living that way rather than working a job. It’s not fastlane, but guess what, it works, and you can easily do it. Get some projects under your belt, build your own website, build a profile on LinkedIn, start networking with people… that will come with time.
Read:
1. Pitch anything
2. 100M offer
I do actually have a website with a few projects I had done for some of my family's businesses to show off for customers (it's on my profile) , so I think I'll give cold calling and the other method you mentioned a try. If it won't work I'll definitely try Upwork but I just finished highschool so I do have a lot of time under my belt into digging reading & learning how to do it properly. I appreciate your guys' advices and will definitely take them seriously :)
 

Andy Black

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Xpo

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How hard are you willing to work?
My goal is very important for me and currently I'm very motivated so I am willing to put the work and hours towards it. But to be honest I'm also afraid of experiencing burnout as it did happen to me in the past with other projects and goals. What's your suggestion?
 
Last edited:

Kung Fu Steve

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My goal is very important for me and currently I'm very motivated so I am willing to put the work and hours towards it. But to be honest I'm also afraid of experiencing burnout as it did happen to me in the past with other projects and goals. What's your suggestion?

Find 10 companies today.

Go to their website.

Create a list of things that need to be fixed/cleaned up/changed -- things that would give them more leads/customers or whatever.

Send that to them as a report.

Then ask for a call.

Or call and ask "did you receive my report? take a look at it, and if it makes sense and you think it would give you more business, I'd love to interview for that job."

Rinse. Repeat.

OR...

You could literally BUILD a wireframe of a new website for them, send them screenshots and ask if they'd like you to do it for them.

Don't tell them what you can do ... SHOW them.

Proof trumps everything.
 

Xpo

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Find 10 companies today.

Go to their website.

Create a list of things that need to be fixed/cleaned up/changed -- things that would give them more leads/customers or whatever.

Send that to them as a report.

Then ask for a call.

Or call and ask "did you receive my report? take a look at it, and if it makes sense and you think it would give you more business, I'd love to interview for that job."

Rinse. Repeat.

OR...

You could literally BUILD a wireframe of a new website for them, send them screenshots and ask if they'd like you to do it for them.

Don't tell them what you can do ... SHOW them.

Proof trumps everything.
Wow that's a great idea I'll defo give this one a try. Thanks Steve
 
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Xpo

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So how'd it go?
Mailed some clients, no response yet but I'll give it some more time, tomorrow morning I'll cold call some potential clients that might be interested as well
 
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Kung Fu Steve

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Mailed some clients, no response yet but I'll give it some more time, tomorrow morning I'll cold call some potential clients that might be interested as well

Errr... with a list of updates, changes, and examples?

Or just a cold pitch again?
 

K1 Lambo

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Hey there fellow entrepreneurs!
I've started designing & selling websites 1 year ago without a lot of success to say the least :happy:
Anyways, I've figured my problem was my sales approach and strategy- I've tried selling websites on IG and tried promoting it there, it did not work very well...
Moreover, I did not explain and transfer to the potential customers & leads I had the value of a website to their business, but now, after finding this forum and going through some of Fox's great content (Thanks a lot BTW @Fox ) I've changed my sales approach and I also want to try cold calling & cold e-mailing.
But I have a few questions before I'm restarting that I'm sure some of you which are more experienced in sales & marketing could answer.

First of all, do you guys think that cold calling & cold e-mailing is the best way to go for me ATM?
Cold Calling is quite obvious, but how is cold e-mailing done? Do I just spam email addresses with my services?

Thanks :fire:

Hey,

You need to find a strategy that works for you. Cold calling may be the fastest way, but it's not everybody. Just like emailing and dms are not for everybody. Test out different strategies and see what gives you the highest ROI.

I don't have that much experience in cold calling(although I did some when selling my marketing services last year).
On the phone, you need to be quick and clear, since they're expecting a customer and not a guy who's just trying to improve their website. Obviously you need to pitch them, otherwise you're just wasting your and their time.

I have done many cold emails in the past(with no success really, other than two meetings this year). Probably because I've been pitching them too much.

But I've been doing a lot of Instagram DMs and they work very well for me, much better open and response rate compared to email. Probably because people are so used to getting pitched everyday nowadays about some gimmick in their inbox.

If you want to do Instagram DMs, make sure that your account looks like it's a real one(real person, real account).
And don't pitch them in your very first message. Took me roughly 9 months to realize this mistake but you need to stand out in the DMs. Business owners get pitched all the time about various services; especially marketing, logo and website services. You need to be the purple cow here and get their attention.

Ask them a normal question a customer would ask in your first message, like what's your best selling product or what's the fastest car you got for sale? Or how long does it take to build a house? (Depends on your niche, but you get it).

That will open them up because people love to talk about themselves and be less susceptible about your intentions. That's the key in sales, conversation and rapport. After 3-4 questions(after the original message), you can switch gears and be a little bit more salesy.

Like have you thought about your online presence, besides your social media platforms(if they have any), or do you have a website? Are you happy with your website?

If they say yes I'm happy. You can say; "Ok, will you be looking for a better website in the future"? If they say no, then move on and get to the next prospect.

If they say no I'm not happy, then that's your catch. Provide value and solve their problem.

Sales is a number's game.

But obviously, you don't want to ask them like 15-20 product/service related questions, because then they're going to think that you actually want to buy some of their products and when you make that sales switch they're just going to that you're a dumbass for wasting their time, including yours too.
 

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Go through Andy Black’s post and you’ll find gold gems everywhere.


Start local with businesses near you.They need better websites.
 
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