My fastlane: web services for local businesses

[theag]

One angle is instead of trying to target the owner/mgr directly, focus on those who already have a relationship with them.

Thats a great idea, thanks! speed+

Will look those companies up when I have more time next weekend and contact them beginning of next week. I think this has real potential.

 

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[theag]

 

[Eos]

Hey, A. You could try contacting business' that have run deals on groupon/living social etc. these companies are actively seeking to get new customers and aware that investing money into their marketing efforts can get them a return. It could also provide a lead in rather than the coldest of cold approaches " Hey, I found you on groupon... " . I can't found where I read this nugget at but it sounds like it makes sense.

 

[theag]

 

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[JDIII2007]

Hey theag,

I tried to post a response earlier but it looks like it was not sent. So I will try again here. I am going to ask some very basic questions but it could be helpful in me giving you some good suggestions on how to go forward. What exactly is the value of having a mobile website from your company? How does the mobile website help their business? Does the mobile website send out certain information to their customers like coupon codes, sales, specials, etc.? How can you directly show that the mobile website helps their bottom line?

The answers to these questions can help me decide which businesses may be best to target. These questions are also the type of thing that would be great for your sales pitch or a presentation. One thing you could consider if your product can help a diverse set of businesses is to join whatever your equivalent is of the Chamber of Commerce. You could spend some time helping them and may even be able to give a general lecture on the value of mobile websites to businesses. This type of setup can be a good networking environment as the people are there of their own accord and less rushed to get you off the phone to get back to work or whatever.

Also, I think you need to give this a little more time before you make any set judgments. You should certainly work to pay your bills. But you need to give yourself enough results so you can really look back on things and gauge everything. Give it at least a full month (ideally 3 months) and then you can perform your autopsy. One thing I would keep in mind is that once you start to make some sales and do a good job on the product, you will also have some testimonials and possible referrals you can use. So this changes some of those cold calls to warmer calls. Plus, you will improve your sales pitch and improve your closing rates as well.

In addition, be persistent. Many sales people don't make the sale on the first interaction. I have read stats where it can take 7 interactions before some people are willing to buy. Don't be afraid to diversify your marketing like you are doing. Send some mail, send out fliers, send email, etc. on a consistent basis. Then, follow back up. Give people a chance to think about things, maybe some will change their minds. Also, don't be afraid to ask for referrals from family and friends who know business owners.

All of these activities will be of benefit to you whether this business idea turns out to be a good one or not. You can take that experience into your next business idea or you may find that going the extra mile (kilometer) is what turns some of these calls into sales. Plus, keep your eyes and ears open. You may discover an even better idea by listening to what problems these businesses have. Remember MJ DeMarco originally was going to start a limo business only to discover the better idea turned out to be a limo directory then turned it into a limo lead generation site. So don't be afraid to let yourself adapt. However, make sure you are giving yourself enough time to really decide for yourself if what you are doing is a good idea or not.

 

[MakeItHappen]

I am sorry to here that you couldn't make any sales. Cold calling can be really tough because getting rejected is what 99% of the time will happen which can obviously can frustrating. Do you think you are good at cold calling? Did you read some books about the subject?

I wouldn't look at getting an new customer as 30€ provit per month because that really sound kinda low but if you can keep the customer for atleast a year that would be 360€ in profit and that is a could portion of money specially at the beginng stage. So getting one new customer per 100 calls would acutally give you a decent hourly! If you can make 100 calls per day you would make 360€ per day on avg which is great for the beginning isn't it?
I would keep cold calling! If you start making some decent money you can hire someone to do this stuff for you! I remeber the diary thread of JackEdwards in which he talks about all the sales people he hires which cold call for him all day. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to do something equal later on.
But for now obv you have to do the cold calls yourself and i think it's important that you keep doing it! It's a numbers game over all! Don#t be frustraited by the people who instantly hang up... that a good thing because you ain't waisting you time talking to people who in the end won't buy your product anyways.

Also did you think about mouth to mouth marketing yet? What about telling all the people you know that you are paying everyone who gets you a ney client 100€ cash if the client signs a one year contract for 300€? People like to make easy money so ask all the people you know if they know business owners that could be interested in them. Also maybe you can partner up with other web desing businesses or seo businesses... ask them if they have customers that might be interested in a mobile site (obv do this if the business you are asking isn't offering mobile sites on there own) an tell them that you will split profits with them.

This are just a few thoughts that come to my mind maybe one or another can help you.

Viel Erfolg!

 

[JeniusLLC]

Congrats theag,

If you need any advice or to brainstorm you can message me or we can possibly Skype. Also lived in Darmstadt for 3 yrs

This is my main business in the US for many years now and would be glad to help.

 

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[LTL]

Thanks for your input!



How many clients to you have that pay you 500 setup + 20/m for a mobile site? I think those types of services also generally go for a lower rate here than in the U.S. because you are a little more advanced in new technologies and business owners are more used to it.

I've only managed to secure 54 clients, I have other obligations that prevent me from pursuing this full force at the moment. I'm in the U.K. and yes i do charge them 500 pounds. I present the mobile website with big scare tactic, ie " your competitors are taking away all your customers month after month all from their mobile site" i throw in other services to sweeten the deal. A free SEO audit, Social media

In some cases , I even let them use their own hosting for these sites and they also get any mobile future upgrades free .

 

[JDIII2007]

Theag, it is time for another update. It has been over a week with no response. Hope you are still getting after it.

 

[JDIII2007]

Going to bump this thread one last time in the hopes that Theag comes back to this thread. Hoping that he is looking to make a comeback after the early setback.

 

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[WhipYaHead]

Your story mimics mine in the beginning. Have confidence in what you are doing (while you are doing it) and give it 100% on a consistent basis. If you give it for example 6 months, you will be able to measure your close ratios and have a better understanding of what the customers in different industries value most. You will understand that for every 10 calls you get 1 positive feedback, for every 100 calls you get 1 legitimate chance to close a sale and take a credit card number. On another note remember that cold calling is only one channel to get your word out. Gather email addresses, network, talk about what you do and stay up late building your cash-flow investment.

 

[theag]

 

[flamboyant]

Since I live in Switzerland, and have studied some time in St. Gallen (read that in another post of you) too, I can understand your current situation quite well.

I assume you've some IT knowledge (since you're working on mobile websites), why don't you create a local newspaper ad and do some support jobs or website stuff? They're well paid and often needed (I've done that many times when I needed some extra $$). If not, get a 50% Job at McDonalds or similar (e.g. mornings and evenings) and use the rest of your time for your business.

It's so important to build a "infrastructure" where you can concentrate on your fastlane path. E.g. I'm probably moving back to my parents house, cut-down all extra costs and try to live with my savings for 12+ months. This helps me to focus 100% on my fastlane projects and I have almost 0 dependencies related to money, job, etc.

There is no need for an extra office space yet (except it's for free), fancy headsets or anything else, trust me.

 

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[PatrickP]

I have about 500 CHF cash left plus a few ounces of silver (worth about 900CHF) that I can sell if the shit hits the fan. I also have a lot of invoices that amount to a few hundred CHF (even my webhosting is currently disabled). So I'm quite desperate right now and with my back to the wall. I have to get shit done immediately or I won't have money to eat in about 2 weeks.

I will go through the last posts in this thread when I have time this evening and answer them. Again, thanks for the feedback. Will try to keep you guys updated.

Where do you sleep?

You have $500 and it will only last you 2 weeks?

 

[theag]

 

[theag]

 

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[flamboyant]

How about working 100% (temporary terms or contracting) for two (or three) months, save as much as possible and then keep the costs down?

Assuming that you can get something between CHF 30-60 per hour (depending on your IT and more importantly sales skills), that'd get you CHF 5000-9000 per month. If you don't know where to get CHF 35+ an hour: road works. Many of my friends did that during their studies.

Save that and keep your living costs down (250.- rent, max 50.- public transportation subscription OSTWIND - Abonnemente, buy food from aldi/lidl, eat at the university..).

With that plan, CHF 10'000.- would help you 6-10 months to work 100% on your project, without the worry to be homeless or to starve. Alternatively, ask your parents to borrow you some money for 12 months.

If your business is not bringing home any money (which means no one is interested in your website) during that time, you're probably doing something wrong ;-)

PS: When I told my GF that I'm not moving back to my parents to keep the costs down, she told me "If you're not willing to make sacrifices, you don't want the fastlane path enough...". That changed my mind.

 

[theag]

 

[xhcsurge]

Really wondering how this story continues...
@theag ?

 

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[The Racing Driver]

(bump)

Find this thread very interesting as well.

 

[theag]

I didn't pursue this business further. Main reason was a lack of resources and those local business customers are a pain in the a$$ to deal with.

The "fastlane product" of this whole thing, which I mentioned in the first post, was a pretty good idea though, but hard to execute for me due to technical nature.

The basic idea was to provide a single SaaS solution for local businesses to update their information everywhere in directories etc, and expand that with other marketing related SaaS products/services.

I found out a year ago or so that some others guys did execute this and came out with it a couple months after I quit the idea. They are pretty successful and most likely already valued in the low-mid 8 figure range, with Germany's biggest internet company as a strategic investor onboard (=semi-exit). https://uberall.com/en/

I'm running a successful ecommerce business now and will expand into other businesses this year, so I dont feel too bad about it.

Looking back at this thread, I really lived a crap life 4 years ago. Thankfully the constant hustling finally paid off and I'm in a much better place now.

 

[ZeroTo100]

I didn't pursue this business further. Main reason was a lack of resources and those local business customers are a pain in the a$$ to deal with.

The "fastlane product" of this whole thing, which I mentioned in the first post, was a pretty good idea though, but hard to execute for me due to technical nature.

The basic idea was to provide a single SaaS solution for local businesses to update their information everywhere in directories etc, and expand that with other marketing related SaaS products/services.

I found out a year ago or so that some others guys did execute this and came out with it a couple months after I quit the idea. They are pretty successful and most likely already valued in the low-mid 8 figure range, with Germany's biggest internet company as a strategic investor onboard (=semi-exit). https://uberall.com/en/

I'm running a successful ecommerce business now and will expand into other businesses this year, so I dont feel too bad about it.

Looking back at this thread, I really lived a crap life 4 years ago. Thankfully the constant hustling finally paid off and I'm in a much better place now.

Hey man thanks for the post. I always love to follow people's progression whether they move on to new projects or continue pushing forward on what they are building. I feel that there's something to learn from everyone. In my situations I've learned when to cut my losses and move forward - fail fast sort of thing. I've always had some serious projects that I worked on and pulled the plug too soon (gave up for lack of funds or difficulty). Those were the projects that stung the most, espicially when others launched similar concepts a year or two later and built multi-million dollar businesses (teespring). It's one thing to cut your losses and either pivot or move on and it's another thing to give up. It makes you wonder why you ever got started on it in the first place.

Which is what has led me to where I am today. After taking a year and a half off of a failing startup, I've written tons of ideas down the past 2 weeks and I can't stop asking myself why? I'm ready to get started on something new but I ask myself Why do I want to do this or work on that? I have solid work ethics and hustle, been in the game a long time and have some serious experience, I just can't decide what to do next. Any pointers on that? Maybe I should do some market research on the ones I'm most attracted too and go test them.

Anyway, once I decide on a route I would like to do a process/project/execution thread like this one.

Again thanks for posting. I'm new here, nice meeting ya.

Just out of curiosity, do you prefer the retail type Ecommerce business or your own personal brand?

Best,
Steve

 

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[theag]

Just out of curiosity, do you prefer the retail type Ecommerce business or your own personal brand?

My own brand. I dont like to be just reselling..