Richard Gao
New Contributor
Hey guys, I'm a 16 year old in Canada and I've just started a web design business. My updates were originally posted here. But the thread didn't quite fit the content, so I'll repost the posts I already had up there and continue my updates from here. Here are my updates on progress so far:
Update 1:
I've just started sending out consistent cold emails every day (around 5/day) to businesses. Not all of them are local, but they're all in Canada. Also, learning more stuff, Javascript, SEO, etc.
Here's how my cold emails look, any advice?
Subject line: Hi, from Richard, Hey <name>, found you through <media>, Hey name, about <company> and Etchedy, etc
Email 1:
Hey there <could also be person's name>,
Just came across <company>, congrats on the Google reviews!
I'm Richard from etchedy.com and I'm in charge of developing websites for auto repair shops like <company>.
A large chunk of customers could be lost from a business's website, or the website could rank so low on Google that nobody sees it. In the case of <company>, we can help.
Anyways, if you're interested, shoot me an email and we can discuss some ideas. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Do you have a preferred contact method?
Thanks,
Email 2:
Hey there <could also be person's name>,
Just came across <company>, congrats on the Google reviews! I'm from etchedy.com and I'm in charge of developing websites that increase clients of businesses like <company>.
We do this by optimizing your website to rank higher on Google and improving the overall design to increase clients, so in the case of <company>, we would get your website up to modern web standards.
If you're ready, shoot me an email and we can talk. I'm also more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
What is your preferred contact method?
Thanks,
Richard
Do you guys have any advice on the cold emails? Also, what would I say when I approach a business? Just coming in and saying "hey, do you need web design" sounds a little strange.
Thanks
EDIT: I'm doing web design for auto and car repair shops.
UPDATE 2
The couple of days after my first update I got into cold calling my web design prospects, I realized the cold email wasn't going to cut it and stopped being lazy. I did 5 cold calls the first day and got rejected. Then upped my number to 20 cold calls and got 2 potential clients who were interested out of 20, I was quite surprised.
One of them apparently got scammed by some web design company and now pays $16 a month to maintain his site, since I usually just got rejected after mentioning i do web design, I really didn't know how to progress the conversation so I just said I'll call later at a better time.
The second said they might call me if they're interested and they'll take a look at my site, they're a decent sized auto repair shop to with 30 employees.
The rest either said no, or said their boss wasn't there yet (granted, i did call quite early, or they just wanted to be polite lol)
Overall, I was quite surprised I wasn't rejected for all of them.
I will definitely keep doimg cold calls everyday, plus, I have 2 potentially warm clients. So I'll keep you guys updated on this thread and to keep myself accountable.
UPDATE 3
So it's been 3 days since I've upped my cold calls from 20, to 40 a day. It's still summer so I have time off school to cold call.
So far I've gotten 3 people that were not only interested enough to check my website out, but warm enough to give me their personal email. I followed up with a mock homepage for their website in the emails, as well as a few tips. (trying to offer value) Unfortunately, none of them have responded.
My cold call is fairly simple, something along the lines of "Hey, this is Richard, I'm from <where I live> and I noticed <something about their site> and I wanted to see if I can assist with web design."
They usually reject me at this point, but some are interested and ask me about what I do. Those interested usually ask for my contact info, and sometimes my price (I just give it to them) then they give me their email (or I ask for theirs) and we hang up.
My cold calling skills are still pretty poor, so I can understand why my warmer leads might not have followed up. Do you guys have any advice on what I should say after they're interested? (I also left my follow up email in attachment)
What I noticed is, the more I cold call, the less interested people I get for some reason. What I assume is happening here is when I increase my calls to 40 a day, I have to lower my standards for prospecting, so instead of having 20+ prospects who already have (bad) websites, I'll also have some in there who have NO websites, (and those usually reject me more often, likely due to the fact they're convinced they don't need a website,) so I get more rejections.
Right now I've mainly been focusing on marketing: cold calling and prospect finding. I might try Linkedin as well.
It feels like I'm getting diminishing returns from cold calling, but I'm keeping "the desert of desertion" from TMF in mind, so I'll keep at it and continue to refine until I get some leads.
Thanks for the advice guys! (don't worry, none of you are too harsh on me I'll be back with another update in a couple of days or a week.
More posts below
Update 1:
I've just started sending out consistent cold emails every day (around 5/day) to businesses. Not all of them are local, but they're all in Canada. Also, learning more stuff, Javascript, SEO, etc.
Here's how my cold emails look, any advice?
Subject line: Hi, from Richard, Hey <name>, found you through <media>, Hey name, about <company> and Etchedy, etc
Email 1:
Hey there <could also be person's name>,
Just came across <company>, congrats on the Google reviews!
I'm Richard from etchedy.com and I'm in charge of developing websites for auto repair shops like <company>.
A large chunk of customers could be lost from a business's website, or the website could rank so low on Google that nobody sees it. In the case of <company>, we can help.
Anyways, if you're interested, shoot me an email and we can discuss some ideas. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Do you have a preferred contact method?
Thanks,
Email 2:
Hey there <could also be person's name>,
Just came across <company>, congrats on the Google reviews! I'm from etchedy.com and I'm in charge of developing websites that increase clients of businesses like <company>.
We do this by optimizing your website to rank higher on Google and improving the overall design to increase clients, so in the case of <company>, we would get your website up to modern web standards.
If you're ready, shoot me an email and we can talk. I'm also more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
What is your preferred contact method?
Thanks,
Richard
Do you guys have any advice on the cold emails? Also, what would I say when I approach a business? Just coming in and saying "hey, do you need web design" sounds a little strange.
Thanks
EDIT: I'm doing web design for auto and car repair shops.
UPDATE 2
The couple of days after my first update I got into cold calling my web design prospects, I realized the cold email wasn't going to cut it and stopped being lazy. I did 5 cold calls the first day and got rejected. Then upped my number to 20 cold calls and got 2 potential clients who were interested out of 20, I was quite surprised.
One of them apparently got scammed by some web design company and now pays $16 a month to maintain his site, since I usually just got rejected after mentioning i do web design, I really didn't know how to progress the conversation so I just said I'll call later at a better time.
The second said they might call me if they're interested and they'll take a look at my site, they're a decent sized auto repair shop to with 30 employees.
The rest either said no, or said their boss wasn't there yet (granted, i did call quite early, or they just wanted to be polite lol)
Overall, I was quite surprised I wasn't rejected for all of them.
I will definitely keep doimg cold calls everyday, plus, I have 2 potentially warm clients. So I'll keep you guys updated on this thread and to keep myself accountable.
UPDATE 3
So it's been 3 days since I've upped my cold calls from 20, to 40 a day. It's still summer so I have time off school to cold call.
So far I've gotten 3 people that were not only interested enough to check my website out, but warm enough to give me their personal email. I followed up with a mock homepage for their website in the emails, as well as a few tips. (trying to offer value) Unfortunately, none of them have responded.
My cold call is fairly simple, something along the lines of "Hey, this is Richard, I'm from <where I live> and I noticed <something about their site> and I wanted to see if I can assist with web design."
They usually reject me at this point, but some are interested and ask me about what I do. Those interested usually ask for my contact info, and sometimes my price (I just give it to them) then they give me their email (or I ask for theirs) and we hang up.
My cold calling skills are still pretty poor, so I can understand why my warmer leads might not have followed up. Do you guys have any advice on what I should say after they're interested? (I also left my follow up email in attachment)
What I noticed is, the more I cold call, the less interested people I get for some reason. What I assume is happening here is when I increase my calls to 40 a day, I have to lower my standards for prospecting, so instead of having 20+ prospects who already have (bad) websites, I'll also have some in there who have NO websites, (and those usually reject me more often, likely due to the fact they're convinced they don't need a website,) so I get more rejections.
Right now I've mainly been focusing on marketing: cold calling and prospect finding. I might try Linkedin as well.
It feels like I'm getting diminishing returns from cold calling, but I'm keeping "the desert of desertion" from TMF in mind, so I'll keep at it and continue to refine until I get some leads.
Thanks for the advice guys! (don't worry, none of you are too harsh on me I'll be back with another update in a couple of days or a week.
More posts below
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