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Best way to convert a warm list for my new website?

by inxie
11 replies
Hey guys,

I've been working long and hard a new project, it's a paid business directory in a small niche. A lot of hours and money have gone into it and I am so excited to launch, however I have been having some sleepless nights thinking about this problem so any advice is very welcome.

I have a list of 3000 people who already have paid listings on my competitors sites, so they are very qualified leads. (I have their phone numbers not email address's).

Now this list is a one time deal, it's the only chance I have to bring a large amount of paying users to my site and it will be crucial to filling out the site with listings initially.

How can I get as many of these people to list an advert on my site?

  • Should I call each person?
  • Should I send an SMS to all?
  • Do I offer a free trial period?
  • How long should the trial period be?
  • Should I offer to set up listings for them for free?
  • Should I just set up their listing first (on trial) and then tell them?
#convert #list #warm #website
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
    Call them and offer a free trial period. Don't send texts, that's the surefire way into the Do Not Disturb Me pile.

    Tell them you saw their ad on your competitor's website and knew they understood how important online marketing was, them some space on your site to help them increase their business.
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  • Profile picture of the author inxie
    Thanks for the reply!

    Do you think it's a good idea to set up listings on their behalf?

    Doing that might take up weeks of my time but if the conversion rate would be significantly increased I think it would be worth it.

    Trouble is, I've never done anything like this so I don't know what sort of additional impact that would make on the lead.

    Any advice is appreciated.
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  • Profile picture of the author C G
    Call them. There's no better way (apart from in person) to sell.

    Second one would be chat.

    Cheers,

    C.G.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      So you scraped your direct competitor's web site, ripped off all his paying customer's phone numbers, and now you want to contact those people and entice them to spend money with you?

      Have you ever thought about making your own site so good, so filled with value and benefit, that your targeted prospects will naturally want to come to your site and sign up with you because you offer so much more than any of your competitors?

      Market like you would want to be marketed to. Cold calling for online business rarely works and often causes ill-will by those who are contacted without their permission.

      Personally, I would suggest building a list of prospects on the merits of your own site and marketing - not on the work of your competitors.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author inxie
        Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

        So you scraped your direct competitor's web site, ripped off all his paying customer's phone numbers, and now you want to contact those people and entice them to spend money with you?

        Have you ever thought about making your own site so good, so filled with value and benefit, that your targeted prospects will naturally want to come to your site and sign up with you because you offer so much more than any of your competitors?

        Market like you would want to be marketed to. Cold calling for online business rarely works and often causes ill-will by those who are contacted without their permission.

        Personally, I would suggest building a list of prospects on the merits of your own site and marketing - not on the work of your competitors.

        Steve
        So you're telling me to spend months/years trying to acquire the same people through an indirect form of reach instead of just using a list and directly telling those people about my site which will likely be of interest to them?

        Sorry dude but if your principles run that deep then I admire that but it's just not an efficient use of anyones time and/or money and I personally wouldn't blame anyone for using the same strategy (even if they did it to me).
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      • Profile picture of the author onSubie
        Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

        So you scraped your direct competitor's web site, ripped off all his paying customer's phone numbers, and now you want to contact those people and entice them to spend money with you?

        Have you ever thought about making your own site so good, so filled with value and benefit, that your targeted prospects will naturally want to come to your site and sign up with you because you offer so much more than any of your competitors?
        That is a very common tactic in offline marketing.

        A great way to find potential clients is by looking in the Yellow Pages. Since they are already paying very good money to be listed in the Yellow Pages they may very well be interested in other paid marketing. Like a website, banner ads, a directory.

        If you run a plumbing directory, good leads can be found by contacting plumbers listed in the Yellow Pages (a business directory competitor of yours).
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        • Profile picture of the author inxie
          Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

          That is a very common tactic in offline marketing.

          A great way to find potential clients is by looking in the Yellow Pages. Since they are already paying very good money to be listed in the Yellow Pages they may very well be interested in other paid marketing. Like a website, banner ads, a directory.

          If you run a plumbing directory, good leads can be found by contacting plumbers listed in the Yellow Pages (a business directory competitor of yours).
          Thank you
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          • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
            I've cold-called businesses for a number of products, including my own website and marketing services. It takes a lot of work, but calling people who are already spending money on advertising of some kind worked better for me.

            It's a lot of work, but I got some awesome clients from doing that.
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            • Profile picture of the author inxie
              Originally Posted by Michael Shook View Post

              I've cold-called businesses for a number of products, including my own website and marketing services. It takes a lot of work, but calling people who are already spending money on advertising of some kind worked better for me.

              It's a lot of work, but I got some awesome clients from doing that.
              That's the best thing, these people are already paying for advertising on a site that serves the exact same purpose as mine, except my site is much easier to navigate, has a cleaner, modern design and has additional features that can give advertisers more flexibility with their adverts.

              I'm confident that even a weak effort would convert reasonably, but this is a one time shot that's going to build the foundation so I'm really looking for some tips to maximize conversions.
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              • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
                Originally Posted by inxie View Post

                That's the best thing, these people are already paying for advertising on a site that serves the exact same purpose as mine, except my site is much easier to navigate, has a cleaner, modern design and has additional features that can give advertisers more flexibility with their adverts.

                I'm confident that even a weak effort would convert reasonably, but this is a one time shot that's going to build the foundation so I'm really looking for some tips to maximize conversions.
                You need to show that your site will bring better results for them, or at least have the chance of bringing better results. Clean navigation works awesomely, I really dislike sites where i can't figure out what to do. And if you can keep it ad-free, aside from your paying customers ads, you are going to be way ahead of most other directories.
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  • Profile picture of the author borsaronero
    You should investigate who are the opinion leaders of the community, the most influential members and try to involve them with free account, asking them to gives you advice on what can be the best deal with it, how to involve people.

    Many will gives you great advice, someone else maybe can be interested on give away some good advice on his community and send your product around.

    Also search for who publish weekly or monthly roundup and get in touch with them. Maybe make sense to invest also some money to be in their list.

    Better if you are sure that the other clients you are going to phone they read those influencer. Once you have been mentioned from some big player, you should phone with a great offer to all of your phone numbers.

    This will improve your selling.
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