"Offline Gold" 7 x 7 challenge...

[TimothyW]

I've set an Offline Gold goal for myself of $7,000 (USD) in 7 weeks.

What would you recommend as a strategy and/or 'recipe' for accomplishing that goal, *REALISTICALLY*? (starting from absolute scratch).

I want to keep it all local in my mid-sized city -- Population: approx 100,000+

Also, please include how many doors I'd need to knock on (approx) to accomplish the "7 x 7" goal -- and how many hours I'd have to spend per week, on average.

Thanks!

-- TW

[TimothyW]

I know a lot about marketing (offline, Jay Abraham style, etc.) -- have sales experience too.

I *know* a lot about IMing too (concepts) -- but have no real skill set about IMing.

Again, thanks for any guidance.

I see a lot about the offline gold concepts -- but I seriously question the "plenty of shop owners write me big checks on the spot" claims, which is why I stressed the "realistic" part of my overall question.

On the other hand, if that 'easy, big checks' claim is true, I'm all ears!

-- TW

[Vince Runza Online]

Originally Posted by -- TW

I know a lot about marketing (offline, Jay Abraham style, etc.) -- have sales experience too.

I *know* a lot about IMing too (concepts) -- but have no real skill set about IMing.

Again, thanks for any guidance.

You'll need a working knowledge of the basics:

• SEO
• Web page building
• Customer-focused copy
• Autoresponders

and a reliable outsource for the above if you don't do any of that yourself.

You'll find that you need to approach some business owners and get used to the process of opening them up and finding out what they want to accomplish, in general. That info is more important than just wandering in with a price list for some services or a package deal for Web development.

You also need to have something to show them that you've done online. Results speak louder than words. If you don't have anything that they can relate to, get something up there now!

Getting more specific, what have you done online already? There's no way to advise you further unless we can see what you can do.

[Chipt]

Originally Posted by -- TW

I've set an Offline Gold goal for myself of $7,000 (USD) in 7 weeks.

What would you recommend as a strategy and/or 'recipe' for accomplishing that goal, *REALISTICALLY*? (starting from absolute scratch).

I want to keep it all local in my mid-sized city -- Population: approx 100,000+

Also, please include how many doors I'd need to knock on (approx) to accomplish the "7 x 7" goal -- and how many hours I'd have to spend per week, on average.

Thanks!

-- TW

Hey, TW -

Locally, I believe you can accomplish this goal quite swiftly based on your "Oh Wow" offer, your smart intro, and your concise USP...

Obviously have a great opener so you grab the decision maker by the ears the moment you first intro yourself... such as...

"Hi, I'm TW and I dropped by for just a moment today to see if you might be interested in getting a boatload of new customers at higher profit margins and lower acquisition and retention costs from the local marketing efforts I'm currently pursuing on the Internet for local businesses."

... or something like that. That was a bit wordy, came off the top of my head, and I don't pretend that I just gave you the perfect opener or USP, so hopefully you got the spirit and intent of the idea...

Chip Tarver

PS -- The "I was in the area so I thought I'd drop in" BS opener is SO overused, that I would not use it. Better to simply say, "I'm local and I understand the business climate and the local markets here, and I've developed some clever and successful solutions for blahblahblah."

[or whatever]

PPS -- You'd also better have your deal nailed down so well that you can recite it in your sleep, and know what services you want to offer and have your pricing put together. Plus, remember to consider retention programs in your marketing so the same businesses pay you every month, not just once...

[FatGirl26]

Get David Preston's ebook on offline gold entitled "How you can have the U.S. Government Book You More Offline Appointments than you can handle"
Since you have sales experience this should be pretty easy.
I don't have a direct link to it, but search the fourm you'll find it.

[iw433]

I could give you more advice, but you can find out just about everything you will need to know about this very lucrative niche on this forum:
http://localbizbuilders.com

[TimothyW]

Thanks for all the info!

About outsourcing -- how would you recommend I do that?

One SEO person, one designer, etc.?

Just recruit people on this forum?

I'd much rather get the clients, then outsource the actual work -- gather a team I can trust.

Any advice about that aspect?

Thanks!

-- TW

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by -- TW

I've set an Offline Gold goal for myself of $7,000 (USD) in 7 weeks.

What would you recommend as a strategy and/or 'recipe' for accomplishing that goal, *REALISTICALLY*? (starting from absolute scratch).

I want to keep it all local in my mid-sized city -- Population: approx 100,000+

Also, please include how many doors I'd need to knock on (approx) to accomplish the "7 x 7" goal -- and how many hours I'd have to spend per week, on average.

Thanks!

-- TW

TW, Vince gave you some really sound advice. I would add the following...

Spend your first week simply talking to local business owners. Be transparent, and tell them you are looking to add a local component to your business. Find out what they are doing now for marketing, what they want to accomplish, etc.

At this point, you are NOT selling anything. You are asking them for their help in honing your business model.

If you can find out what people are doing now, what kind of results they might be getting, and what they are paying for those results, you have the base for putting together that killer USP and offer.

[MikeLantz]

I just thought of this while reading this thread, so I haven't tried it, but it should work well here...

It seems your big concern is making that first contact with the business owners. This is a valid concern and is generally the hardest part when it comes to building a relationship. You need to get your prospect to know/like/trust you before you can get very far.

So, with that in mind, I think a valid way to get your "foot in the door" and get to know them a bit is with: a survey.

Now, sometimes salesman use surveys in a very tricky way, and I do not recommend any kind of shady tactics here. Keep it simple and honest.

What I recommend is that you create a useful survey that does two things:

1. Helps you understand what the businesses in the area are currently doing on the internet and what they are not doing.
2. If applicable, it will also help the prospect get the idea that they may be leaving money on the table if they are not doing certain things.

The key here is that you are truly doing this to see if you can help business owners in the area improve their businesses. If they see you are genuinely trying to help, they will respond positively.

I truly believe that we can help almost any local business improve their revenue and customer retention with the skills we have as Internet Marketers.

And, the nice thing about this strategy, is that once you help a few businesses, it will be a lot easier to get other businesses to want you to help them.

Good luck!

Mike

[Keith Boisvert]

I think Vince hit the nail right on the head. One of the first questions I get asked is either about experience(samples of previous work) and/or about my site.

I usually beat them to it, and show them my site and it's rankings before they ask.

I am taking it by your question as whether or not to use one outsource area or many, that you would want that to happen. If that be the case, you can outsource to as few or as many places as you want. I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket, but having your work spread out too far is a logistical nightmare. You will be the "project manager", so depending on how organized you are wil determine how far you go with this. The Warrior Forum is an excellent place to find people to outsource.

If you just want to "sell" and not do the work, there are a few programs out there now that can help you. David Preston launched a program where you sell, and his team does the work, as does Mark L. from EasyOfflineRiches.

I would spend some time researching your options, as this niche has developed a bit from Andrew's original Offline Gold report. I also think Andrew has a WSO at the moment as well related to this niche.

If you have any more questions, feel free to pm or email(keith@folingo.com) me, I would be more than happy to help.

Keith

[DavidPreston]

Thanks folks for the support.

TW, Vince and Keith have both given some
great advise on how to start.

The key in the beginning is to gain some credibilty
and have the clients come to you.

Free workshops and endorsements are the best way
to accomplish that. If you don't have enough knowledge
to do either of those, find a system that will do it for you.

If you do it right your income goal should be like shooting
fish in a barrel.

PM me if I can help steer you in the right direction.

David

[AndrewCavanagh]

Since you first made this post on the 18-08 (2 weeks ago) I'm wondering how you're going.

Ultimately with a goal like yours the real key is to consistently do anything that involves you contacting a whole pile of small business owners.

Once you get rolling you can start asking for referrals from the business owners you meet (even if they don't hire you) and things will get easier.

But the main reason people don't make money in the Offline Gold business model is they simply don't get off their arses and do some work...any kind of work that puts you in contact with business owners will work to some extent.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[DavidPreston]

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

But the main reason people don't make money in the Offline Gold business model is they simply don't get off their arses and do some work...any kind of work that puts you in contact with business owners will work to some extent.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

You're absolutely right on that one Andrew!

Analysis paralysis will kill you fast in this field.

It's funny but when you actually get out there
things just seem to fall in place.

Use the "beside and accross" rule. Talk to one
business owner. If he doesn't bite ask him who
owns the store next to him and accross the street.

Walk into those with, " I was just speaking with (Name)
next door and this may interest you as well."

You have to start somewhere....just start!

David

[AndrewCavanagh]

Originally Posted by DavidPreston

Use the "beside and across" rule. Talk to one
business owner. If he doesn't bite ask him who
owns the store next to him and accross the street.

Walk into those with, " I was just speaking with (Name)
next door and this may interest you as well."

This is VERY effective.

I've used the method so many times in different sales and business situations.

I think one of the more interesting times I used this method was with a newspaper editor.

If you know anything about newspapers it can be very difficult indeed for an unknown writer to get to speak to a managing editor.

I did get in contact with a very small newspaper in a city and he replied by email that he wasn't paying for articles but mentioned another newspaper that was.

I thanked him and asked him politely who I should talk to there.

He gave me the name and email of the managing editor.

I emailed the managing editor of the larger newspaper told him who I was and mentioned that the editor of the smaller newspaper (I named him) told me to contact him.

The managing editor forwarded me on to a feature editor...I was hired as a freelancer.

(The feature editor is not going to turn back the recommendation of her boss.)

But what I found interesting about this whole process is that the only person who saw samples of my work was the editor of the small newspaper.

No one in the large newspaper saw any of my articles before they hired me for a project.

They were going on the recommendation of others...and the great irony is that the small newspaper editor didn't really recommend me...just referred me on.

But it SEEMED like he recommended me.

And that's the key.

This process works to break down walls when you're trying to get hired by brick and mortar business owners as an internet marketing consultant.

When you talk to regular business owners your chance of getting them to listen to you is many times higher if you come from someone they know...even if you've only talked to that person for 60 seconds.

When you mention that someone they know suggested you talk to them they'll listen out of respect for their friend and his judgement.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[scene4u]

Nice approach Andrew I may use your approach in future because it seem to have limited success at the moment.

[Bayo]

Originally Posted by -- TW

I've set an Offline Gold goal for myself of $7,000 (USD) in 7 weeks.

What would you recommend as a strategy and/or 'recipe' for accomplishing that goal, *REALISTICALLY*? (starting from absolute scratch).

I want to keep it all local in my mid-sized city -- Population: approx 100,000+

Also, please include how many doors I'd need to knock on (approx) to accomplish the "7 x 7" goal -- and how many hours I'd have to spend per week, on average.

Thanks!

-- TW

This may not be a 7x7 solution but I thought I should drop it in anyway to give you something to work from...

• Identify a target market / niche
• Identify specific problems the target market or niche has that they know they have an want to solve but have not found a solution
• Become visible in that market
• Provide them with valuable information on a solution that works
• Offer it to them at a low-risk entry level point
• Over deliver
• Aim for long term relationships

This may not get you $7k in 7 weeks but it will set you on the path to avoiding some of the fundamental problems OMs face with having enough clients.

BAYO