Best way to approach a local business?

13 years ago

Normally I'd just call. But to be honest, my best leads were given to me from my previous clients (business owners). They'd always refer their friends to me. I didn't do it, but you could always offer a referral commission.

I've heard some SEO guys having luck going straight in with a laptop and showing business owners how poor their rankings were, lol.

You could mail something weird or clever to get the owners / managers attention. Just make sure you incorporate a deadline for them to contact you into what you're sending. "Contact me X to receive X."

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Ralph Moore 13 years ago

I no longer do offline marketing, but if I did, I would send a benefit laden email on a Tuesday morning followed by a hand stamped and addressed letter on higher quality paper, again designed to quickly catch the prospect's attention with a benefit or three, and I would try to get that to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday and then follow up with a call.

(There is a whole science to this.)

You can do walk-ins, but it is generally frowned upon, unless it is a walk-in friendly business, such as a hair salon, and then you only want to be there to schedule a meeting - "I know you are very busy right now, but I wanted to introduce myself, and set an appointment, etc."

Just be prepared in case you need to do the whole presentation on the spur of the moment.
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Quirpo

13 years ago

All of the methods you mention work, but it really comes down to your actual approach!
The typical sales pitch doesn't really work well anymore....I find it helps a lot to know about the business. What days they are or are not busy, what type of clients they have (ie: younger clients tend to be more mobile savvy), and be a customer already (if you can).

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sbucciarel

Banned 13 years ago

You probably get better answers in the offline forum
Offline Marketing Discussions

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jgant

13 years ago

Don't do what one offline consultant did to me (I run an offline business). He called. My assistant asked if I wanted to speak with him. I said no. The guy then told my assistant that he personally knew me and that I had said I wanted to talk to him. I'd never heard of the guy. He lied to get around reception. You can bet I'll never talk to him. I wasn't interested because I do my own online stuff, but had I been a business owner with no online marketing knowledge, I may have been receptive to calling him back until he lied.

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brentb

13 years ago

Depends on what exactly you are selling... if you want a higher percentage of sales... go in person... you will definitely close more deals per amount of places you stop. If you don't need to be local to these small businesses or live in a large city... just call down a list... you will get less sales per number of phonecalls but you can squeeze much more in during the day and there is no gas expense or anything....

Depends what you are selling... if you are going to say hey your website has pr1 and you dont rank for anything.... go in in person and blow them away... if you are just giving them the same pitch... improve your seo i can help etc... just call call call call call

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Charles Evans

13 years ago

Make a video of a couple of local businesses and take them to first page on Google Places... then show that proof to all the businesses around and tell them you can achieve the same for them...

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UpMarketing

13 years ago

If you can demonstrate that what you have to offer can increase his bottom line for less of a cost than what you charge it will be a no brainer. However, you'll find a lot of local business owners by nature skeptical so bring some case studies.

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timpears

13 years ago

I would think it would be best if you could offer the prospect some free service to improve their promotion. Either do some article marketing to get links to their site, or offer to do a testimonial video for them to say how well their service or what ever was. This would be best after you purchased something in their establishment.

Once you do that, you are in the door and they probably think they owe you something. If your initial free step helped them at all, then you can go into how much more you can do for them. Then, how can they refuse?

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Tim Pears

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Victoria Gates

13 years ago

Thanks to most of you.

I am not actually selling SEO or website services though.

JGant, honestly I cant imagine lying to gain a potential clients trust. It seems rather counter-productive to me and under-handed. Probably... is why I'm not rich yet.. I'm far to honest for my own profit.. lol. Strangely a lot of people love to hear bull over facts.. go figure that one for me.

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Victoria Gates - Digital Marketing Specialist

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mattmax 13 years ago

You might want to look into your local Chamber of Commerce and/or other local periodic networking events for offline business.

You'll find a more receptive audience, because they will be looking for ways to spruce up their business, as opposed to when they are at work, when they will want to be working.

My other advice is to focus (if possible depending on your service) on people in "high contact" fields, like real estate. The reason is that they are already connected to lots of other business people, and if you impress even one such person, you will likely get a lot more work via referral.
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timpears

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Victoria Gates

Thanks to most of you.

I am not actually selling SEO or website services though.

JGant, honestly I cant imagine lying to gain a potential clients trust. It seems rather counter-productive to me and under-handed. Probably... is why I'm not rich yet.. I'm far to honest for my own profit.. lol. Strangely a lot of people love to hear bull over facts.. go figure that one for me.

Forgive us, this is an internet marketing forum, so what are you trying to sell to them?

Why do you assume that you have to like? You don't have to lie to get wealthy. My best guess is that you need to reevaluate your mind set before you go out to meet prospective clients.

Most every business has a web presence of some kind. Find their contact information and send them an enticing email through what ever they have set up.

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Tim Pears

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Victoria Gates

13 years ago

Originally Posted by timpears

Forgive us, this is an internet marketing forum, so what are you trying to sell to them?

Why do you assume that you have to like? You don't have to lie to get wealthy. My best guess is that you need to reevaluate your mind set before you go out to meet prospective clients.

Most every business has a web presence of some kind. Find their contact information and send them an enticing email through what ever they have set up.

There is more to internet marketing than SEO and websites. You will learn this is true eventually.

I do not assume I have to lie. Actually, I was responding to a comment about someone lying to them and joking in response. I know its hard for some to get humor on the web... there are no facial or tone of voices q's I guess. Sorry if you misunderstood me and felt obligated to tell me to fix my mindset... :rolleyes:

As for what I am selling.. check my signature out

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Victoria Gates - Digital Marketing Specialist

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leegs

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Victoria Gates

Thanks to most of you.

I am not actually selling SEO or website services though.

JGant, honestly I cant imagine lying to gain a potential clients trust. It seems rather counter-productive to me and under-handed. Probably... is why I'm not rich yet.. I'm far to honest for my own profit.. lol. Strangely a lot of people love to hear bull over facts.. go figure that one for me.

Hi Victoria Gates,

Based on what I see, you were NOT much of a sales person. You may want to reconsider this.

There used to be companies or organisations that you could outsource your sales based solely on strict pay for performance basis. I do not know if they are still around since then as I have not used them for years.

If you base on this approach, I think it will benefit you in the long run and I believe it is a win-win situation for you.

Hope it helps...

Cheers,
Raymond

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snowcloud

13 years ago

I have been looking into talking to some owners of businesses around my area as well. Thanks for this post.

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NYC SEO

13 years ago

Provide value and you will not fail; unless you don't demonstrate it clearly.

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DWolfe 13 years ago

You can cold call by showing up in person. You can call on the phone to set up an appoinment. Warrior Ben suggest that on the offline forum. I sent emails out earlier today to some business and even called a few Dentist office's. Knowing it is off hours, hoping the Dentist will get the call before the gate keep arrives tomorrow. Best bet is look in the Moblie section here and Follow a few of the people there and on the Offline forum.
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sandrasims

13 years ago

Hi Victoria,

Thanks for starting this discussion. Have you joined the local Chamber of Commerce and other organizations? I have found a lot of support and business leads by attending these groups consistently.

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