The Easiest Way to Get Offline Clients

21 replies
Barter...

In the last month I have bartered my services as a webdesigner, and marketer to three local businesses in exchange for their services as: an exterminator, a home cleaning service and lawn maintenance. Our agreement is that as long as I maintain, and host their sites, they provide ongoing service to me.

I haven't tested this theory extensively, but my guess is that this works best with service based businesses that will *mostly* be giving you their time, and not physical merchandise.

I began by posting an ad in the "barter" section on my local Craigslist. I explained my experience, and that I was wanting to move into the local business market, but needed sites to put in my portfolio. I had two businesses contact me through that ad. I don't live in a very large city.

Then, I went to the "services" section on my local Craigslist, and emailed directly those companies that offered services I was interested in. I sent them basically the same thing I posted in the bartering section, but customized it to fit their service. I emailed around five cleaning services. One replied, and the very nice lady who owns the business spent over five hours cleaning my house yesterday. My wife, who takes care of our two little girls during the day, is thrilled!

Finally, I found the lawn company by simply calling the number of businesses who had the small signs posted on the side of the road. I called two that way, giving the same information I had given in the emails. The first one I called wasn't ready for a website, but said they would contact me next year (we'll see). The second one said, "I like your idea, let's meet." We met, and he'll start cutting my grass this week. It just so happens that he has a simliar arrangement with the owner of the big small business web portal in town.

Maybe I got lucky by finding the business owners I found, but I think they were exceptionally open to my offer for one big reason. There was something in this for ME. If I had just offered them a free website, they would have been suspicious of me frome the beginning, and convincing them they could trust me would have been much harder. Because I made it clear to them that I wanted something in return (their services) and wanted to use their site in my portfolio, their "salesman" shield was down.

I wasn't able to do all of the work on these sites myself. For example, I outsourced the graphic design, and logo design, but that's cost me a grand total of $60. I purchased their domains for them too, but that was just a measly $10. I already had a reseller account with plenty of space for these types of sites, so I just plugged them right in.

In a couple of weeks, I'll have three local businesses with functioning sites that I can show to potential offline clients as examples of what I can do. And because of feedback I've already gotten, I know I'm going to get some great testimonials from these business owners I'm already working with.
#clients #easiest #offline
  • Profile picture of the author laird
    Nice way to build your portfolio. Congratulations on innovative thinking.

    Del
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  • Profile picture of the author Adaptive
    Hi Brad,

    Thanks for sharing your clever idea. Your experience shows how it's not necessary to have a lot of money just to get started.

    How much of your time do you include in the barter plan?

    Regards,
    Allen
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    • Profile picture of the author Brad Simmons
      Originally Posted by Adaptive View Post

      Hi Brad,

      Thanks for sharing your clever idea. Your experience shows how it's not necessary to have a lot of money just to get started.

      How much of your time do you include in the barter plan?

      Regards,
      Allen
      Allen,
      I promised them a professionally built site, to help them market it, including an email list (autoresponder setup) and to make updates for them once a month. The reality is that most of the businesses will need little updating done, so their time commitment is much larger than my own.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Brad, I think you've something here. I know when people want to offer me something valuable for free, my "what's the catch" radar fires up.

    I wouldn't be too quick to write off physical products, either. I can think of two instances where bartering physical goods for services would be the smart play...

    1. Let's say you want to trade a website and hosting to me, in the guise of the owner of an appliance store, for a refrigerator. We agree on a $1,500 model - which likely cost me $750-$1,000 wholesale. By bartering with you, I picked up a 33%-50% discount on your services, while you are still happy to get a $1,500 fridge.

    2. I have stock that will soon be "obsolete", as in replaced with a newer model. I know from past experience that I'll probably have to mark the old models down close to cost to get rid of them. So I have no problem trading one of these $3,000 TVs for your $1,500 website and hosting package. The same logic could apply to overstocks or scratch-n-dent items as well.

    I've heard about people trading marketing services for car leases, too. Keep an open mind, and you might be surprised at what's out there...

    barter network - Google Search
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    • Profile picture of the author Brad Simmons
      John,
      Thanks for those great pointers. I might move on to physical products once I get these sites done!
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  • Profile picture of the author billionareHuman
    that's an excellent idea. I think I'll have to try out for the company who quoted me 2G to fix the roof!
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisnegro
    Nice angle Brad... ditto everyone else's comments. Your on to something there !
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy LaPointe
    Outside of the box thinking, way to go! I love this site
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  • Profile picture of the author sajae102
    some other good ways is by using old traditional marketing methods......car advertising, flyers, posters.......same ol
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    • Profile picture of the author Nomics
      Nice angle Brad! Especially in this economy, bartering might get to be more and more popular.
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  • Profile picture of the author ajiabs
    I did barter web programming with a writer. We created a ecommerce store for her friend. She proofread around 300-400 webpages. Worked out great. I will try with cleaning lady. That sure will win some brownie points with spousal unit.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
      Way back in '99 I bartered for one of my first freelance web design projects and scored a brand new Yamaha YZ 125 dirt bike.

      Damn thing almost killed me but man it was fun!

      One of my mentors bartered copywriting for a customized car and then later a custom trike.

      There are definitely perks to having copywriting and marketing skills, and it's not all about the cash!
      Signature
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      • Profile picture of the author Izesta
        Great suggestion. Can be used so many ways.

        Hey, no one mentioned it. IRS wants taxes paid on bartered goods and services.

        How would IRS find out? Don't know. Just be aware.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaka
    Brad your post is one of the things that make the Warrior Forum such a wonderful resource (and so much fun). Your post is not only motivational; it is a little piece of marketing genius that many of us can immediately implement.

    Thank you!
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  • Originally Posted by Brad Simmons View Post

    Barter...

    In the last month I have bartered my services as a webdesigner, and marketer to three local businesses in exchange for their services as: an exterminator, a home cleaning service and lawn maintenance. Our agreement is that as long as I maintain, and host their sites, they provide ongoing service to me.

    I haven't tested this theory extensively, but my guess is that this works best with service based businesses that will *mostly* be giving you their time, and not physical merchandise.

    I began by posting an ad in the "barter" section on my local Craigslist. I explained my experience, and that I was wanting to move into the local business market, but needed sites to put in my portfolio. I had two businesses contact me through that ad. I don't live in a very large city.

    Then, I went to the "services" section on my local Craigslist, and emailed directly those companies that offered services I was interested in. I sent them basically the same thing I posted in the bartering section, but customized it to fit their service. I emailed around five cleaning services. One replied, and the very nice lady who owns the business spent over five hours cleaning my house yesterday. My wife, who takes care of our two little girls during the day, is thrilled!

    Finally, I found the lawn company by simply calling the number of businesses who had the small signs posted on the side of the road. I called two that way, giving the same information I had given in the emails. The first one I called wasn't ready for a website, but said they would contact me next year (we'll see). The second one said, "I like your idea, let's meet." We met, and he'll start cutting my grass this week. It just so happens that he has a simliar arrangement with the owner of the big small business web portal in town.

    Maybe I got lucky by finding the business owners I found, but I think they were exceptionally open to my offer for one big reason. There was something in this for ME. If I had just offered them a free website, they would have been suspicious of me frome the beginning, and convincing them they could trust me would have been much harder. Because I made it clear to them that I wanted something in return (their services) and wanted to use their site in my portfolio, their "salesman" shield was down.

    I wasn't able to do all of the work on these sites myself. For example, I outsourced the graphic design, and logo design, but that's cost me a grand total of $60. I purchased their domains for them too, but that was just a measly $10. I already had a reseller account with plenty of space for these types of sites, so I just plugged them right in.

    In a couple of weeks, I'll have three local businesses with functioning sites that I can show to potential offline clients as examples of what I can do. And because of feedback I've already gotten, I know I'm going to get some great testimonials from these business owners I'm already working with.
    Wow Brad--
    This idea has really got my gears turning. I'm an expat in a country that needs web design but lacks funds--this would be a great way to skirt around that obstacle, and these people out here are probably more open to bartering anyways.

    I'm kicking this idea into gear to try for these nuggets:
    martial arts lessons
    language lessons
    A decent motorbike
    advertising--via website logos on taxis


    This could be a great way to improve my quality of life out here without a lot of work. Thanks for sharing this--way to think outside the box.
    Cheers,
    dru-man
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    • Hmmmm...with the rental rates out here, this might even work for accommodation...
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      • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
        Barter is a great way to:

        # Get your first business clients.

        # Get a whole pile of products and services you want or need at cost or free.

        # Get referrals.


        If you want to ensure you get a barter deal in some cases you may need to be willing to cover some of the "hard" costs of a product or service...in other words the physical out of pocket cost to the business owner of that product.

        If you do that he knows he has absolutely no risk.

        Or he may be willing to give it to you free in exchange for your service.


        But either way you set up these deals you should also make THEM GIVING YOU REFERRALS TO OTHER BUSINESS OWNERS IF THEY'RE HAPPY WITH YOUR SERVICE PART OF THE ORIGINAL DEAL.

        That way your barter deals can lead to paying clients.


        When I was starting out I did a lot of barter deals and I actively sought out clients who could either increase my credibility with bragging rights (I worked with xxx from xxx) or had a huge database of business owners they had influence over (someone who runs business networking meetings or an accountant or printer for example.).

        That way when I did an outstanding job I knew referrals to paying clients would follow.

        Kindest regards,
        Andrew Cavanagh
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  • Profile picture of the author success_wins
    Not only is Barter a viable tool to get clients for most start up businesses, be thoughtful about who you choose to barter with.

    You might find that bartering a service or product with a person who has a great circle of friends, and influence a significant key to building a strong foundation for your business.

    As part of your barter, include testimonials from the client and reward them for referrals and endorsements.
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  • Profile picture of the author GetStreetSmart
    cool idea, it also gives you the opportunity to get some paid/upgraded business from them in the future - nice job

    Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author Teddy Garcia
      Barter definitely rocks... I've been doing it for almost ten years.

      I've had concrete patios put in, my cars serviced for free, landscaping done, central air system replaced, free massages , and lots of free food!

      Most business owners will gladly barter with you if you explain the value proposition to them correctly. Basically that if you do this for me for free, I'm going to get you 10 paying customers at no cost to you. (You'll want to adjust that number based on their industry obviously.)

      And if you can outsource all the work for virtually nothing, then you've just saved yourself a bunch more money!

      One way to do this other than craigslist is to form a local group on meetup.com that meets regularly to network in person and barter with each other.
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