Dont Trust The Cash Cow

Can I ask what is involved in your sales pitch?

Have you got some research to show people? IE some actual facts and figures to show them what having a crappy or non existent online presence is doing to them?

I know personally when traveling or moving the first thing I do is resort to the internet to find my favorite places ahead of time.

Perhaps take some online polls for your own research and share the results with those business owners and point out what a mistake it is to just have a page up and how it won't do diddly for them unless it is done right. Also how much improvement they can expect from utilizing your services.

And depending on where you are geographically you may have to offer to do this at no cost up front and that you will accept payment upon them getting desired results.

I know it's better to get the money up front - but get a few in your pocket first and use them to get the rest of your future clients.

Sales 101: Empathize and overcome the objection.
The Feel Felt Found Technique to Overcome Sales Objections and Make More Money From Sales

Maybe they got burned by all the scammers some of the gurus sent out to do this without having the slightest clue about what they're doing.

Not sure what you're saying but my experience is totally different. I find when I just inquire and listen I learn exactly what they want.

Not every potential client signs up but I do well with the few that I contact each week. To be honest, you only need (in my experience) to contact 10 a week to get 1 paying client. Just focus a little more and hone your listening and closing skills.

Here's the kicker...

...I use email and set up a phone session with them. Never wasted time mailing out a packet.

Hello Karsten,

I've been waiting to see when a response like this about the "Cash Cow" would get posted. You are running into the same thing any beginner outside or self-employed sales rep runs into. Just remember to stay positive and continue to forge ahead, paying attention to what works for you, and making notes on it.

Getting clients is not easy, when you're starting out. I don't care how much you hear it said by someone who is selling you their "secret." Direct sales is a hard way to make a living ... but once you learn how, you can make a helluva good living at it.

I have some suggestions for you that I would rather put in a PM than list out here on the forum. They worked for me when I finally got past the point where the "Cash Cow" method has you now. And, the techniques I used turned out to be a lot more fun and profitable.

If you're interested, PM me. I don't check in here every five minutes or so like some folks, so it may be a few days before I respond. If you want, you can also email me. My email is kirk (at) kirk-ward.com


Cheers

BTW - 120 letters is not a good sample. A small DM sample would be 5,000 letters. If your list is limited, you're going to need to turn it into a series and rely on repetitive impressions to turn the prospect. Plus, the suggestion about telephone followup is okay, but you need to get to the point where the prospect is seeking you out.

I think you are losing rapport and then the objections (you
make them seem hostile and viscious) come out. You have
to understand that people play games with guys trying to
sell them stuff - they have defense mechanisms set-up
and business owners, because they are accustomed to
dealing with sales reps, know all the tricks.

You have to uncover what their desire is and if you can
genuinely help them get there you can win a customer.

Seriously you should read "The Closers" by Ben Gay III -
it's the most white-knuckled, brutally honest sales book
I've read. You can learn how to size-up prospects,
uncover their pain, stick a knife in their bellies, and
twist. That sounds mean, but you probably don't realize
just how painful the sales process can be for the buyer -
and it is your job to make sure he feels the intensity
of his pain so he can really understand the price
he is paying for not fixing the problem.

There is a lot to it. You really have to prepare yourself
for a battle - because sometimes you'll get one and
the guy will buy.

Thanks for the replies so far. My closing skills suck really hard. Tomorrow i'm going face to face with small businesses, lets see how that works out...

Edit: I missed some replies while i was posting, so thanks especially to the last two posters! I will send you an email Kirk, and i will see if i can find that book Loren...

I've also tried the cash cow method before. It really depends on how you approrach prospects. You can't just come out of nowhere and expect them to take up on your offer. You have to build rapport and gain their trust, or else they'll think you're another salesman.

I'm not sure what your product or service is all about but I use to be in sales - both outside and retail and I can tell you this much:
Don't, I repeat, don't do all the talking! Listening is much more effective! Don't - rattle off all the great features of your product/service - ask them what if anything is their biggest problem, issue, etc. and be prepared to offer a specific solution for one thing at a time - but don't interupt them with it, wait till they finish and then repeat what they said as their concerns and follow with a question such as, "if I could show you how to blah, blah, what would that do for you? Let them discover the benefit for themselves and their perspective of it changes from being "sold" to sort of "selling themselves", you didn't sell them, they sold themselves! People are much more comfortable with that perspective since we ALL hate "being sold"! Of course, I'm assuming here you actually do have a good value product/service to begin with and not just another gadget, etc. Again, DO NOT offer EVERYTHING your product/service can do all at once. What happens when you do so is that you've emptied all your great services, etc. and left with nothing to say when they may feel you still have not covered their specific needs. Or, you come off sounding too much of a typical salesman vs. showing a true concern for what they want/need. This type of approach almost always causes people to immediately put up a shield and block out whatever you're saying.
Don't talk features, talk benefits - but only to their specific concerns. You may have a hundred features but they may only be interested in 4 of them. Save the rest to use as your "conversation", not "sales pitch", progresses over time. Build a rapport with people first, be sincere in wanting to "help them" not just "make the sale".
Hope this helps, best of luck.

I wonder how cultural differences play out in getting results with these kind of strategies. You're from Germany right? Traditionally Europeans are more conservative about any kind of business investment than Americans and that shows when cold-colling, sending letters. A lot of value is put on relationship building, business coming later.

Tyrus

At what point in your conversation does it all go south? Is it always around the same spot in your "pitch"? If so, take a look at what you're saying and change it up at that point.

As someone else said above - Empathize, empathize, empathize! Find their problem, weak point, whatever and empathize with it and ease into a solution.

You could also make casual reference to how well a competitor is doing with his/her website these days, or something like that...

Hi Karsten,
I've been doing offline marketing for about 10 months now. It certainly isn't one glove fits all. Different countries and different people need slightly different approaches. There's some successful offline marketers in Australia, canada and US but their system out of the box didn't work or convert well for me in my town in the UK. It was a matter of twisting the methods and testing. I did a much larger test than you (tracking all the time). Once you start to get appointments I think it's vital to chat without a hard sell. Many businesses will get hit hard with sharp salespeople. You need to try to distance yourself from them. Try and find out what the business owner's issues are with online marketing. Do they realise the potential. Many don't understand. Once you know the problems and build up repoire then you can offer solutions.

Rich

I think my problems begin already when they realize that i dont called/visited them to buy something from them, but that i want to offer them something. You can see it in their eyes, as soon as they hear that i dont want to buy but to talk business they go into defensive mode. They dont even care what i do, i could offer them to live forever or the cure for aids and cancer at the same time - they just dont want to talk business.

I think that is a general problem in the german market, like George Wright (was it him?) pointed out in one of his threads... nevertheless, people like Chris Bryns still are successful. I will just continue with my quest i guess...

I didn't read the whole thread....But, here are a couple of "niches" you might want to hit when you hit the streets

Katate or martial arts schools -- Offer to shoot videos for them and put them on the website.

Tattoo Shops -- Offer to put pictures and opt in.

Dry Cleaners -- Don't know why, but they convert really well

Allegro,

Yes I agree with you the first mistake is you are going in to sell them something.

DON'T

I worked for many years in radio advertising, and this was a common rookie mistake.

I would assign the rookies to go into the stores ask if the store is open on Saturdays" (it could be Sunday or holidays) Or any question that would not be obvious by just walking in.

You don't ask a bike shop if they have bikes, etc.

And get out your pocket sized pad and your pencil and write down the answer, and say Thanks, and head out the door.

If the owner didn't ask why you wanted to know, you would just head out the door, no introduction of who you are, what you do or anything.

If someone did ask why you asked, then you would introduce who you are and that they were new at the station, and they were going around town to get familiar with what kinds of business' are in the area.

If the shop owner or who ever you were talking to, wanted to talk, talk with them for 5 or 10 minutes and head on to the next shop.

at the end of the day you would make stacks of people who talked and people who didn't talk and count them.

Also write a report of what you were told that day it wasn't important if you didn't remember who it was, if you do note it but that's not the purpose.

about 3-4 days of doing this almost by magic, the number of people who didn't talk more with you would go down to almost zero.

If after a week of the rate of no question to questions stayed the same, then you had to let them go.

What this actually does is it takes the deer in the head lights look out of the new sales persons eyes, and gives them a level of comfort of just walking in to stores and asking simple questions.

Mark Riddle

Your approach is all wrong. Offer them a free consultation, listen to them, assess their business needs and offer them a customized solution. It sounds like you're trying to "sell" when what you should be doing is trying to help.

I think alot of people approach the offline thing all wrong, instead of cold calling prospects, why not begin your skills with those around you that you have a relationship already established with. Think about the professionals you deal with, your doctor, your dentist, your optomitrist, etc and begin there. Once you have a little more confidence begin approaching others and this way you will have a usable portfolio from those you have already begun work with, and you never know how well word of mouth can get you more clients.

And this is not directed at you, but some people just are not salesmen, others seem born to do it... knowing your own comfort level and capabilities help. Online marketing is way easier than hitting the pavement.

Another option...instead of going after cash, try to work out a barter... it may go over much better when you are no longer trying to take their money...but instead trading your services for theirs.

Best of luck,
Sylvia

Wow some pretty good stuff guys (and ladies, of course). I think i should really reflect more what happens. Also a great posting about responding, not reacting, thanks for it!