Mr Squeeze

Hey guys,

So here's a quick intro. Basically I made a short video and sent it to a restaurant chain with 5 restaurants.

The video was showing how many searches are made each month for various terms relating to the 5 restaurants and a few generic search terms.

In all the searches totaled 7000 monthly searches every month performed by mobile users.

I then went on to show how their site looked on an iphone emulator and showed them a sample semi personalised mobile site.

I then set up a landing page and put the video on it and sent a message through the contact form with a brief message and the link to the landing page.

Now the message was addressed to a manager of one of the restaurants in the chain.

I used to work under him in another restaurant chain (had 50 restaurants and was owned by the same owner of this new chain)

It turns out that the owner of the whole chain seen my message and video and actually personally passed it onto the manager it was intended for.

The manager called me and said the owner had requested a meeting with me for the very next day, I couldn't attend so they rescheduled for Monday morning.

So now I'm going there on Monday to speak about setting their site up.

It will have a about page, contact, find us with 5 maps one for each restaurant, menu and facebook and twitter links.

How much do you think I should charge for such a site, obviously they will probably want other things added too.

Knowing that they are a chain they can deffinitely pay a decent price, however because I know the manager should I give them a deal and get some referrals because they both have a lot of contacts.

Any thought would be great, by the way I was also pondering signing them up to a month trial of sms marketing in the restaurant in my city with a view to branching out into all of the others depending on the month trial results.

What do you think?

Regards,

Stephen.

P.S Sorry for the long post just wanted to give you enough information to give a good idea of where I stand

midasman09

I'd charge a minimum of $500 initial Set Up for 1st Restaurant and $250 Set Up for additional locations....and....$50/mo hosting & monthly maintenance.

This is for a Basic Mobile Site (with Lunch & Dinner Menu pages)....with a re-direct from their regular sites to "m.restaurantdomain.com".

HOWEVER....this is for something that MANY people can do...so...as a Good Mgr...he'd probably want to "get a competitive bid"....so....why not offer them something that....ONLY YOU can provide?

"And....what would that be Don?"

Well....now that you asked, what I would do is;
1) register a "Neat Domain" like, "BirminghamsBestRestaurant.co.uk" (or something similar)
2) build a 3 or 4 page Mobile Website using "WillR's or Quentin's" program (you could also use the free sample in www.DudaMobile.com )
Tell them this is only a Demo and you could change or add any details.
3) you'd HOST the site on YOUR server (HostGator.com)

Now....here's what's going to separate little ol' YOU....from the "herd";

Set up one of "My" Signs on the front desk of local hotels. This "sign" has a QR Code that will put your site ON the Mobile Phones of "TOURISTS/TRAVELERS staying at local Hotels.

Now....you can say that these "Tourist/Travelers" do NOT bring food with them....they are HUNGRY and looking for a place to EAT!

These Travelers/Tourists also carry Mobile Phones with them and...when they see "YOUR" sign on the front desk when they're checking in....they will SCAN the QR Code!

So....when you show them this "Sign" and tell them it will be available to at least 500 Travelers/Tourists A DAY....checking into local Hotels/Motels ....and the Demo Site you set up for them....YOU....will set yourself off from the "Crowd"!

They will WANT....what YOU HAVE! Their "Greed Glands" will be "thirsting" for what you have!!!

You can then UP your fees to; (just my suggestion)
$500 initial setup for 1st location...$250 setup for any additional location AND....(here's where it get's "interesting") ...for exposure to 500 Tourists/Travelers A DAY....15,000 HUNGRY Travelers/Tourists a Month... I'd start at $1,500 A MONTH....TEN CENTS PER HUNGRY HOTEL/MOTEL GUEST!

Now....you're "holding out the Carrot" of 15,000 potential diners EVERY MONTH! If just 150 out of those 15,000 come in for din-din, at $50 per meal (I'm assuming these are nice places with "nice" prices)....that's 150 x $50 = $7,500 OR MORE on their "investment" of $1,500! FIVE TIMES RETURN!

From MY experience with this....I'll bet you get closer to 300 to 500 meals a Month! 500 x $50 = $25,000! NOW...we're talking some INTERESTING Numbers on their investment!

You can also place small display ads in local papers, with the QR Code....and....other promotion methods to get Locals to see the site.

YOU own the Domain AND the website! YOU are in control!

So....you could make up your own "Signs" or....send me an email (donalm@charter.net) and I'll email you a Photo of mine!

NOTE: I am NOT "selling" anything here! Simply willing to help a fellow Warrior! This is ONLY for YOU!...Stephen!

Don Alm....Marketing & Promotion guy

mojo1

Stephen,

Your on fire dude. I'm not seasoned enough to give you any advice but I just wanted to encourage you to keep trailblazing your way to success.

I saw your post from last week where you made business happen while parenting at home.

I'm in the same boat as a stay at home mom. You inspire me.

By the way, are you open to doing in referral business? Not like you need any you seem to be doing quite well but my little one gives me the hardest time while I'm on the computer and I'm looking to partner with a fellow warrior.

I don't have enough posts to send you a pm but would like to know if would be interested in getting referrals for new mobile sites?

sbishop

Midasman09 hit it in the head. You need a unique selling postision. What sets u apart from the rest? This can be a great opportunity for you. How many people can say that they are developed a Mobile website for a Resturant chain?

Make sure that you over price a little and offer a discount for the right to mention them as a customer and a testimonial!

Also, You got to hit em with SMS mobile Marketing. The mobile searchs for their resturant shows how active people are on their cel phones and they need to tap into that!

Best of Luck

Mr Squeeze

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for your kind words and advice, and also a special thanks goes to Don for his firstly his well thought out reply and also his extra support via email.

"You Are Pure Genious Don"

Now for a little update on what I'm going to present, which is going to be really easy since I'm on very good terms with the manager (it's basically like pitching ideas to a friend)

So for the set up fee I'm going to go in with £900, so if they knock me down ill have a bit to play with.

So the first thing i'm doing is creating one central mobile website which will be used for regular searchers who like I mentioned in the op are already ther 7000 every month in fact.

This site will have locations and details of all 5 restaurants in the chain and the 7000 monthly searchers will be directed to this site from their desktop website. (this site is already complete, well apart from the menu)

Then for my home town restaurant, they will get the following free for a month (not really free because I am charging an extra £400 on top of what I would have charged for the single mobile website)

First thing they get is a separate website and like Don said poster advertisements placed in local hotels. (the sample of this site is almost complete pending a few minor changes)

The outlay for this is really cheap basically I will only have to get a few of the posters printed. Granted I will have to spend a day to go around local hotels placing posters in the lobby.

Second thing they get is sms marketing free for a month, now this will cost about £100 to set up which will include a shortcode (shared) a keyword and 50 table tents maybe a few posters

And finally I noticed they only have a few reviews on tripadvisor, and 3 of them weren't to good.

So I am going to set up a website which will be able to serve all 5 chains eventually e.g "RESTAURANTCHAINNAM"EFEEDBACK.com/restrauntcity

On this page will be 2 options one to leave negative feedback which when clicked will take users to a contact form and filter all negative reviews to the restaurants in house email.

The 2nd option will be a positive which when clicked will take customers right to the trip advisor review page for that restaurant.

Along with this will be a pile of credit card sized review cards with a simple "Thanks for joining us, how did you enjoy your visit. Please take a moment to tell us at ReviewSite.com"

This will cost about 50 to set up which will be a registering a domain and getting the cards printed, a friend I know can get a couple of thousand printed for about £30.

To further add value to this initial package also factored in to the price will bee my time, because lets face it although I enjoy doing most of these things I'm still going to have to manage, build, print and design most of these things.

Not to mention time spent explaining all of these things like how to get the waiters to ask people to join the sms campaign and also how to get them to ask for feedback.

Now if they go for this straight off the bat I will make around £700 but even if they knock me down I would be happy to make £500 which is about 2 weeks wage from my last job, this will give me some time to go out prospecting whilst knowing I have a little cash to fall back on.

Not to mention I will have a testimonial from a major restaurant chain in my portfolio for a sort of full mobile marketing promotion plan.

Plus when the free month is up and they see how well it works I'm pretty sure they will biye my hand off for my monthly maintanence package.

Plus I will also likely have the option of rolling this out on the other 4 restaurants in the chain.

In fact this one deal should it work out should be enough for me and my family to live comefortably without even needing to prospect for more contracts.

Anyhow that's what I plan on doing, i'd love to hear your thoughts on whether you think a) my initial setup price is fair and b) how much you'd charge per restaurant per month to maintain such a package.

Regards,
Stephen.

P.S I had a advertisement poster, table tent and feedback card printed yesterday which I'm taking to the meeting

mikeyman120

I guess it depends on if they want a regular info site or more. As a larger than usual business they may expect you to build them some sort of ordering system so people can order food through their smartphones. That would cost more of course. That sounds like a big task unless you use some service that has a solution. Are you prepared for that?

Mr Squeeze

Hi,

This restaurant chain doesnt actually deliver food or process orders from the internet it is purely a call in sit down eat and leave restaurant.

They serve tapas style meals (although not spanish) with the average small tapas dish costing around £4 and the average customer ordering 3 dishes or more.

Whats more 4 of the restaurants are in the heart of major city's with 2 of them situated in major shopping malls.

For instance the one in my city has 2 floors and is placed right in the heart of the largest open air shopping mall in the uk.

From my phone call with the manager they are purely focused on capturing the attention of as many potential customer as possible (but lets face it which restaurant isn't)

Therefore I think a package such as the one above will be something they will really like. Especially the manager I know because I think the chain is run the same as my previous job, the manager gets a monthly bonus based on revenue.

Anyway I just thought id ask for some help with pricing, because obviously I don't want to undercut myself, likewise I don't want to price myself out.

You see I could say £900 and they just snap my hand off for that price, in which case I could probably have gone in higher.

You see my predicament.

Anyway thanks for posting,

Stephen

nickhumph

thanks don! Your always giving out valuable and helpful info for nothing in return! I really appreciate that!!

Increase Page Conversions by 72% through the most underrated marketing tool out there!

NewParadigm

To show value, I'd use the meeting to have them talk about themselves, find out more about what they want to accomplish.

How do they market now?
How do they get their customers?
Average check?
food/alcohol ratio?
problems/challenges they have?
what is their budget now?
what results do they expect?
daypart ratio?
table turnover?
ave customers per day/week?
customer demographics?
geographic radius draw?

talking their talk will make you more valuable. Prompting them to talk about themselves will make you even more valuable.

KingMedia

Great stuff! Stick to your prices, if they want to shop around - let em, they will quickly find out you offer much more value in return.

Question: How do you get hotels to agree to let you put a "sign card" in their lobby? I'm sure there is kickback - but would like more insight on this.

Mr Squeeze

Hi king thanks for sharing your thoughts, as for your question.

Don said simply, Ishow the Motel manager what the sign looks like and tell them you've set up a special Mobile Website so their guests can have exclusive offers only for them.

Also tell the manager that the're providing a great service for their guests by showing they care for them and also that they are joining in the electronic revolution.

Hope this helps, but all credit goes to Don.

Regards,
Stephen

NewParadigm

Also, you should know what your competition is charging for similar. Then be ready to explain why your service is priced the way it is. Business owners have no problem paying more as long as they see value.

It's going to be as much how confident and how you say it, as what you say to any of their objections.

Mr Squeeze

Hi New,

I'm pretty sure nobody will be offering such a package that I am, especially utilizing Don's hotel method, so...

I'm pretty sure that I won't have much competition on that front, sure they could shop around and find a web designer to create a mobile site.

But at the end of the day I think my package could bring a lot of new custom and also with the introduction of sms marketing a lot of repeat customers.

Ok a website alone will gain them many customers however i'm sure the prospect of reaching customers who wouldn't necessarily be looking for them and the prispect of getting existing customers back in will be a major plus.

Regards,
Stephen.

Jay Levine

Stephen,

Your price sounds extremely reasonable, and your selling proposition sounds super strong. I think that barring politics or the manager funneling the job to his brother in-law you have a strong chance of closing this deal. Even if you have to come down a little, I'm sure there will be enough work on the back end to make this all worth your while.

Don't forget, these people have money and they stand to make more with your help. Good business marketing costs money. Don't under price yourself or you'll give the impression that your work is not worth anything and that you don't really know what you're doing. In other words, charge enough to make doing the work profitable for you. You'll stand more of a chance of getting the job, and if you lose it or are doing it for not enough money, you'll be better off without it.

Learn web design, marketing, and SEO from beginner to agency owner. Save time and energy by tapping my 20 years of agency experience for free at BestWebSecrects.com

Mr Squeeze

Hi fotoko thanks for the input mate greatly appreciated.

This is going to be my first ever meeting with a potential client and I thought i'd be nervous as hell, but you know what...

To say I'm excited is an understatement, I feel like my offer is going to make him simply melt when he hears it.

Just hope my excitement stays and doesn't turn to nerves tomorrow. I think if I can ooze the excitement I am feeling speaking to you guys and my wife about this package then the manager will become infected with my excitement lol.

Anyway thanks for the input,
Stephen