The easiest way to generate high-ticket offline clients...

Hello Warriors,

Been on here quite a while, and learned TONS of useful stuff that I've actually used, and I thought it was about time to give something back. I thought that this would be something simple that a person of any skill level could do really, so here it is...

Now, I know that one of the biggest newbie fears (for offliners) is not being able to deliver results to clients. This method blows that fear out of the water, because before you even ask your prospects for anything, you've already proven your value, and MADE THEM MONEY.

And don't worry, if you are a newbie, I'm gonna tell you how, right here in this post (it's seriously easy).

Okay, so let me outline the method (really, this time)...

System Overview

I call it the "A-Board Method". It's a simple client generation method, and the basic gist of it is that you go around to local businesses, put up an a-board ad outside their shops, make them some money, and then get them to rent the a-board from you.

So now that you've made them some money without them having to pay you a penny, you just ask them for a small cut of it, so that they can carry on.

Note: If you don't know what an a-board is, it's that little chalk board that you see outside of cafe's and what not. And when you look it it from side-on, it looks like the capital letter A. These days, there are loads of different kinds, and they don't need to use chalk, but oh well, I'm gonna tell you how I've been doing it...

How To Do It, Step By Step...

Step 1. Buy or Make your A-boards.

I've been making them with materials from B&Q, for less than £20 each. It costs me about £38 to make two. I'm not gonna get into the details of making it here... If you don't wanna make it yourself, you can always just buy one for About £20 on ebay. BUT... I would recommend 1 modification: Get some coloured chalkboard paint, and paint 1 side. It makes the a-board stand out. Experiment with different colours, but try not to make it look "tacky".

Step 2. Look for Potential Clients

You should know your target market by now. The first people I went to were fast food places, because I know that A-boards work there. My main tips here would be to pick places with good foot traffic, and places who could hugely benefit from your back-end products.

Remember, you can make some fair money doing just this, but the real money is made on the back-end, so look at this as more of a lead generation method.

My personal favourites are hairdressers, beauty places, and fast food places. This is because all of these businesses can hugely benefit from SMS marketing, and my other back end services. And look out for beauty places that do IPL and laser hair removal. These services are hugely profitable, so you can charge a premium to market them.
Anyway, you know your target market, and I'm sure there are hundreds of other businesses you can think of yourself.

Step 3. Speak with potential clients

Go into the business and speak to the decision maker. Again, you can do this your own way, but here's what I do...

Note: I don't use a script, I kinda just "wing it", but I say something along the lines of (in a fast food place)...

"Hello, my name's Isaac. I was wondering if I could speak to the person in charge"...

If it's a small place, you'll often already be speaking to them, but they'll usually ask why. I tell them that I wanted to ask a specific question about their deals. They're often quite sceptical, but by now, they'll usually identify the person in charge. Then...

"I've just been working with a few businesses in the local area, helping them to get the most out of the deals they're offering. I can tell that you've put a lot of thought into the the deals that you've put together, and I'm guessing you're seeing a lot of success from them..."

Flattery will get you everywhere. People don't want you to tell them that their marketing sucks... They want to hear how great it is. So tell them that it's good, but then advise them on how they could make it even better.

So at this point, you can let them talk a little bit about their deals... TRY TO FIND OUT HOW MANY PEOPLE REDEEM THEIR MOST POPULAR DEAL DAILY OR WEEKELY... and then say:

"Wow, I can see why customers would respond to that. If more people actually saw that offer, do you think you'd get more customers?"

OBVIOUSLY, yes.

"I agree. And so if you were to sell an extra [3 or 4] more [ £9 meal deals] each day you'd earn an extra [£27 - £36] per day... which is up to around [£13,000] per year. Does that sound like something that would help your business?"

Again, yes...

"I agree. In fact, I'd like to help you to do that. I've got an poster that you can put outsde of your door, showcasing your most popular offers. I've done this with a number of businesses, and depending on the offer, and the foot traffic, you can get much more than that [3 to 4] extra customers, every day. As I said, I've done this for a number of businesses, and I can do it for you too".

Now, they're gonna be wondering how much it is... And wondering how the bloody hell you've already made a poster for their business... So it's time to close the (non) sale.

"Well I want you to know that my clients' businesses are important to me. And I never work with someone if I'm not 100% sure that I can make them money. Now, this method is just the tip of the iceberg, and and I have a whole arsenal of tools to increase your profits by thousands every year. So to start our business relatioship off, I'd like to do this for you for free. For the next week, I'm going to let you keep this A-Board outside of your shop, showcasing your two best offers. All I ask as that you and your staff make a talley of how many people come in and redeem those offers. That way, at the end of the week, you'll know exactly how much business I'll have helped you to generate".

And that's basically it. You give them the A-Board, and write their two most popular deals on each side, or their most popular deal on both sides.

Step 4. The Follow-Up

Give them a call half way through the week to check in, and see how things are going. If they're not going well... Go down there and help them to create a better deal. Or see if there is a reason why it's not doing well. Is the board facing the right way? Are they putting it out all day?

Anyway, once the week is done, return to the shop. Speak with the manager, and get the talley. Compare it to their usual number of deal redemptions...

In the example, I estimated that they would get 3 or 4 extra sales each day. Generally, this will be an underestiation. But you need to UNDER-promise, and OVER-deliver. They'll be chuffed by the results.

So now, you need to upsell them. Tell them how much you've made them, and remind them of the fact that this is just one of the methods in your arsenal. You're NOT selling the A-Board, you're selling YOU.

"So looking at this talley, it looks like we've brough in around an extra [5] customers each day. And at [£9] each, that's [£45] per day. So using this single method, you can earn around an extra [£16,000] per year. When you first saw me walk in through the door a week ago, did you think that our 5-minute chat would turn into [£16,000] for your business?"

And they'll say no...

"That's the thing about the methods that I use. They don't seem like much on the surface. But the insider knowledge that I can bring to your business, can really make your profits soar. As as we saw, this single method has earned you over [£1,300] per month, and as I said, there's certainly more where that came from. And if you choose to work with me on a long term basis, we can easily double that number. Does an extra [£2,600] per month, or [£31,200] per year sound like something that would help your business?"

Uh... Yep...

"Well then I think that this could be the start of something amazing. Now, before we go any further, I want to make it clear that some of my other methods, although they're MUCH more powerful, take a bit more time to implement. So here's what we're going to do...

Over the next 12 weeks, we're going to do three things:
Increase your customer base using a range of advanced marketing methods...
Reduce your costs, WITHOUT you having to cut back...
and increase the amount that your customers spend with you...
And remember, during these 12 weeks, the A-Board and the other methods we'll be using will pay for all of this, with tons to spare.
So, to generate an extra estimated [£32,000 to £48,000 (double or triple the A-Board income)] per year, the investment is just [£3,645 (A-board income of £1350*3 months*90%)], split into 3 installments of [£1215], which can be easily paid for by the A-Board alone. So if we get started right away, you'll be on track for an estimated additional [£32k-£48k] by [May]. Would you prefer to make the investment by card, or do you have a paypal account?"

Take the payment by paypal now. Hopefully, you have a tablet. If not, use your smartphone. If not, you'll have to go home, an email them an invoice. But trust me, you'll lose people that way.

Now, I'm not the greatest salesman in the world, but let's take a look at what's just happened. Last week, you walked into their business, and gave them a silly little piece of wood. You've GIVEN thmem a way of generating £16,000 in extra annual revenue for FREE. You've asked for LESS than a quarter of thatb ack, so that you can DOUBLE or TRIPLE it.

Now, unless there's something SERIOUSLY wrong with the way you've presented them with that information, or they're INSANE, then they're gonna say yes. ALL but 1 of the people who I've given A-Boards to have said no to my proposal. And that was the first person who I tried it with.

And in hind sight, I believe that it's because it didn't give thim the projections. Eather than looking at it as £16,000 per year, he was looking at it as like fifty quid a day. So when I asked him for thousands, he must have thought I was insane. And even he gave me £100 for the A-Board. So I still made a profit. But this is why it's important to give them the PROJECTED numbers. And it's important to sell YOURSELF, not the A-Board.

-----

So there you have it... This is the single easiest method I've used to generate new clients. And although the client generation method is mine, the business model (Charging a high-ticket retainer in return for leads/sales), is heavily inspired by a post by James Farren (you can look him up on WF, and download his 240k formula). The guy's a genuis.

Anyway... I know that this mpost bacame much longer than I intended it to be. But this should be enough information to get a newbie started offline, and perhaps boost a few pro's.

If you can go out and speak to 10 business owners each month, and just 2 of them take the A-Board... Even if one of them says no to your proposition, remember that you're not making a £1000+ SALE, you're increasing your MONTHLY income by £1000+, so it's more like a £12,000+ sale.

I initially sell a 3 month subscription. This is because at the end of the 3 months, you can have a "review", and look at how much money you've made them. After the review, you can INCREASE your monthly fee if you've made them more money.

Get started TODAY

I started out doing this with 2 DIY A-Boards, as a week is a long time to wait to get it back. And the £40 was all I really wanted to invest when I was still testing this method. But you can get started from as little as £20, so there are no excuses.

I Almost Forgot...

At the start of this post, I promised to tell you the methods that you'd be using to actually increase your clients' businesses. There is more than enough info on WF, and on the internet, so I'll just give you a brief overview of each one.

If you look at my "script", you'll see that I said that I'd do three things for the client:

Increase their client base, reduce their costs, and increase customer spend.

Increasing Client Base:

Joint ventures... Look for businesses who serve/have access to your target market (who are not competitors). Get them to promote your client in return for clients, or a percentage of the cash. This is essentially offline affiliate marketing. An example of a joint venture for a hairdresser would be a wedding photographer. People spend more money on their wedding hairstyles, so getting clients from a wedding photographer will increase customer spend, as well as client base.

Referral incentives... This is essentially the same as a joint venture, but you are not getting clients from other businesses. You are getting them from individuals. These people can be customers, or other people who know about your business. You give them a REASON, a good reason, to tell their friends about you.

SMS Marketing... Set up a poster with a QR code, or a "text HELLO to 07123456789" to get your free buy one get on free voucher (or whatever offer). Put this somewhere where people who are waiting to be served will see it. Or put it right at the point of sale. This will build their SMS list, and then they can market to their list.

Reducing their costs:

Group buying power... Speak to their competitors. If they all buy the same stuff, e.g. Flour for a pizza place. Speak with the supplier. If your client and their competitors purchase together, the supplier will give them a discount. And if not, a different supplier WILL.
Switching Suppliers... Haggle and play suppliers against each other, get them to price match, and price match again. This includes suppliers of raw materials, stock, insurance, mortgage, utilities. Plus, if you become affiliated with some of the suppliers, this can be an additional income stream for you. But make sure you disclose this to your clients, because if they find out for themselves, you'll look shady ,and it'll damage your reputation.
Reduce Waste... Is your client wasting anything. E.g. Electricity... Gas... Raw materials. Do they throw away anything they could sell?

Increasing Customer Spend:

Change target market... Is your client going after cheapskates? If so, make them stop.
Increase the percieved value of the product/service... This can be as simple as adding pretty packaging, changing the name, adding some new stuff to the package... Adding a guarantee.
Introduce a new product... Does your client's customer base have any additional needs/desires? Can you create/source a product to fulfil this need?
Increase customer frequency... Get customers to spend more frequently. E.g. Loyalty cards and vouchers that expire. Or the client gets a bonus for visiting a certain number of times in a week/month/year.
Incentivise spending... Give customers a reason to spend more. For example... Rather than using discounts e.g. 50% off, reward clients for spending more e.g. Buy 2 get one free. Also, loyalty cards get customers to visit you rather than your competitors. E.g. If your customer likes chinese, and pizza. They might visit the chinese less, and pizza place more if the pizza place gives them a loyalty card.

So... I think that's about it for now. You know:

How to find new potential customers...
How to create an IRRESISTIBLE offer, by essentially paying the client before the client pays you...
How to deliver amazing results for your new found clients...
How to charge a premium for your services...

So that should be enough info to build an offline consulting business from scratch... Even if you're a total noob. Learn as you go.

Any questions, or suggestions for improvement, just let me know in the thread, or drop me a PM. And in advance: I'm sorry if I take a while to reply. I don't spend as much time on here as I used to.

Thanks for reading,
Isaac Smith-Jones