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Find UK clients offline

by Lukegw
7 replies
Hi,

I want to find clients offline and target them directly with a letter to book a consultation.

Now, the obvious suggests to use Yell, however this doesn't give me much information on the actual business.

This is where duedil comes in and also creditsafe (however as I am just starting out, I don't wish to sign up to a contract).

I need to build a csv of people and businesses and statistics to connect in with my inDesign file in order to print continuously different letters.

I have looked at scraping information, but I find I am wasting too much time trying to get this information.

What would you suggest is the best way to find information and businesses etc to market too? (I would rather market to those who are based on an informed decision).

I am a web developer so with a very saturated market, direct marketing is needed
#clients #data acquisition #find #mail #offline
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    If you want all that information you better pay up for a list or be prepared to invest the time in building the list yourself or use a scraper.

    Just a tip though, if you're worried about saturation and competition, using just one method is not going to get you results you want. When there's saturation you need to position yourself accordingly and be at the right place at the right time which means more than one lead generation or marketing medium.
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  • Profile picture of the author trevord92
    With direct mail, start small.

    Check out books by Dan Kennedy and Drayton Bird to get a handle on what works for long form sales letters &/or lumpy mail.

    Or think about postcards.

    Or think outside the box like Glenn Osborn and mail watermelons

    Or personalise a package and send it Royal Mail Special Delivery.

    Lots of options.

    Plus if you're using Yell as your starter, click through to each person's website - if you get the standard Yell site or (better still) the "coming soon" page then you've got a target who happily spends money and hasn't had much in return.
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    • Profile picture of the author netbroker
      Purely speaking from someone that has a residual income of £3,000 from offline local marketing my advice would be.. look local and stay local ..for the time being then scale up.

      defiantly use direct mail to start with to make things personal. I will have to admit that any thing you maybe offering offline will take time and alot of knock backs. it is the nature of local business owners that they just do not have the time to make time for you.

      You need to be different.. persistence beats residence, Another thing that really works is having someone who you can work with on this.. teaming up with someone you can teach and train on your particular offline service and working on a purely results based payment can help also.

      Netbroker
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  • Profile picture of the author Lukegw
    Appreciate the info guys, although no necessary direction to move forward in other than what I came to figure anyway, do appreciate the experience and other views on it.

    I have considered having a "sales person", so may look into that, personalised mail - that's something I am interested in and have thought about, just need to find the quirk for the right price (even printed tea bags cost more than you'd think). Also does suggest I need to spend to get some information.

    Trying to keep costs to an absolute minimum at the minute, however that first sale would create enough income to pay for a lot of these different things... maybe like you guys said, start small... or just start... trial and error. I guess like anything, send enough out there and you will get a conversion, just finding out what those numbers are for industry / your area / your product or service.

    Maybe I am trying to run before I can walk - I don't know. Maybe I should revisit this again once I have some success small scale?
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    • Profile picture of the author trevord92
      Originally Posted by Lukegw View Post

      Trying to keep costs to an absolute minimum at the minute, however that first sale would create enough income to pay for a lot of these different things... maybe like you guys said, start small... or just start... trial and error. I guess like anything, send enough out there and you will get a conversion, just finding out what those numbers are for industry / your area / your product or service.

      Maybe I am trying to run before I can walk - I don't know. Maybe I should revisit this again once I have some success small scale?
      I'd start by filling out the (mostly currently blank) "read more" pages on your site portfolio.

      I'd also change the copyright date range to include 2015, add more news as currently nothing's happened since November last year, that kind of thing.

      Potential clients will look at your site and will go through the portfolio. They'll also look for reviews - try to get past clients to put them on your Google+ page or elsewhere.

      And tap into past clients for referrals.

      Then hand pick maybe 10 businesses to target. Go with the ones who're paying good money for less-than-good quality: Yell, CustomerStreet, etc. rather than ones who've used free/cheap site builders like Weebly.

      Direct mail costs - but with some imagination you can keep it down to not much more than the stamp and the paper/envelope.

      Personalised mail doesn't have to be expensive - Dan Kennedy has used things like a sticking plaster to attract attention. Others have used dollar bills, some Brits have used a scratch card or lottery ticket instead.

      And direct mail is a war of attrition - several mailings over a several week period are usually better than a one-off "oh, they didn't reply". Follow up by phone to increase response.
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  • Profile picture of the author helisell
    pick up the phone.

    call a few businesses of the type you are going to target and
    ask them what they think would be the best method to use to

    a. find out who/where they are

    b. what type of approach would be likely to have some success.

    i'm guessing you won't do it but.....

    put yourself in their shoes for a moment and imagine you get an earnest call asking for this kind of business advice...

    Would you be willing to help?

    Of course you would.

    After all you are on here asking.

    My method works pick up the phone and try it.

    You'll be amazed at what happens.

    .
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    Making Calls To Sell Something? What are you actually saying?
    Is there any room for improvement? Want to find out?

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    • Profile picture of the author Lukegw
      Originally Posted by trevord92 View Post

      I'd start by filling out the (mostly currently blank) "read more" pages on your site portfolio.

      I'd also change the copyright date range to include 2015, add more news as currently nothing's happened since November last year, that kind of thing.

      Potential clients will look at your site and will go through the portfolio. They'll also look for reviews - try to get past clients to put them on your Google+ page or elsewhere.

      And tap into past clients for referrals.

      Then hand pick maybe 10 businesses to target. Go with the ones who're paying good money for less-than-good quality: Yell, CustomerStreet, etc. rather than ones who've used free/cheap site builders like Weebly.

      Direct mail costs - but with some imagination you can keep it down to not much more than the stamp and the paper/envelope.

      Personalised mail doesn't have to be expensive - Dan Kennedy has used things like a sticking plaster to attract attention. Others have used dollar bills, some Brits have used a scratch card or lottery ticket instead.

      And direct mail is a war of attrition - several mailings over a several week period are usually better than a one-off "oh, they didn't reply". Follow up by phone to increase response.
      Thanks for that - some good insight. Thanks for also taking the time to look at the site. I am aware of the things I need to do, just had some limited time, so have had to focus on the more specific pages - these are all things on my to do list, however I am now using SMART targets and the difference it makes it massive (quite bad really but I'm human).

      I have a way to get about 25 letters franked at a time for free, envelopes cheap, ink and paper cheap, print my own designed stationery (edge to edge), so cheap enough and may work.

      Originally Posted by helisell View Post

      pick up the phone.

      call a few businesses of the type you are going to target and
      ask them what they think would be the best method to use to

      a. find out who/where they are

      b. what type of approach would be likely to have some success.

      i'm guessing you won't do it but.....

      put yourself in their shoes for a moment and imagine you get an earnest call asking for this kind of business advice...

      Would you be willing to help?

      Of course you would.

      After all you are on here asking.

      My method works pick up the phone and try it.

      You'll be amazed at what happens.

      .

      If I got a phone call, then I usually help out unless they are trying for a hard sell and then I'm not interested, however I also know from own experiences that a lot of people don't like being sold to... hence why an introductory letter, booking a phone call slot, with questions for them to think about, and outlining it is clear no hard sell intended.

      I run a web developer group, and a few have had high success with this hence why trying myself - I can see the logic behind it, but at the same time maybe just picking up and giving it a go is one of the first steps to take.
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