Wasted Time... High Value Clients

ewenmack

11 years ago

They all reside here...

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-customer.html

Best,
Doctor E. Vile

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Jason Kanigan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by kbreezy

Hey Warriors,

What are some niches you can recommend Where a costumer for business will be high?
Examples such as Dentists, Doctors & Lawyer etc.

I realized I wasted a bit of time working on a locksmith niche doing a rank & rent type model site where there Value customers tend to be one time and very Low lifetime value.

I ended up just selling it to local business for a Small upfront fee and a very unsatisfying low monthly seo cost. (Ranked #2 in less than a month. So it was actually very easy to rank as there were only 3 Competitors going for that City + keyword locally)

I've gotten lucky with 1 client very early in my offline marketing career in the Hotel Hospitality Niche paying me 2k a month for SEO and I've been trying to chase the "dragon" with another client ever since.

Is there any niches/industry you guys recommend where new customers for a business will be high?

Yup, locksmiths are a niche I briefly checked out and said Nahh to a years ago.

They are--and watch for this in other niches--limited in the number of customers they can actually serve in a day. Now you could say that about other niches, of course, but the difference here is: that customer goes stale and expires if you don't serve them immediately. They choose someone else to do the work. In other fields, this isn't the case: people can wait.

Couple this with most of them being comfortable where they are...and not wanting to add on another worker to their business...

...and it doesn't matter how many leads you can serve them, for example.

They can only get to so many, and they're comfortable with that amount.

Look for a high ticket, repeat business niche with a majority of business owners who want to grow.

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jamesfreddyc

11 years ago

If you are good at quickly ranking locally then maybe find a market that has a customer base with higher lifetime value to businesses and just focus on selling the sites outright. Base the value of the site on what the typical customer pays for the product or services in that market, multiply it out by how many customers your site might generate witin a certain time period and start from there.

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Joe J

11 years ago

I was with a friend who lost his keys and called a local locksmith that arrived at a certain time, opened his car, cut him a new key and was done in no more than 30 minutes.

Charge was $150 if I remember correctly. It was his last call of the day and when asked, he said it was his 8th job of the day.

Very professional, on-time and very fast. My friend thought it was high but I didn't nor did 2 people that watched him because he was in a parking lot doing it. They both asked for his card.

Oh, and the key was just a double sided cut key and not one of the newer alarm or etched or fancy key.

You may have to look for a busier locksmith.

Joe

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savidge4

11 years ago

Here is an interesting thing about lock smiths. EVERY commercial glass door generally has a cylinder lock... To your average anybody, you don't think much of it.. BUT next time you are at a business and see one of these locks.. get a good look.. and then goto any local hardware store and see if they have those in stock. - to save you the trip.. they don't.

What gets real interesting with this stuff is there is different "levels" of security. The cheap ones tend to be 3 to 5 pin locks.. the "Good" ones are 7 and the "Best" are 9 pin... 9 pin aint cheap by the way.

A few years back I was doing some work for a locksmith. we sent out 6x9 mailers to every commercial facility in a rather large area. "When was the last time you had your locks changed?" How many employees that no longer work for you may have a spare key? kind of thing... the response rate was silly!

As I recall many that called pointed out they thought it was a good idea to change the locks and found out they couldn't just go buy one at the local hardware store. And when they looked online they didn't know they came in "Good", "Better", and "Best".

Supply and demand with the need to have the "Best" is a beautiful thing when it works in your favor!

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Jason Kanigan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by savidge4

Here is an interesting thing about lock smiths. EVERY commercial glass door generally has a cylinder lock... To your average anybody, you don't think much of it.. BUT next time you are at a business and see one of these locks.. get a good look.. and then goto any local hardware store and see if they have those in stock. - to save you the trip.. they don't.

What gets real interesting with this stuff is there is different "levels" of security. The cheap ones tend to be 3 to 5 pin locks.. the "Good" ones are 7 and the "Best" are 9 pin... 9 pin aint cheap by the way.

A few years back I was doing some work for a locksmith. we sent out 6x9 mailers to every commercial facility in a rather large area. "When was the last time you had your locks changed?" How many employees that no longer work for you may have a spare key? kind of thing... the response rate was silly!

As I recall many that called pointed out they thought it was a good idea to change the locks and found out they couldn't just go buy one at the local hardware store. And when they looked online they didn't know they came in "Good", "Better", and "Best".

Supply and demand with the need to have the "Best" is a beautiful thing when it works in your favor!

Yup...if you want to know just how lousy basic locks really are, watch this:

How Bad Your Lock Really Is - Lock Picking #1 -...

Thanks for the marketing idea, Savidge4.

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DABK

11 years ago

Two relatives of mine worked for a locksmith once upon a time.

They were not that busy. The locksmith (the owner) was busy. They did not have set prices but charged the highest they could get.

But it was not set up as a business, the owner was opening locks all day long, not doing anything to grow his business. His business was coming in by word of mouth.

The problem with this business was that the employees took on clients on their own. The owner took as many jobs as he could do by himself in a day, gave away the rest, never worked on getting more.

I think the issue is not the business type but the individual company. You need to pick someone who's set up as a business and has the ability/skills and willingness to grow.

I know business owners who are willing to grow but not to change the set up to accommodate the growth. I know business owners who don't want another client (because they're comfortable where they are or because their setup is bad but they can't seem to accept that a change here and there in their setup will make their lives easier, maybe even allow them to grow.)

Your resources are precious, choose your clients carefully.

Originally Posted by kbreezy

Hey Warriors,

What are some niches you can recommend Where a costumer for business will be high?
Examples such as Dentists, Doctors & Lawyer etc.

I realized I wasted a bit of time working on a locksmith niche doing a rank & rent type model site where there Value customers tend to be one time and very Low lifetime value.

I ended up just selling it to local business for a Small upfront fee and a very unsatisfying low monthly seo cost. (Ranked #2 in less than a month. So it was actually very easy to rank as there were only 3 Competitors going for that City + keyword locally)

I've gotten lucky with 1 client very early in my offline marketing career in the Hotel Hospitality Niche paying me 2k a month for SEO and I've been trying to chase the "dragon" with another client ever since.

Is there any niches/industry you guys recommend where new customers for a business will be high?

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PBNDeveloper

11 years ago

When looking for high value clients, you have to find clients that make a lot of money. Typically that is going to be a low-value, high-volume business (like a dry-cleaner) or a high-value, low-volume business (like a lawyer).

Whichever way you decide to go, specialize in that niche. Become the go-to guy for male hair transplant websites (as an example). You can then get more clients geographically and tangentially through referrals.

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Freebiequeen1999

11 years ago

While we can discuss locksmiths I must say I agree - they are just not a good "target".

There are some "niches" to avoid - especially to try to sell them leads,etc

Many locksmiths here are hooked up with Triple A auto club, etc....

it is sort of a one time or when needed, change locks,locked out....

and while you can list high price services the fact is they probably get a lot of small services

the locksmiths shops I have seen are really funky, they are kind of old fashioned and eccentric, like one guy, or a guy and his sons....or else a large company with dispatchers who sub out to locksmiths

There is NO harm in saying some "targets" are not worth bothering with LOL...the idea that every business is a potential is true but you can waste your time with them I won't thanks

If you are going to try that rank and rent /sell model at least pick better targets

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savidge4

11 years ago

I am going to say something here, that some may not like to hear... I would take 10 not so well paying clients on a per month contract over the equal value in a single client any day of the week.

Read this thread for what it is, and if this was over on the Main board.. it would be likened to chasing shiney objects... it didn't work because this or that.

The reality here is you sold yourself on the lack of value at what you had produced. a site that has a #2 listing for a major niche keyword weather I takes a few months or a year.. I would say you were not thinking rationally when you sold it. You should have rented it for sure.

You break down a locksmith in terms of business in general their overhead is low. They are kinda lazy ( not all of them of course ) and they are making that piddly little $150 a call 8 times a day 6 days a week 52 weeks out of the year. So they are pulling 375k gross a year ( a good chunk wouldn't be reported I would assume ) so they are probably pulling 300k a year PROFIT.

In terms of MONEY... This guy is probably pulling more than the high dollar Attorney that is out on his own with his own small firm. BUT.. there is no money to be made here . LOL

So the site was really probably worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 a month - if you did some additional work and got a few more high listed listings. And then as I pointed out in a previous post you could run some EDDM advertising for them at a profit to you of what $1000 every couple of months.

And your crap no paying client all of the sudden should have been $1000 a month probably with no issues.

The value of your work is not dictated by the complication of the work, but by the effectiveness and your ability to produce results.

Me personally if I was in this type of business model.. I would be looking at verticals. Lets say in this case "Commercial". So you have a locksmith you can do advertising for Commercial locks etc. You could then develop a window cleaning site.. and promote Commercial window cleaning. You could then do the same in Lawn Care, and Janitorial, and an accountant and an insurance broker and a caterer and and and

Oh wait.. did I just fill a 9x12 with all of my site rental clients? oh well golly gee I sure did now didn't I?

And the best part.. I just diversified my income stream. I may loose one here and there. but I am loosing 5% or 10% of my income.. not 50% or 100%.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with low paying clients... there is only an issue if you have 1 or 2 of them. Start thinking of obtaining 10 of them, and the financial picture you have painted yourself could be a reality.

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kbreezy

11 years ago

Originally Posted by savidge4

I am going to say something here, that some may not like to hear... I would take 10 not so well paying clients on a per month contract over the equal value in a single client any day of the week.

Read this thread for what it is, and if this was over on the Main board.. it would be likened to chasing shiney objects... it didn't work because this or that.

The reality here is you sold yourself on the lack of value at what you had produced. a site that has a #2 listing for a major niche keyword weather I takes a few months or a year.. I would say you were not thinking rationally when you sold it. You should have rented it for sure.

You break down a locksmith in terms of business in general their overhead is low. They are kinda lazy ( not all of them of course ) and they are making that piddly little $150 a call 8 times a day 6 days a week 52 weeks out of the year. So they are pulling 375k gross a year ( a good chunk wouldn't be reported I would assume ) so they are probably pulling 300k a year PROFIT.

In terms of MONEY... This guy is probably pulling more than the high dollar Attorney that is out on his own with his own small firm. BUT.. there is no money to be made here . LOL

So the site was really probably worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 a month - if you did some additional work and got a few more high listed listings. And then as I pointed out in a previous post you could run some EDDM advertising for them at a profit to you of what $1000 every couple of months.

And your crap no paying client all of the sudden should have been $1000 a month probably with no issues.

The value of your work is not dictated by the complication of the work, but by the effectiveness and your ability to produce results.

Me personally if I was in this type of business model.. I would be looking at verticals. Lets say in this case "Commercial". So you have a locksmith you can do advertising for Commercial locks etc. You could then develop a window cleaning site.. and promote Commercial window cleaning. You could then do the same in Lawn Care, and Janitorial, and an accountant and an insurance broker and a caterer and and and

Oh wait.. did I just fill a 9x12 with all of my site rental clients? oh well golly gee I sure did now didn't I?

And the best part.. I just diversified my income stream. I may loose one here and there. but I am loosing 5% or 10% of my income.. not 50% or 100%.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with low paying clients... there is only an issue if you have 1 or 2 of them. Start thinking of obtaining 10 of them, and the financial picture you have painted yourself could be a reality.

Thank you for this thorough repsonse. Much appreciated.

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bizgrower

11 years ago

Savidge4 shows the value of offering the best solution for a given client.
As you found, not all niches need a $10,000 website solution and large monthly
maint. and SEO...

With a client like a locksmith, they probably just need a decent site and claiming the
local directories like Google +... (Although letting a local hotel know about his services could
not hurt. We have 33 rooms and several more commercial locks, and customers lock
themselves out of cars a lot. There are also the electronic card key systems...)

Only thing I really have to add is that if you do build up clients as Savidge4 detailed,
there is the potential for repeat and referral business, and some will need more
marketing services than a locksmith.

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Jason Kanigan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by bizgrower

Savidge4 shows the value of offering the best solution for a given client.
As you found, not all niches need a $10,000 website solution and large monthly
maint. and SEO...

With a client like a locksmith, they probably just need a decent site and claiming the
local directories like Google +... (Although letting a local hotel know about his services could
not hurt. We have 33 rooms and several more commercial locks, and customers lock
themselves out of cars a lot. There are also the electronic card key systems...)

Only thing I really have to add is that if you do build up clients as Savidge4 detailed,
there is the potential for repeat and referral business, and some will need more
marketing services than a locksmith.

What they most need is mobile local search advertising! When I locked myself out of the house a couple years ago, I had my phone with me. The first and only thing I did was Google for a local locksmith.

Interesting fact: the first one didn't answer their phone.

The second listing got the sale.

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bizgrower

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

What they most need is mobile local search advertising! When I locked myself out of the house a couple years ago, I had my phone with me. The first and only thing I did was Google for a local locksmith.

Interesting fact: the first one didn't answer their phone.

The second listing got the sale.

I'm in a sort of rural area and mobile signals are not always the best, so I have
the tendency to overlook mobile. (And, I call from my hotel's front desk land line
a lot on behalf of guests. I'm still on a 'stupid' flip phone.) Oooops. LOL

I used to sometimes forget the name of our locksmith and try Google and all I could find
are the darn pages with 800 numbers. They only deal with the locksmith's from the nearest
major city. After I told him to, my guy at least claimed his Google page and now I can find him
easily in Google. (Incidentally, he's a one man show and not much of a business man, but he
only charges $30 for a car lockout while the other two in my area charge $150.)

Thanks

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Wasted Time... High Value Clients

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