How I Just Closed My First Offline Marketing Deal.

I'm a little giddy right now. I just got home from my first attempt to close an offline client for my internet marketing skills. I did it a little differently then the normal sales technique.

I've been reading a great book "How come THAT idiot's rich and I'm Not?" by Robert Shemin. It has a lot about thinking outside the box when you approach something. So, that's exactly what I did.

Instead of approaching the business like a salesman trying to sell my services, I came with a different approach. If you've ever managed a store, you know that when people ask for the manager it's not an enjoyable thing. I knew this because at one time I managed a retail store. I hate being that guy that no one wants to talk to, but I wanted to talk to the person in charge right away. I thought why not come in as someone they want to be speaking to instead of someone they are trying to avoid.

A few days ago, I saw a job posting on craigslist for a local business that was in one of the markets I thought I could easily bring more business for with online efforts. So, I went ahead and applied for a job there. I made up a resume that was made specifically to get their attention. I needed them to set up an interview with me. Luckily, I have quite a bit of sales experience and could give them true events. I would of fibbed if I had to just for the interview.

My interview was a couple hours ago. I went into this interview with one thing in mind. I knew they were going to ask me about my past and current jobs. So, I made a "sales pitch" of sorts. When the manager asked me about what I'm doing currently, I went into the "sales pitch". Not so much selling myself, but selling what my skills can do for a business. I made sure to transition naturally and leave things open to keep the manager intrigued. I wanted him to ask me questions, questions, and more questions about what I do to make money on the internet.

It worked like a charm. The manager was more intrigued in what I do for a living rather then normal interview questions. It was almost like he forgot that I was applying for a job. I went on about what I can do for a business with my internet marketing skills and how I was looking into getting into offline businesses.

I made sure to look at their website before hand and see what they were doing for their online presence...it was a crap shoot. I had a list of things I knew already in my head that I could do for their website before I came in, but I made sure to let him ask me questions instead of act like I was selling.

After about an hour of only talking about bringing targeted traffic with internet marketing, he told me to hang on one second. The manager brought over the owner of the store. He said they have been looking into improving their internet marketing approach (since they had none and I already knew this).

I then went into full salesman approach. I gave him what I can do for him, what were the obstacles, why it will work, etc. This small store actually has over 8 stores in the state of Tennessee. I had my contract papers already done by a lawyer friend of mine the other day just in case I close a offline client. The owner signed the papers and handed me a large chunk of change as the upfront fee. We've set up a monthly fee for a 12 month contract.

And, that's how I set up my first offline client only a few hours ago.

Some of you might say it was stupid to not just approach them as a salesman and I risked them thinking I wasn't successful because I was applying for a job. That was just to get my foot in the door. I wanted them to be ready to listen to what I had to say.

I'm so glad I didn't go with the normal approach. I hate selling.

Travis