So a new lead of mine writes me this

26 replies
I have generated a list of questions about site promotion I would like to send you and find out what you would charge to answer them.

So what do you guys think i should charge him i tryed to sell him seo work.
#lead #mine #writes
  • Profile picture of the author Matthew NY
    Think about your time and its value. Will the amount of time you spend on answering these questions be worth it too just tell the customer that its a free consultation? Is the customer a professional?
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    • Profile picture of the author ericshef
      yea he is a attorney and i tryed to sell him on seo stuff and he wanted to know everything i do and how i do it and now he wrote me that are you on skype lets chat eric.sheffler1 is my skype
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      • Profile picture of the author ileneg
        Originally Posted by ericshef View Post

        yea he is a attorney and i tryed to sell him on seo stuff and he wanted to know everything i do and how i do it and now he wrote me that are you on skype lets chat eric.sheffler1 is my skype

        Charge him for your time or barter your knowledge for his.

        Do you need anything done in the legal department? Do you have any legal questions? Does he give his legal advice for free?

        You could always give him a free consultation of the "whats" but not the "hows". Or answer his questions, in writing, and then sell the report to his competitors - (J/K)

        A few thoughts of the moment,
        ileneg
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  • Profile picture of the author AussieT
    Sound like he want to milk you for your knowledge and may want to do the work himself.

    I had a client the other week ask me all sorts of questions and now I noticed he had done half the work himself since,
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  • Profile picture of the author ericshef
    Yea that's what I'm thinking so should I just tell tell him a crazy price for consuting lol
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    Listen,

    The best way to find out if he plans to use the information you share and not use your service is to just out right ask him.

    Say, you know I've given pretty detailed overviews of how I do things for my services to other people before and they turned around and used it themselves without hiring me.

    I don't mind addressing your questions but this is raising a red flag for me and I don't want to get taken again. Are you planning on doing this or is it that you just want to know more before we get started.

    Yup this is a bold statement but your going to find out right away where he's coming from.

    It might be that he just wants to know more because he's been taken in the past by other so called seo people. Attorneys are pretty high profile targets for SEO people.

    Be careful to listen to his response. If he is like. OH NO! NO WAY! I would not do that! BLA BLA, you can be pretty sure he was going to to it because he's over responded for being found out.

    If he's like, I can see how it might appear that way. I just want to make sure I am making an informed decision, plus I got screwed before.

    I have done this before many many times in sales and its helped me avoid the problems and clarify where clients were really coming from.

    Hope this helps!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I would charge him the same amount I would charge if I did the SEO work for him. He wants consultation so list it as a consulting fee.

      You are sharing your knowledge and if he uses it, that's fine - as long as you are paid for your time and expertise.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author joshril
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        I would charge him the same amount I would charge if I did the SEO work for him. He wants consultation so list it as a consulting fee.

        You are sharing your knowledge and if he uses it, that's fine - as long as you are paid for your time and expertise.

        kay
        I agree with Kay... As this is an attorney, surely he can understand the concept of being paid for your consulting time.
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    • Profile picture of the author reapr
      Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

      Listen,

      The best way to find out if he plans to use the information you share and not use your service is to just out right ask him.

      Say, you know I've given pretty detailed overviews of how I do things for my services to other people before and they turned around and used it themselves without hiring me.

      I don't mind addressing your questions but this is raising a red flag for me and I don't want to get taken again. Are you planning on doing this or is it that you just want to know more before we get started.

      Yup this is a bold statement but your going to find out right away where he's coming from.

      It might be that he just wants to know more because he's been taken in the past by other so called seo people. Attorneys are pretty high profile targets for SEO people.

      Be careful to listen to his response. If he is like. OH NO! NO WAY! I would not do that! BLA BLA, you can be pretty sure he was going to to it because he's over responded for being found out.

      If he's like, I can see how it might appear that way. I just want to make sure I am making an informed decision, plus I got screwed before.

      I have done this before many many times in sales and its helped me avoid the problems and clarify where clients were really coming from.

      Hope this helps!
      Good advice ran into a similar situation about a week back.

      To the OP I gave out too much detail on how I will do it not what the end result could be. Looking back giving out my road map and tools should have been a consultation charge.

      Lesson learned
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      • Profile picture of the author Etak
        A Lawyer?? Take 10 minutes to answer the questions and then charge him for a full hour...LOL

        Either charge him for a consultation or let him go. If he has a problem with your fee tell him you have given him all the info he needs to make an informed decision, so you will need to know either "yes" or "no". Put yourself in the position of power.

        Let's face it: the fact that he's already taken up enough of your time to worry about this means he is probably going to be a pain in the butt in the future. You may want to let this one go.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Foster
    You can

    A) Charge him for a consultation (a lawyer should be use to that) and tell him what he wants to know
    B) Tell him everything he wants to know is such excruciating detail that he'll think it's way to much work to do it himself
    C) Move on

    The choice is yours, just make a decision quickly and get on with your business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    While some of the advice is good its not getting to the heart of the matter. You are going to run into this many more times in the future and finding out where the prospect is really coming from is what will benefit you the most for this situation and in the future.

    Don't worry that he might get offended, its more important to know where he is really coming from.

    Personally I suspect he's been taken before and has learned a little about SEO himself because of it. He might be testing you to see if you have the same answers or different ones then the previous firm that he either used and got taken, or who have tried to sell him before.

    Don't use this as an opportunity to barter for services that's not what your calling on him for and will just get you off the path you want.

    Don't use this situation to charge him a fee for sharing your expertise, that's not why your calling on him.

    Some of my BEST clients turned out to be the ones I educated the most because that's what they needed to assure themselves they were making an informed and intelligent decision.

    He's a lawyer! Laywers all about due diligence why would we expect anything less an attorney who's thinking about doing something he's not an expert in?
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  • Profile picture of the author MWGrubb58
    Rus and James,

    Yep. A lotta folks try to get a bunch of info fer nuttin. Early on in my career, this happened until I learned how to nip it in the bud. It is like giving proposals. You can be so detailed in giving a proposal that the prospect THEN knows exactly what to do!

    I don't even give proposals to clients anymore. I don't have to.

    Just my opinion, but I think that if you position yourself correctly, the clients WANT you. After that it is just a matter of getting the details of payment and what you are going to do for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author gifttools
    Russ Sells because Russ is on the mark.

    Simply put - this is business, at the end of the day, the decision you've made needs to be one you're comfortable with. Treat it as a business learning experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author unknowncat
    I've also had milkers. If you let them get you on chat or phone, it can easily turn into hours of dialog at their benefit. Usually they act as if they're interested in doing some business with me, but the more they learn how to do it themselves (or outsource it to india where they will give My details for the project requirements). Once or twice it turned out good when I 'bartered' knowledge, when they had some custom software they were considering hiring me to build, based on my existing software. In the end I got at least a couple hand fulls of good ideas from these guys, in exchange for a few of my industry insights. But I got taken for a brain squeeze a few times. These days if a lead isn't interested in sending me some money after the first hour of my time, I tell them something like Rus Sells suggests. My time is worth money, and if I'm not earning I'd rather go read a book or go to the beach.
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    • Profile picture of the author ericshef
      Wow guy thanks for all the great info you guys are pros.Ok so when he writes me on monday i will post what his list of things he wants to know is.This is a good thread lots of great info thanks again guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gladiator
    Give him a price for a consultation only and a price for you do all the work for him. I'm sure he will find that it's better if you do the work for him for good price!

    Or just be a good guy and point him to this forum! lol

    Andre
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    • Profile picture of the author internetsweetie
      I've learned there are two types of potential clients:

      1.Tire kickers - usually ask a bunch of questions to the point of exhaustion and are unprofessionals calling around asking everyone
      the same question. So they can either do it themselves, collect information for when they are ready (somewhere way down the line),
      or want to find the cheapest price.

      2. People who have an idea of what they want but need guidance and someone to make the decision for them. I.e. This is what you need and why. This is how I can help you. How does this sound? Contact me right away to get started.

      I would place on your site a 30 minute consultation for x amount of dollars and the cost is taken from the invoice if service is secured within x amount of days.
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      • Profile picture of the author sndas
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          If he has a problem with your fee
          The person has already asked what the fee will be - he expects to pay a fee and only an idiot hires someone without knowing what it will cost.

          The OP is in business to make money. If the customer wants to pay for your time - I'd let him do exactly that. He may end up hiring you to do the work or not - but you could end up with a new source of income...consulting fees.

          He's not out to get you - he wants to learn from you and expects to pay for it.

          kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Brenden Clerget
    I wouldn't charge him anything to answer the questions. I would answer them in a fashion however that gives him the answers he is looking for, but without any real knowledge that will allow him to take your knowledge and complete the tasks you wish to sell him.

    For example: How do I make sure that my website stays ranking high?
    Answer: A well rounded content quality on the website with the correct keyword densities, and a solid backlinking plan.

    You think that's going to let him do the work? Psh. No way. If he had that much initiative in the first place he'd just research it. Even if he tries, he'll get so fed up and have so much other stuff on his plate he'll hire you. Let him figure out how much work it is on his own

    Then help him immensely while helping your wallet.

    This entire concept has to do with making him UNDERSTAND what you are going to do, while at the same time qualifying yourself as "professional in the field", qualifying the difficulty and quantity of your work, as well as qualifying him as a buyer in need, because he doesn't realize that he needs you until he realizes what is involved. Once he understands, you make money. 1-2-3.
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  • Profile picture of the author deezine
    Yea, I had my share of milkers as well. I had a meeting with them, went over a mind map, when I was supposed to go back and get the check. They had begun to put into some of suggestions to use themselves, however it didn't seem like it worked for them.

    So I guess you just have to use you gut and see what the outcomes is.
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  • Profile picture of the author ericshef
    Ok i got the email here is his list

    How important are the relevancy of backlinks

    What adverse affect of the close proximity of ip addresses numerically for the new domains and their landing pages. . .

    Will it cost us in google ranking if an additional info link to his site is added to the landing page for the new domains.

    Of the list of domains we already own which should we bring back online with landing pages

    Will excess keywords in the meta tag for key words cause google to choke.(see attached)

    If we bring websites up on a locally owned by a friend’s server with pretty much sequential static ips, if there is a penalty for close proximity (see question above) could we then change them to well separated ip’s after 6 months or so after they are out of the sand box. will that work? Or will the change in hosting address throw us back into the sand box.

    Can landing pages be devoid of relevant text?

    What would be the impact on page rank if is was just a re-director to his site


    If I post little ads on craigs list with email references and site references to the new domains, will those help us get the other domains up in the google search?

    What is the least we can put on other landing pages for alternative domain names for it to help get them up in the google search engines

    Is doing a landing page sufficient? As opposed to a couple of pages behind it?

    If we are going to do a 4 page site, how damaging to google rankings if the follow on page contain duplicate information, like my bio page from findlaw cut and pasted and things like that with duplicating information?

    One of the things I have been working on are pages that look like the attached. The name of the city and the offense in the title line then the content just being a link to that city’s website and the language of the law violated, and a link back to my site. the plan is to put them up on the main site, but could they also provide extra content for new sites we are standing up.

    I also asked if he plans on doing the seo work him self and he says no. So i need your help guys what do i charge him or do i just move on and not do anything with this guy thanks again for all your help guys.

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  • Profile picture of the author zoro
    I would mention to him that you will gladly talk with him regarding seo services that you offer. Then say to him, "As you can appreciate Mr Attorney (his name) just like you I am very busy but I can spare an hour on (day). My consulting fee for this is $xxx. I will note you in my dairy for (day) is that OK" Then shut-up until he responds.

    That should answer your questions about his intensions.
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    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      He's used to charging by the hour.

      The fact that's he's asking you how much for your help means he's expecting you to charge in the same way.

      There's no need to disappoint him if he wants to do business that way.

      Just set a nice high fee for your help and give him what he wants.

      You really don't have anything to lose here.

      Also if your advice is technical enough he may realize that's he's better off hiring you to implement it.

      Charging for your advice improves your sales posture and your liklihood of getting hired to implement ideas you come up with.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
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  • Profile picture of the author IMShoppingMall
    There's an old joke about consulting fees:
    A nuclear power plant had a broken part. They didn't know which part was broken. They hired a consultant to figure it out for them. After two hours of on-site research he broke out a big red marker and wrote a big red X on a part and said "replace this." He sent them a bill for $10,000.
    They replaced the part and the power plant was back up and running. They replied to the bill with a request for an itemized invoice, to which he replied:
    1. Cost of big red marker: $1.00
    2. Knowing where to write the big red X: $9,999.00
    They paid the bill.

    The moral of the story is that if you can fix his problems he really shouldn't care about acquiring the knowledge of how you do it, he should only care that you can do it.

    Be confident in your abilities to help him but don't give him the secret sauce. There is a ton of good advise in these posts take the best from each and go back to the attorney.
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  • Profile picture of the author TK1
    I would say: Let me see the questions first and then decide?!

    If you could answer them really easy and quick and use them to sell him your stuff do it for free.

    If it's some complicated **** that will take you hours to answer all I would charge.

    Hope this helps,
    TK
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