Why you DON'T need some ones proven Offline Method to be successful

Don't sell them I call and offer a FREE coaching sessions. The coaching session provides them with vlaue then at the end of the session they ask me how they can get what I talked about.

In addition I still build my list and the same ole stuff. The problem is selfesh selling we need to talk with businesses owners from their point of view.

I go for the passive, straight education approach. I have been using a lot of "passive" marketing materials that I can hand out directly to prospects/their employee, or direct mail out, or send via e-mail with a phone call before and after.

Something brief that speaks to them in their language, and doesn't talk about your "SUPER DUPER GOLD PACKAGES" and "500 BONUS EXTRA BLOG COMMENTS A MONTH". My site contains all that information anyway, and my whole goal is to get them to contact me and thus visit my site.

In summary, the best thing I learned in college communications courses was you need to really be in tune to the "Wii-Fm" station in anything business related = "What's In It For Me?". Answer that question right away and upfront AND IN A WAY THAT THEY ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND, and you've won the battle I feel like.

When I first started prospecting I got tired of getting basically "beat up" by biz owners that just did not want to help themselves. So, I think targeting the right prospects is a huge step in the right direction too, always go for the ones currently spending ad money.

Another thing I am now doing, is trying to hire on some sales people. I am not a shy guy by any means, but I cannot stand anything that remotely feels like a "pitch", and I do not enjoy "shmoozing" at all, and some people LOVE it. I know someone will inevitably come on here and say something like "well if you truly believe in what you are selling, you are not really selling, you are just helping people". In an ideal world, yup that's correct, but in this business, I'm sorry folks....YOU ARE going to need to put on that "sales" cap, or pay someone to do it if you are looking to grow your business. To me, finding someone that has sales experience and actually enjoys "shmoozing" with biz owners, would really cut out a lot of my wasted time driving around town meeting people that "are not quite sure yet, have to speak to my biz partner (aka: check other local firms prices, etc), etc"

I only wish I had started the recruiting sales people thing a year ago.....

- Jim

Thanks for your contribution guys! I know there are more on this forum so speak up! I want to hear your perspectives.

If i gave Bob the Builder a laptop and told him to Build backlinks / work online / how do you think he would go ?

I think the best thing you can do to disarm offline business owners is to consult with them free initially, and be genuinely helpful when talking to them, i.e. don't go for the sale or mention prices during your initial consultation if possible, but instead just concentrate on explaining things and have a clear purpose of wanting to help them.

Also, it's tremendously beneficial if you can break down all the gobbledygook words like SEO, keyword density, PR, etc. into something understandable that even your local plumber can understand. I find it helpful to speak in analogies and try to cut out as many of the technical terms as possible when conversing with the client. It may be a little difficult at first, but you'll get the hang of it after a while.

Paul