How do i turn this around in my favour?

Just tell em like it is. "Your current company has you on page 7. I think I can do better than that if you will give me a shot"!

Offer to get them ranked for free. If you get them to the front page-they give you their business. Instead of trying to be ANOTHER person selling them services....prove it to them first.

I like what John D said.

My first thought was that these other SEO companies aren't doing a very good job.

You might also consider constructing a 6x11 postcard then follow up with a call.

The postcard would have a cut out mock up of their home page...headline in the same tone as John suggested.

Float a cut out of the page 7 screenshot with graphic arrow pointing to listing.

Do the sites
Themselves need revamping? Can you test them and see if they have
Functions you would expect them to? Or functions you clearly see missing.

"I tried to do such and such on your site but couldn't find it"

If it's reasonable you could even mock up a site for them.

Anyway a larger postcard gives you plenty of space to place graphics that will have small details and you can take your .PDF layout down to a local printer and have them print and cut out your 2 postcards.

You may come up with ways to integrate more
Personalization...poctures of their shop....their competitors...

These cards will turn heads. You will have
Their attention....I would advise privately sending your pending layout to several warriors for their input.

You will gain both of these clients. Longterm you will want to find ways to provide additional marketing for these companies as trust builds.

Good luck

To add onto that, give them a link to specific link on yoursite where they can get direct access to a video or short presentation that would be more generic but is your general sales presentation.

Doesn't have to be your voice, but I would add your pictures and signature with a short note at the bottom to contact you.

thanks for all your tips guys.. was a bit apprehensive contacting these people as my main fear is not the rejection but them saying that they will contact their previous SEO guys first.

You might also consider showing them one of your successful sites on page one and/or giving them the e-mail (with their permission of course) of one of your existing clients as a testimonial.

Hold on a sec....

How do you know that the keyword you typed in, is a keyword they were targeting?
I can get 5 keywords for a GP Listing. How many variants of these 5, can you come up with?

Before you go telling the client that they are on page 7, find out who their target audience is and what keywords they are trying to rank for.

Maybe they are ranked #1 for several keywords, and getting customers because of it, just not the keyword(s) you are researching.
I don't want to discourage you in anyway from approaching this customer, just do it with an open mind. Have a conversation, not a sales pitch.

I agree with vndnbrgj, just have a conversation with them. If they are AT ALL unhappy with their current/past provider, THEY will be the first ones to let you know in my experiences. If they genuinely don't seem to care about their Internet presence AT ALL, then they probably aren't going to be the best client and not worth retaining for a couple hundred a month. I would think and act differently if you were trying to get $1,000+ a month, but at the smaller amounts....you'll be better off quickly moving along with people that WANT to try out your services RIGHT NOW at lower prices (not after they have a meeting with the co-owner after he gets back from Hawaii in a month, etc) This will allow you to further qualify your prospects and you can always go back to the businesses that weren't quite ready to pull the trigger and try you out (follow-up with educational material, benefits benefits benefits, discuss more about how and WHY their last provider failed, etc).

I also agree that they might be getting traffic from OTHER sources (both online and offline), so clarify what their goal and current marketing ROI is before getting into the "meat" of things.

If you have some examples of your abilities (even better, local testimonials), approaching these people should at least get your name out there and you should pickup some lead-in jobs.

- Jim

I think im going to use your ideas vndnbrj and also maybe offer them a no risk no fee trial for a month as proof or they don't pay.

what you think of the idea?

I'd make a postcard with a screen capture of the first page, (they'll recognize their competitors, we all do in local business).

Then I'd put what % of people make it to page 7 on a google search (It has to be like .05%).

I'd tell them they are currently on page 7 as of xx-xx-xxxx date.

Then put the stat on how many people do that search each day.

Then I'd have a coupon with a little coupon border (cheesy but works) that offers a "Free" review/consultation and another that offers a 20% discount on your service of getting them to page 1.

I'd see if they have an email on their website and send the post card as a pdf. If not I'd print it and mail it.

Also put a date and time you'll call to see if they got the card.

When you call simply ask to speak to the owner, when you do just ask if he got the card. You'll know in a few seconds if he's interested. He/she probably will be if they are on the net at all.

ok..thanks for the idea..

so direct mail / email with screen cap and stuff and then follow up within a week or so

Yeah. Not a week or so though. Put a date you will call them. Basically you are making an appointment without really asking. People are simple like that I've found. You could even call the day before to "confirm". I know it sounds simple but it works. If they don't want the appointment then they'll give you some blow off, or you'll get the appointment.

Either way you don't waste time cold calling (since you pre-sold them with the card/email), you have a reason to call "Hi it's ----, I sent you the post card 3 days ago, I was just calling to see if tomorrow still worked to talk about getting you to page 1. Is morning or afternoon better?"

If they don't say 'yeah that works' or 'lets do it now' or 'how about on xxday", then you don't kill yourself. You did a little homework, shot and email/postcard and made a phone call (all stuff an assistant can do by the way).

More importantly the ones that DO want to talk are a LOT hotter prospects.