My ALMOST Success Story

I contacted a few local business owners a few days ago, just spur of the moment, and my findings were quite astounding. I've been wanting to get my feet wet with offline marketing for a while now, but reality set in fairly quickly.

You see, I've been kind of chasing those website deals that everyone talks about in their success threads. You know the ones. I wanted to be one of those people who snagged a website client for $1,500 on the spot, or at least I thought I did.

It all changed when I got a taste of the reality that I'd been working to create. And let me tell you, it wasn't pleasing at all. In fact, I've had to rethink my entire strategy because of it. Well, I didn't have to, but rather, I made a personal decision to do so.

Offline marketing is not by any means a walk in the park, and I understand that much. It takes work, and hard work at that, but I'm not going to be a slave to any client. Although, I find that some people would have it be that way if you let them, and that's just not something I'm willing to do.

If you're wondering what exactly happened to bring about this post, I'm about to tell you. It's quite refreshing to have learned that cold calling and "taking action" will bring you results, but I just don't want them...at least not these!

Now, on to the details of my almost success story.

It started with me making random calls to various business owners, and just casually asking how their current marketing was working for them. Needless to say, I did get a few bites, and I got one guy all the way up to a phone close. Before you get excited for me, don't. I talked with the guy for literally an hour, and at the moment when he was ready to fork over his money, I dodged the sale. And here's why.

He talked, and I listened. I mean, I really listened. Business owners will tell you everything you need to know if you will just shut up and listen to what they're saying. And, I'm not talking about what you think they are saying. I mean the actual words that come out of their mouths. You'd be surprised; I know I was.

This guy told me all about his multiple business endeavors, and he bragged on and on about why this one would be his golden goose. He made it clear that he wanted me to handle his website and his marketing, and he didn't care how much he had to spend to retain my services. He even offered me a lifetime profit share in his business.

Of course, you're probably thinking that I had to be crazy not to jump at this opportunity. But, trust me. There was nothing crazy at all about my decision to walk away from this deal. Keep reading, and you'll see why.

So, I've talked this guy through an entire marketing plan, and he's full on board. I told him that I needed some time to put everything in writing, and that I also needed to work up an invoice to bill him for my services. Up to this point, all is going pretty well. I briefly get off the phone with him to take care of those things, and that is when it hit me.

This guy was absolutely MAD!

Not even five minutes had passed before he called me back. I answered, and he wanted to chat about what we had just discussed. I went along with the conversation, and after clarifying the details a second time, I ended the call.

Well, he called me back again. This time, though, I let the call go to voicemail. He left me a three and a half minute voicemail talking about the changes he wanted to make. How can he want to make changes to something that hasn't even been done yet? That threw me for a loop, and at that point, I knew something wasn't right.

A half hour later, he'd called me back nearly a dozen times. Each voicemail was slightly altered, but each one was requesting a different change. Eventually, he even started asking to add on additional services for free because "he thought about it and it seemed like a good idea." And what's worse is that this went on for nearly two days before I just said forget it.

At first, I was hyped up to be closing a deal with my first official offline client. But I slowly began to realize that I was creating a nightmare for myself. The callback to confirm our agreement and collect the payment turned into a dismissal call. I had to let go of this client before he became a never-ending headache.

I'm happy that I dodged this client, but he's also probably pretty pissed. Had I taken the deal, I would have been looking at a steady monthly residual of at least $2,500, and that's just for my fees. The profit share would have doubled my income, and then I could have gotten a lot of referral business from him as well.

Regardless of my potential losses, I'm glad that I let this deal go. From a business standpoint, it looks like a stupid decision. But, when I am the business, it was well worth it for me.

For one, I'm glad that I had the guts to finally just go after the business. I think I'm over my fears of rejection finally, and in the process, I learned to say "NO!" It can be tough to pick and choose your clients, but it's better to start early than to get going and have your business fall apart because of a few hellish clients.

Any local business owner can be your client if you have the ability to close the deal, but not everyone is a good client. And quite honestly, the good ones are the only ones I'm interested in.