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Batter Up ! going to seal the deal on my first client...Now what ?

by Big Gee
10 replies
Oh holy crap I'm scared. I have a 2nd meeting tomorrow to go over what services I offer and would help them the most. (check signing time)

This guy is a dentist in a low income, redeveloping, little English speaking area.

I sat with him and his wife (office manager) for about an hour and a half. I originally went in for just a 5 min demonstration of Qr codes. I brought some (printed) screenshots of their unclaimed Yelp, YP, Yahoo Local profiles and told them how important it was to claim them. I saved the Places for last because they had 1 bad review that I felt needed their attention.

They were very concerned, and wanted to know if I could help. They were also very concerned about a ad of another dentist being displayed on their Yelp profile. I went on to give them so much information about services that could help them. The dentist wanted to talk more, but had to work on a patient.

He was just so thankful I gave him so many answers to his questions that he had no idea how to get. He knew he wanted to be on Facebook and Twitter but didn't know where to start or have the time to invest. So here I come like a superhero ready to save the day. Except I have no real experience.

He spends $2700 dollars a month on YP and newspaper flyer circulation, but only breaks even on his investment. I want him to give me that much a month. So that's my goal.

Like I said I have to meet with him tomorrow, I don't want to out price myself, but I want to wrap this up and get into it.

He needs everything: website, mobile website, social presence, Places, but not all at once. I have to convince him to let me build his website instead of his family friend who has been taking over 3 months to build.

Ok enough talk. I just wanted to say thank you Warrior Forum. I may be counting my eggs before they hatch as I haven't received a check yet. But regardless the "take action mentality" has inspired me to just go do it. Crossing my fingers for tomorrow.

Thanks everyone, especially ScottH, Quentin, WillR, John Durham, Don Alm, Ryan Padilla , Warrior Ben, and anyone else I may have forgotten. I'm just on a natural high right now and can't really think.

BTW any suggestions on Dentist marketing ?
#batter #clientnow #deal #seal
  • Profile picture of the author Warrior Ben
    Congrats on moving forward with the sales process! You will have to let us know how it went.

    I think I might have missed the window to help you out before the meeting, since you posted this yesterday. Here is what I would recommend though-- Do NOT pitch the dentist on a $2,700 a month plan. Start small. If he was interested in QR Codes and a mobile website, sign him up for that and then over deliver on his expectations. Slowly build his trust and move your way up to replacing his YP ads.

    Even though it is obvious to us marketers that he is wasting money on YP ads every month, the dentist will most likely be stuck in his ways and be scared of just scraping that whole idea and going to some unknown. Look at him as a long term client and slowly start showing him how you can help drive new business to his office. Once you have done a mobile website, then offer social media services, then maybe a full website redesign. Then SMS/Text marketing for appointment reminders. Make it your goal to build up to $2,700 a month from him over a 6 month period and you will have much better luck than trying to get that much right off the bat.

    This is just a thought... if you were able to get him to pay you $2,700/month right off the bat, kudos to you! If not, don't sweat it. Just get him as a client and upsell down the road.

    I hope this helps.

    -Ben
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  • Profile picture of the author Hugh
    Make him think and believe you are the "Eighth Wonder Of The World."
    Make him so happy he tells everybody he sees about "His Computer Guy".
    You may never have to cold call or advertise again.
    Congrats.

    Hugh
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    "Never make someone a priority in your life who makes you an option in theirs." Anon.
    "Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon." -- Winston Churchill

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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    A couple of cautionary tales:

    When I started doing business development consulting, back in Vancouver, I thought companies that were in dire straits would be a good fit. It was a good fit--for them! They often did not have the cash to pay for my expertise, and I ended up often struggling with huge scope creep issues (came in to market the business; ended up running the business) in order to make sure that I got paid.

    When I was a factory manager--I started out as one, but discovered I didn't like it as a full time job--one of the roles I had was running a high-end gore-tex garment factory where 150 people were working for me through 6 supervisors. I started a sewing training program. The idea was to get the worst production employees trained up to snuff. More skill = higher production = more profit, right? Guess what? The project was a failure.

    Why? The worst-producing employees didn't want to be there in the first place. Taking them out of their departments and putting them together into a special group with more supervision and teaching didn't help, it just freaked them out. Truth was, it was better for both them and the company for me to let them go, because they just weren't cut out for the work.

    Back to the drawing board: what I found out the second go-around was that the employees who were already doing OK could be trained to become awesome. And that was where the money was! They had the interest and the drive to become better.

    So why these cautionary tales?

    I suggest to you that businesses which are just barely scraping by or worse can be dangerous clients. They make knee-jerk reactions when their bank balances dip too low. They aren't in it for the long haul: they want immediate results. They are scared and are not fun to work with.

    I look for businesses that are doing OK, but want to do better. They make much happier and easier-to-work-with clients. So be careful with this one.
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    • Profile picture of the author midasman09
      Banned
      Here's how to GRAB Dentists by their ____ glands!

      1) Tell them you will send a Postcard to....people who've just moved INTO the area...either to Rent or Buy!

      2) On the postcard is an offer that will get these New Residents to RUSH TO THEIR PHONES AND CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT! What will do this? An offer of a "FREE Teeth Whitening"!

      So...why would a dentist want to offer a "Free Teeth Whitening"?

      2 reasons;
      1) Their cost is about $10 in materials and about 1 hour time of their assistant.

      2) People have been conditioned, after seeing all the celebrities on TV with BRIGHT, WHITE Teeth....to WANT the same.

      So....GIVE them....what they WANT!

      Now...the dentists I've worked with charge a "New Patient" fee, which includes, Cleaning, X-Ray and Initial Consultation. These "New Patient" fees have run from $85 to $185

      So...when I charge the dentist $100 for each "Teeth Whitening" patient I bring him....do you think he will balk?

      He gets a New Patient PLUS....makes money!

      Don Alm...ben doin' this stuff a long time
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    • Profile picture of the author Sue Bruce
      Big Gee,

      Congrats! You're on a high and it's contagious.

      Make a 1 pg plan on what services you can offer him (for less than $2700/mo.) Yellow pages has to be subtracted from that.

      One of my guys sold a dentist in a low income area who had YP and an outdated web site. The dentist said the same, he wanted to be on Facebook and even tried to make a business page himself. Then FB went to iframes and he gave up.

      Start with the services that you know he wants and add to it as far as you can go. That is the reason for the plan.

      Go to the meeting with a $2000 (ballpark) plan and if you can prove to him that you can get more patients, you're in.

      Hopefully he knows how many patients he receives from yellow pages. Since it's a dentist, he probably will. They usually say "from my YP alone, I get x number of patients.

      Your plan should include how you can increase the number of patients. Really, that's the main aim.

      Thanks for the post. I thought I was finished for the day but i have a proposal I can spend a hour on. Excitement breeds energy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Gee
    @Warrior Ben had to add you to my OP thanking you, definitely another one of the great contributors here. I am most definitely going to follow your advice. Reminds me of a joke from the movie Colors.

    A bull and his son are standing on top of a hill looking at some cows below. The son says "hey dad why don't we run down the hill and have sex with one of those cows" The father bull says "no son, why don't we walk down the hill and have sex with ALL of the cows"

    I am going to walk.

    @ Hugh he thought I was the 8th wonder. He called me a super genius, and thought I was a programming guru because I could "build" a mobile site. I felt ashamed inside...if he only knew I use WP and WillR & Quentins mobile WSO to do what I do.

    @kaniganj thank you for the experienced advice. I will keep on my toes and be aware of the pitfalls because of it. I do not want to turn this into a 9-5 job, maybe in the beginning because he needs so much help and I could use the experience, but after that outsource whatever I can.

    @Don Alm the marketing genius strikes again. What a great idea. They just so happen to be around tons of apartment complexes (so I'll talk to the apartment managers), and a newly redeveloped mall,(I'll figure something out.)
    But how do you target new move ins or house renters ? Local Real Estate agent ?

    Now to let everyone down...He called me an hour before the meeting to reschedule for Monday. If he's yanking my chain...that sucks and I will do my best to work for a nearby competitor. BUT just experiencing what it actually MIGHT feel like to get a client, especially my first one, is very motivating and will not set me back.

    I'm trying to start a new business, in this terrible economy, during the holiday season. That's going to make it even sweeter when I succeed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Gee
    @ Sue Bruce thank you for the advice. he has been spending $2500 in 2 YP books. Your right he does know.He said they pretty much break even. he gets a better response from simple flyers (one side in English/one side in Spanish) in the weekly newspaper from the Spanish community for $200
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    You need to make spanish versions of everything as well. Just in case you didn't have that idea.

    And my advice is to hit him with serveral packages. And have him selct which works best. Put the $2,000 as the best value but have higher and lower ones.

    Also consider a monthly fee in there as well.

    Maybe $2,000 plus $500 monthly for hosting a maintence and the other packages being higher and lower on both.

    remember if he goes for less you do less. If you do well with a $500 package soon he will upgrade for more.
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    Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Gee
    @Aaron Doud I am for sure going to get everything in both languages. I haven't presented my pricing to him yet, but I am going to start out my basic services (things that will make my life easier going down the road) like Places, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp,.

    We need to identify who he is and who his customers are. He goes by 3 different business names. I'm also going to start having the front office collect good reviews for future use, He has 1 bad review on Google Places, I hope it's not too difficult to bury. If I do get rid of that, I know they would be forever grateful.

    I plan to do those things first before trying to build his website or anything else. I don't want any traffic or potential leads I may get to see a bad review or scattered non optimized profiles when they look for him.

    After I've taken care of those issues, I will show him the results and go for the kill...or at least a really big bite.
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Gee
    Well I'll be back Monday to give an update. I want to keep building a list to call after the holidays, and I know I'm not going to get anything done the next couple of days with Thanksgiving and family visiting. Thanks again everyone for the great ideas and guidance.
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