How Can I Leverage My Business? Advice?

4 replies
I thought I'd stop by to give a brief update on my business as a whole.

So far the Warrior Forum has been AMAZING with the feedback and advice given so far...Guys like David Miller, IamNameless, JohnDurham and others have been sensational!!

But I am a young, extremely eager guy. I have made a few sales and it has got me really excited. But I want to expand quickly! So I ask a few questions...

1. What is the fastest, cheapest way to get leverage and make MORE sales? (currently I am selling 5 page sites for $600 + optional SEO/PPC for $100 a month FLAT. To be honest, I have only made 1 sale so far, but got 2 virtually guarenteed sales in the last 2 days so these thoughts are entering my mind)

2. I know I should raise my prices, but anyone have any suggestions? What about prices and ideas for upsells?

3. To be honest, I have had it trying to make SEO work for myself. I have spammed Fiverr gigs, bought Magic Submitter and done spun article submission and tried spamming links from Scrapebox, still on page 3 for a local term with every site on the first page having 0 backlinks. I want to outsource this so any ideas on RELIABLE SEO outsourcing?

4. Finally, what experience does anyone have doing PPC for local clients? Is it easier than SEO? Or does it have its own downsides?

Thanks guys!
#advice #business #leverage
  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    Best tip you will get:

    First way to leverage your business is to GET ANOTHER SALE.

    hint, a sale is cash in hand, not some virtually guaranteed promise.
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  • Profile picture of the author racso316
    Originally Posted by payoman View Post

    1. What is the fastest, cheapest way to get leverage and make MORE sales?
    Thanks guys!

    One word. Strategic Partnerships. Just kidding, two words, obviously.

    But the fastest way is to look for where and who your target customers are already doing business with. Who are your target customers? Business Owners. Where and who are they doing business with? Printing stores, accountants, lawyers, bankers, restaurants, financial advisors, etc.

    Work out a deal with these businesses and work with them at a discount or even free with the condition of them giving you a referral, testimonial, endorsement letter, only if they are satisfied with your services.

    Then they will send an endorsement letter on your behalf to the business owners they are working with. Or give you referral names, or even call them themselves.

    Also, congrats on your sales man. You're taking action and the money will come. Take it easy though, Rome wasn't built in a day. You're building a business and it takes time and sacrifice. Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author David Miller
      @payoman - In regard to raising your prices, just do it. No clever "thing you need to do" other than using your lips to form a higher number when you quote a price.

      You can always discount a few bucks if you need to make the sale, but starting at 600, you're not leaving yourself much room to move.

      You should also start to think a little more creatively in terms of adding value to justify your pricing. For example:

      I know you use Wordpress to build your sites and that's good because there is a boatload of plugins that you can use to justify holding your price. Now remember, the fact that the plugin is free and it may seem simple to you or me, it's still blue smoke and mirrors to your customer.

      Here's something I've done more than a few times:

      Let's say you're at 1000 for you site and they want you to go lower. Your quote includes a contact form, most do. You can't remove a contact form, it's too much of basic requirement, but they certainly aren't aware that you can give them an autoresponder. For 100 bux the auto responder sends an email instantly to the person who filled out the form letting them know whatever you want them to know. It's actually a great tool, especially as a way to reassure the decision they made to contact the site owner.

      Best of all, they aren't aware that it's already part of contact plugin, it's beyond simple to configure, and it costs you nothing.

      But, you can add that in for free, and still stay at 1000. They just saved 100 bux. Who knew?!
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      • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
        I think referrals are the key to really leveraging the work you're already doing. Wow the customers with the work that you are doing. Give them a lot of extras. Then have a frank conversation with them. Ask for referrals. Don't do the boring: "Marcos, I hope you love your website. Would you mind if it's not too much trouble referring me to anyone you hear needs a website?".

        Instead establish value, ask for a specific number of referrals.
        "Marcos, I know you're going to love your website. In addition to the five pages we agreed upon I also gave you x, y and z because I felt like you really needed it. Now as we discussed before I'm providing these websites at such a huge discount because our business depends on referrals. Marcos most of my clients give me 6 referrals, can you think of the top 6 contacts you know that would love to hear from me and possibly get some work done?"

        Now you won't always get six referrals, but you'll be a HECK of a lot more likely to get 3-4 which you wouldn't have gotten if you hadn't asked for a specific number. Practice this with your friends, partners, spouse, get it down. Ask for a specific number of referrals and you'll do MUCH better.

        Wrap up the referral process by telling them. "Marcos thanks so much for giving me the phone number to John, I'm sure he's going to love what we can do for him. I'll call you back in a week or two and let you know how we got on."

        Then send them a thank you card, with a self addressed stamped postcard that tells them this:
        "Marcos, thanks again for doing business with me. I think you're going to be very satisfied with your website for many years. As we discussed my business thrives on referrals. I appreciate the referrals you've given me. But if you could, I'd love to know who you know in the following fields that could possibly use a website."

        Then you list 5-10 fields, with blanks for name and phone number.

        Almost 30% of them, will fill these out with at least a few entries and mail them back.

        The point is get good at getting referrals. You don't need that many original clients to get enough referrals to keep your pipeline full forever.

        HTH,

        Marcos
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