Started Directory Site but Need Help With Outbound Script!!!

by iangland

Posted: 12 years ago 21 replies

OFFLINE MARKETING

Hi,

First I'd like to thank all the contributors to this forum who have gave me a wealth of information for nothing in return. Especially John Durham as it is after reading his thread Directory Site Profits 101- How To Make Money With Directory Sites In 2012! that I decided to actually put this into ACTION.

I do feel a little cheeky as I'm looking for more free help from everyone, I've came up with a basic script and was just wanting a few pointers on how it could be improved, as I am wanting to make this work.

Hi. Could I speak with the business owner please?

Hi my name is Ian and what I'm doing is calling up all the "niche" in "local area" to discuss are new website.

We can see that you have already claimed your google places listing so I assume you understand how having a web presence can help your business. Would that be correct?

If it's okay I would like to discuss what our website is about and what we can offer you. Is that okay?
If no say, It wont take long and it could benefit your business.

If yes, we are helping local businesses get a better web presence without having to pay a lot of money.
Currently we have all the hairdressers in the area listed on the site, with there basic information.
So first I would just like to check that what we have for you is correct.
I assume this is the number for the business?
And I have..... for the address
Is this correct?

You have your free listing on the site already so you don't need to do anything else for that.
However like you have said earlier having a web presence is important for your business and we offer packages which will improve that and also enable potential customers to get a better idea of your company.

Would you like me to explain the different packages we have?
If no say that the packages start at only £50 and our website is already on the 1st page of google for people searching for "local area niche"
Are you sure you don't want to hear what we can offer?
If still no thank them for there time.

If yes, we have a starter package which costs £50 a month and for that you will get a listing on the site with a description of what you offer as well as google maps, and 2 images of your choice on the listing or if you don't have any images we can sort that out for you.

That isn't the whole script but that is the basics of it be as ruthless as you want with how poor the script is, just point me in the right direction please!!!

Also the other packages available are £100 to be featured in the category and £200 to be listed on the home page with a banner advertisement which is created by myself.

#directory #outbound #script #site #started

jimbo13

12 years ago

Completely unhelpful answer coming up here but it seems clunky to me.

I wouldn't go for that and I am not sure anyone in England would.

I'm no TS expert so I don't give any tips.

By the way, this is Yell and they are at the top for hairdressers in Leicester on Google so how would you unseat them?

And look what they give you for nothing.

Free Listing Features | Yell Online - Yell Marketing

Thomson Local and Freeindex are also at the top. Similar offerings.

In JDs thread he mentioned going after 'obscure' niches so I hope hairdressers is just an example.

He is on the money there.

My friend has a £3m per annum turnover consultancy in Occupational Health. So there is one for you.

Moreover he paid Auditors last year £22k in fees so there is another one for you.

And even more info for you, neither of these headings will be found in physical YP in the UK for a simple reason if you know how YP operate.

Which means that they are 'neglected' by advertisers in many instances as people use physical YP to pick niches which just means you are in competition with YP.

So you may just be a refreshing change.

Any good to you?

Dan

[ 1 ] Thanks
1 reply

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iangland

12 years ago

I appreciate the feedback.

A bit more on what I'm doing is I have created a website which will house all the local businesses in a certain area rather than a specific business in a city. Don't know if this actually makes a difference.

Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way. The reason I opted to target a whole area was because there are companies which pay £240 a month to advertise to the local market in a free publication.
I thought they would be willing to pay £50 to do the same but online.

I am new to this so bear with me I just want to make something work.

Any more feedback???

Thanks
1 reply

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jimbo13

12 years ago

Okay I understand what you are doing. Like a community directory.

I am not the person to listen to on this really. JD has a WSO about this and it is only £15

He has sold countless thousands of websites.

I know you want free but buy it tonight and you will have your script for tomorrow morning.

Hopefully someone who sells these things will chime in for you. Has no one mentioned what they say on his 2 threads about it?

Have you thought of doing your site in conjunction with one of the local mags that come through the door? They already have your customers for you and it will cost them nothing to add an extra £75 option for inclusion of an online directory where you do all the uploading and give them £25 recurring for their efforts.

That is the sort of thing I would do. Stress free is my motto.

Dan

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iangland 12 years ago

Yea I suppose spending £15 on a WSO is worth it, so i will buy that.

I was just looking for some specific help on what I was doing as it mainly seems to be the localareaniche.co.uk that gets looked at but I guess it's all the same.

I can't believe that I didn't think of getting in touch with the local paper, brilliant idea, i'll do that tomorrow.

I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens if it fails I'll just hit the drawing board again.

If anyone else has any input let me know...
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econnors

12 years ago

Originally Posted by jimbo13

Have you thought of doing your site in conjunction with one of the local mags that come through the door? They already have your customers for you and it will cost them nothing to add an extra £75 option for inclusion of an online directory where you do all the uploading and give them £25 recurring for their efforts.

That is the sort of thing I would do. Stress free is my motto.

Dan

That's an awesome idea, and it seems really stress free. I'm curious as to whether someone has tried this already?

Thanks
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mojo1 12 years ago

Originally Posted by econnors

That's an awesome idea, and it seems really stress free. I'm curious as to whether someone has tried this already?

Yeah, two different warriors posted several months back where not only did they approach one of the local mags about partnering with them to offer mobile websites to their customer.

Another warrior approaches sales reps who market to this business niche with an on the side offer of selling these directory listings too.

I hope I didn't confuse things. One of those folks is warrior 'midasman'. The name of the other warrior escapes me at this time.
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econnors 12 years ago

Did you buy John Durham's WSO? He has a pretty solid script in there that can be used.
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avandrunen

12 years ago

Awesome job taking action Ian, that's where most of us fall down.

I am wondering what you used to build the actual site, Wordpress, a plugin...

Thanks
Adrian

Thanks
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iangland

12 years ago

I have used the wordpress theme directory press. It's a nice theme which has a lot of features built into it.
I'm going to speak to the local papers today to see about the JV idea.
If not I am now considering offering it as a free service to get me in the door, but if they would like to pay they can have a featured listing on the site.

Thanks
1 reply

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jimbo13

12 years ago

Ian

Here is a very elegant business model for you.

Free Business Directory providing free advertising, free business listings, local business search and Free Online Advertising

They have 25,000 businesses listed and those businesses are happy to be listed.

They don't feel they are being ripped off.

Scroll to bottom of page and start clicking the links to see what is smart and simple about it.

Clue: It is the pricing plus the SEO bit. They are unavailable for 90% of SEO work so openly mention they have partners they work with.

Money for nothing.

Dan

PS: You are not getting much luck with the call script are you?

Thanks
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iangland 12 years ago

Thanks for that jimbo yea I think I'm going to go the free route and try to build up a relationship with local businesses by giving them something for nothing.

I am going to try and generate a list for the local area. That may be an easier way to start earning.

I have been at work, so haven't had chance I'm going to give them a call just to let them know about the site and confirm the details back to them.
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j3rki

12 years ago

Originally Posted by jimbo13

Are you charing every company you subscribed? $10 a pop would be $1/4m a month recurring :O

Thanks
1 reply

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jimbo13 12 years ago

Originally Posted by j3rki

Are you charing every company you subscribed? $10 a pop would be $1/4m a month recurring :O

Not my site. However 25,000 uploads can now be soft sold £50 or £100 upgrade packages which are annual charges.

So a 10% take up on the silver will give £125,000 alone plus all of the Google Ad clicks but I don't know about things like that.

Toss in some Golds at 5% and that brings in another £125,000

Then you have almost endorsed referals to SEO Partners for more money.

But the premise started with creating a largish directory on a cheap platform that people do look at.

So to now upsell an incentive to go above the Google Ads for £50 is not really asking for much.

Don't know where you are, probably US, but in the UK £50 is not even one tank of petrol in a small car.

So as time goes on I can see the % of uptakes for packages rise.

But some delving led me to see that they initially got into the Directory Market from setting up in one niche. Disability equipment. Which leads me to concur with what JD wrote in one of his threads.

Set up directories for the obscure. Everyone goes for Restaurants on this forum to sell everything for some reason.

Dan
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- safe as houses 12 years ago
  
  What is the advantage of adding google+.
  
  Thanks
  
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AussieT

12 years ago

Anyone know what directory script this site is using?

Originally Posted by jimbo13

Thanks
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maricelu 12 years ago

Originally Posted by AussieT

Anyone know what directory script this site is using?

From what I see, this site is using a custom script. I am not sure 100%
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- narendras83 Banned 12 years ago
  
  100% using custom script.
  
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Taniwha

12 years ago

Don't say that you design the banner by yourself, it sounds like you are a one man band. * I do the cleaning, design work, cold calling, website upkeep*.

You want to act like a big company, but execute like a small company.

Thanks
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Lesley Huntley

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Taniwha

I disagree. I tried to act like a big company when I was a 'one man band,' you just end up getting called out time and time again. People will ring and the kids are crying the background, you can't keep it up.

If you are a small company, then act like one. I now call and say 'Hi, I'm Lesley and I run a small website marketing company, would you be the right person to speak to about getting more customers through the Internet?' I'm getting a lead every 15 calls because people are relieved I'm not from 'Websites INC' who simply don't care about them and their business. I do care because I'm just like them.

Milk being a small company for all its worth I say.

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mojo1

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Lesley Huntley

What a great cold calling introduction. Straight to the point and efficient.

I've struggled with this for a time in trying to find something that isn't to long in terms of uncovering or doctoring for pain as a few have recommended versus using more of a John Durham flavor.

In theory, I do agree that some pain should be uncovered coupled with a more down home just opened for business flair too.

Yours seem to be well suited to just about anyone.

Thanks for sharing your real life experience.

Thanks
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Lesley Huntley 12 years ago

Originally Posted by mojo1

Thanks for sharing your real life experience.

So glad I could help. Goodness knows I've been at this for years without having much luck, due mostly to bad choices on how I should run my business. It's only just starting to work out now, and I have people in this forum to thank in no small part for helping me get there.

It all changed when I got over my fear of the phone and started calling. I used to be so afraid, but I've called every day this week, and got a lead every day. It's nowhere near as daunting as before, in fact I quite like it! It's business to business, you are a business owner too, trying to sell your stuff, just like they are. No-one has bitten me, and even the most grouchy have said I'm not interested, and hung up. Then it's just like, no worries, next!

I've learned that it's not a good idea to call auto repair guys, as most of them will be laying under cars with oil dripping in their eye, and won't be too receptive at that point. I'll be sending people like this a postcard. If beauty salon owners aren't doing someone's nails, they are sitting in their salons, wishing they were doing someone's nails. If you can get them on the phone, they are very happy to talk to you about getting more customers.

I've even had people say, no, I'm not.... then you hear their brain ticking over, and then continue, 'so you're a small company?' I say yes, I run my business from home around my children. I could tell they had been ready to cut short a sales call, but had decided to let me say my piece because I had introduced myself like this. Then once we get on to price, I can come back with 'well, we're a small website marketing company with low overheads so it's probably much cheaper than you would expect to get started with us.' If the conversation has got to this point, they usually ask to see me after something like this.

Each to their own, but I feel most small to medium business owners seem to be very receptive to working with another small business owner. That's just my (very recent) experience.
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Started Directory Site but Need Help With Outbound Script!!!

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