How I got someone to pay me 9 TIMES what they are already spendin!! Just to do some keyword research

9 replies
Hi guys

I've covered this technique before, but I wanted to emphasise how you could be making a lot more money.

The Referal...

Yesterday I met with a lady that runs a small business. The way I got to meet her was by asking my book keeper who she knew that might need some help with their SEO.

(This is a tip all in itself. Make sure that you are building relationships with clients and suppliers so that they will refer you.)

So i'm sat with this lady and she's telling me that she's had SEO for a number of years. They company been pushing to rank for over 30 different keywords.

They hadn't seen any real results in terms of increased traffic and no sales that they could attribute to being found online.

Also, the company they used never really kept in touch or explained what they were doing for her.

At this very point, I have a decision to make. I can either say "i'll fix that and it'll cost X" ... or I can dig a bit further.

Now I knew from my research that this company had been doing next to no work on the SEO.

I also knew that she was paying a small monthly fee.

I'm pretty sure I could have spilled my guts, told her what was wrong and then asked for a bit more than the other company charged and i'd have had the sale.

However... I decided to position myself a bit differently.

Positioning.

Here's something i've learned. You can be three types of person in front of a client:

1. A salesman.
2. A consultant.
3. A trusted adviser.


A salesman delivers what the client wants.

A consultant delivers what the client needs.

A trusted adviser uncovers the real need.

Guess who gets paid the most and makes the most difference to the client.

The Trusted Adviser

With this mindset, I then spent the next hour talking to the lady about her business. Something along the lines of this:
What's her reason for wanting to get the marketing right?

She wants to increase the volume of work.

Why do they want to increase the volume of work?

They have a strong team of workers that cost a lot and they are at 60% capacity.

Why's that an issue?

Because if she can increase their workload, her overall costs stay the same, which increases profits.

So?

They need to increase to keep going. They've built this from scratch and it must work....
This is a very sketchy overview of the conversation. But you can see that the conversation has shifted from getting traffic, to the thing that she's passionate about which is growing the business.

People buy emotionally, they justify afterwards intellectually.

9X what they already pay

So here's what happened next. I told her that one of the main reasons their campaign had failed so far was that the existing company did not understand the market she was after and they didn't understand what people would really search for to find them. Simple.

So we would do an audit. The audit was the equivalent of nine months of their current SEO. But she knew that once we'd done that, they would have a clear idea of what a real SEO (and other online marketing) Campaign would look like, what it would cost and what they're likely to get back in return.

Why have I told you all this?

Lesson 1: Businesses really want help and they will pay for it.
Lesson 2: Learn to investigate the business, not just sell your stuff.
Lesson 3: Become a trusted advisor, not just a salesman.

Let me know if that's useful.
#keyword #pay #research #spendin #times
  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    Chris, there's magic when they let out their motivation for doing something.

    You can easily say something to this effect,
    "Mary, here's what it will take to get [insert her language for what she wants]..."

    How can she refuse the end result which you have tied your offer too?

    She can't, unless she can't come up with all the money.

    But that can be worked around.

    Another overriding mindset can come from this quote...

    "Customers are people who buy from you. Clients are people under your protection."

    I believe in the second one.

    Best,
    Ewen
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    • Profile picture of the author iamchrisgreen
      Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

      "Customers are people who buy from you. Clients are people under your protection."

      I believe in the second one.
      I like that a LOT.
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    • Profile picture of the author shane_k
      Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post


      "Customers are people who buy from you. Clients are people under your protection."
      This is so cool. Imagine walking into a meeting with a business owner with this mindset.

      It would change your whole demeaner, the tone of your voice, your physiology, and the business owner would notice it and that would affect their responses and how they treated you back.

      This is going into my files, thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author miskat
        innovative ideas , i like it , thanks chris
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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        You know Shane,

        Doctors sign an oath, so I'm told, that says something like this,
        first do no harm.

        Comes from a Greek scholar.

        And we know how respected doctors are in the general community.

        Best,
        Ewen

        Clients are people under my protection

        Originally Posted by shane_k View Post

        This is so cool. Imagine walking into a meeting with a business owner with this mindset.

        It would change your whole demeaner, the tone of your voice, your physiology, and the business owner would notice it and that would affect their responses and how they treated you back.

        This is going into my files, thanks.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6810487].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author iamchrisgreen
        Originally Posted by shane_k View Post

        This is so cool. Imagine walking into a meeting with a business owner with this mindset.

        It would change your whole demeaner, the tone of your voice, your physiology, and the business owner would notice it and that would affect their responses and how they treated you back.

        This is going into my files, thanks.
        Hi Shane. This is so so true ... but I think too many warriors will miss the subtlety of it.

        Too many people are looking for a quick set of tactics they can try out. They might make a few quid, but not enough to give up their day job.
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  • Profile picture of the author shane_k
    Originally Posted by iamchrisgreen View Post

    Hi guys


    People buy emotionally, they justify afterwards intellectually.

    This is something the warriors on this forum forget about so often. Whether it's online or offline.

    They are so busy to make the sale, so busy to point out all the reasons that it makes common sense to buy the SEO package, Email Marketing, or Video package, that they miss this fundemental principle.

    People don't buy on common sense. People buy on emotions and then they justify their puchase afterwards.

    And this is such a great example of that.

    Not only that but most others would have been so eager to get the sale they would have rushed the sale and maybe gotten some money. But by stepping back and taking a few minutes longer, gathering a bit more targeted information you are getting 9X what someone else would have got.

    now that's inspiring
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    This is a great thead. Sometimes these things that seem like common sense just fly over the heads here. This client got 20 times the value by only spending nine times more. What she was paying before was cheap but it was also over priced. It cost her very little but it provided nothing.

    Chris is charging her way more but now finally she will see some value for the money she is spending.

    And Ewen I love that quote. It sums up way a true client relationship should be.
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    • Profile picture of the author iamchrisgreen
      Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

      This is a great thead. Sometimes these things that seem like common sense just fly over the heads here. This client got 20 times the value by only spending nine times more. What she was paying before was cheap but it was also over priced. It cost her very little but it provided nothing.

      Chris is charging her way more but now finally she will see some value for the money she is spending.

      And Ewen I love that quote. It sums up way a true client relationship should be.
      That's what i'm talking about Aaron.
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