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Have a phone appointment with potential dentist client...Any specifics I need to ask?

by mrtrance
15 replies
I got a lead from my SEO services website for a local dentist who specializes in oral and facial surgery that is interested getting SEO and Google Places services. He indicated his budget is between $500-$1500 a month. I have setup a phone call with him tomorrow to discuss this in more details.

So those that have experience with getting dentists as clients is there anything special or specific I need to ask him or I need to do that could seal the deal with this client? Are their specific questions or comments I should ask him to get an idea of what sort of marketing he is currently doing or would like to do? Should I try to close him over the phone if possible or setup a follow up with in person meet? Should I discuss fees over the call or let him know I will get back to him with specifics since he client is different (and there is no one price fits all).

He already has a site up (it's Wordpress) and it was done by one of those companies that specialize with working with dentists. Seems to have some SEO done as the title tags show "Oral Surgery City STATE, Oral Surgeon"...as well as meta tags use similar keywords as well.

I did a quick search for "oral surgery city" and his site is not on first page (#11 right now) and he is not in the Google+ Local 7 pack.

So do you Google+ Local Places would be the first service I should recommend to him so that he gets in the 7 pack and then add on standard website SEO at the same time? Would that be a good place to start with this client if they agree to come on board?
#appointment #clientany #dentist #phone #potential #specifics
  • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
    It sounds as though you don't have experience with selling SEO/websites...is that your only product? Are you just starting out and happened to land someone interested? I'm not bashing you, but it seems that if you got in front of someone you should know more than you do about your own services and how to sell them...so knowing what your background and level of selling your services is would be helpful in teaching you what you should do.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
      Originally Posted by Mwind076 View Post

      It sounds as though you don't have experience with selling SEO/websites...is that your only product? Are you just starting out and happened to land someone interested? I'm not bashing you, but it seems that if you got in front of someone you should know more than you do about your own services and how to sell them...so knowing what your background and level of selling your services is would be helpful in teaching you what you should do.
      Well I am not brand new, but so far had a few clients that I did traditional SEO on their website and got them ranked for various city+services keyword combinations and got them leads from those landing on their page and filling contact form.

      My concern was with the dentist niche if we need to apply different methods or ask different. Questions that might answer which service to present to client first. I noticed that they are not in Google+ Local 7 pack on the first page, but on the 2nd page of google+ local listings at the "A" spot though this is page 2 after A-J listings on page 1. Wondering if I should start with Google+ Local service and get them on page 1 of 7 pack and pissibily in the top 3 spots. Then once that is going start ranking their website as well to get them on page 1 as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Arzak
    Maxillofacial surgery costs are expensive, several thousand dollars each. Ask him approximately how much each client is worth to him. I'm not sure about the number of searches per month and what not, but a common way to get clients thinking is by trying to estimate how many extra clients he may get per month.

    For example, let's say the lifetime value of a client to him is $3000 (I don't know the exact prices, it would probably be more). If you can get him just one extra client per month, he still made $1500. The client might be happy and leave a nice review or testimonial somewhere which may help other potential clients decide to go to him. What if you got him 2 clients? $1500 for $4500 plus possible testimonials and referrals?!
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    • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
      Originally Posted by Arzak View Post

      Maxillofacial surgery costs are expensive, several thousand dollars each. Ask him approximately how much each client is worth to him. I'm not sure about the number of searches per month and what not, but a common way to get clients thinking is by trying to estimate how many extra clients he may get per month.

      For example, let's say the lifetime value of a client to him is $3000 (I don't know the exact prices, it would probably be more). If you can get him just one extra client per month, he still made $1500. The client might be happy and leave a nice review or testimonial somewhere which may help other potential clients decide to go to him. What if you got him 2 clients? $1500 for $4500 plus possible testimonials and referrals?!
      So you are assuming we charge $1500 a month and be able to get him 1 new client a month that is valued to him to be $3K or more.
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      • Profile picture of the author Arzak
        Originally Posted by mrtrance View Post

        So you are assuming we charge $1500 a month and be able to get him 1 new client a month that is valued to him to be $3K or more.
        I did clearly say, "For example," for a reason. I don't see what the problem is... I'm sorry?

        I used $1500 in the example because according to you, that's his budget. We're trying to let him see the value of your services so he will be willing to pay more.
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    • Profile picture of the author tonyscott
      Originally Posted by Arzak View Post

      For example, let's say the lifetime value of a client to him is $3000 (I don't know the exact prices, it would probably be more). If you can get him just one extra client per month, he still made $1500. !
      If you mean $3,000 lifetime net profit to him then maybe - but he'd be taking a cashflow hit up front. In my experience that doesn't tend to sell that well.

      If you're talking about $3,000 of turnover, then you just cost your client $1,500 upfront to make a $500 loss over time. As a strategy for quickly going out of business - that works.

      Tony
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Look here:

    The Telemarketing Forum*.:.*What Should I Really Expect? Selling Websites over the Phone. I need a closer.

    First you want to find out the size of the problem. What the prospect believes is what's important, not what you believe.

    Then you monetize it.

    If everything was going great, what does your prospect see happening? Now can you make that happen?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
    I think some people led you correctly here before you answered me. Check those out, and feel free to PM if you haven't gotten a full answer by the time you need one.

    If anything, do your normal pitch, but allow the customer to talk so you know where to lead, as in, what OTHER questions you have that would be different from those first sales/contracts. You'll think of things off the top of your head while he/she is talking, and be able to pinpoint more of what they want.

    Also, just because you don't have it all figured out before you leave (and yes, I recommend doing it IN PERSON), doesn't mean you leave without a payment/contract. Set up the proposal with information/details/payment and tell them that you will need one week to return to them with FINAL plan. Then take what you learned about them at the meeting to draw them up a marketing agreement. This also gives them the comfort in knowing you are devising something JUST for them based on what you learned and that you will research after leaving their presence.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    What you really need to to (before you talk with him) is to analyze the competition and keywords and figure out what you'd need to charge to get him ranked #1 for his main keywords.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
      Originally Posted by Paul Gram View Post

      What you really need to to (before you talk with him) is to analyze the competition and keywords and figure out what you'd need to charge to get him ranked #1 for his main keywords.
      So when I do a search for main keyword "oral surgery city" there is a 7 pack on top...a 13 review, 6 review, 4 review, 2 reviews...the top 3 show no reviews) then followed by directory site, yelp, a local dentist site, angieslist, etc. His site sites on page 2 at #11.

      Checking Google suggestion search when I typed "oral surgery city" I got the following terms which people are searching as well:

      oral surgery city state
      city facial and oral surgery
      city facial oral surgery center
      oral surgeons city state
      oral surgeon city

      So I'm sure there are a bunch more of different keywords to focus on since hey offers other services as well. But it seems that competition should not be that bad and probably at first getting his Google+ Local page optimized and get it in the 7 pack should be the first priority since his site is just outside of the first page. Then do some optimization on the website and get that moving up the rankings as well. I think possibly focusing on like 5 or so related keywords at a time to rank for should be a start and then move from there as we get solid rankings for each set of keywords that describes his services.

      I guess the key here on how much to charge would be finding out what a new client is worth to him and then calculate what his ROI will be if I can get him 1 new client per month.
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
        Originally Posted by mrtrance View Post

        So when I do a search for main keyword "oral surgery city" there is a 7 pack on top...a 13 review, 6 review, 4 review, 2 reviews...the top 3 show no reviews) then followed by directory site, yelp, a local dentist site, angieslist, etc. His site sites on page 2 at #11.

        Checking Google suggestion search when I typed "oral surgery city" I got the following terms which people are searching as well:

        oral surgery city state
        city facial and oral surgery
        city facial oral surgery center
        oral surgeons city state
        oral surgeon city

        So I'm sure there are a bunch more of different keywords to focus on since hey offers other services as well. But it seems that competition should not be that bad and probably at first getting his Google+ Local page optimized and get it in the 7 pack should be the first priority since his site is just outside of the first page. Then do some optimization on the website and get that moving up the rankings as well. I think possibly focusing on like 5 or so related keywords at a time to rank for should be a start and then move from there as we get solid rankings for each set of keywords that describes his services.

        I guess the key here on how much to charge would be finding out what a new client is worth to him and then calculate what his ROI will be if I can get him 1 new client per month.
        No, don't base how much you charge primarily on what his customer is worth...that needs to be a factor, but the MAIN factor is what it will cost you in time, resources, and hard costs to get him ranked where he wants to be for his keywords.

        As an analogy, it's like you are a mechanic and someone wants you to fix their car. In order to determine a price, you would need to know:

        A: What parts do they need. Is it just a timing belt or a new engine? Huge price difference.
        B: How long it will take you (and or employees) to do the job

        What the car is worth isn't really part of the equation.

        In SEO, their ROI does factor in though, because we have to make sure that the client makes enough to justify spending whatever it is they need to spend to get ranked.

        Let me know if you have questions. This is my wheelhouse and I love this kind of stuff
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        • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
          Originally Posted by Paul Gram View Post

          No, don't base how much you charge primarily on what his customer is worth...that needs to be a factor, but the MAIN factor is what it will cost you in time, resources, and hard costs to get him ranked where he wants to be for his keywords.

          As an analogy, it's like you are a mechanic and someone wants you to fix their car. In order to determine a price, you would need to know:

          A: What parts do they need. Is it just a timing belt or a new engine? Huge price difference.
          B: How long it will take you (and or employees) to do the job

          What the car is worth isn't really part of the equation.

          In SEO, their ROI does factor in though, because we have to make sure that the client makes enough to justify spending whatever it is they need to spend to get ranked.

          Let me know if you have questions. This is my wheelhouse and I love this kind of stuff
          Thanks for the feedback. I will be calling this client in like 45 minutes and will get an idea of where he is, what he wants to achieve, etc. I will try to find the answers to the following questions and then get back to him on a game plan and cost:

          What marketing and advertising methods have you done or are presently doing?
          Of those, which methods worked best & which did not?
          How much was budgeted for each method?
          What is the average value of 1 new customer to your business?
          What are your biggest business concerns?
          Where does you envision your business being in the coming years?

          I don't want to quote him over the phone sine I don't know his particular needs and how much work it will take to get him ranking in Google+ Local and/or his website. Once I get some background information I'd probably want to get your feedback on it and see what sort of pricing would be feasible for this client?
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          • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
            Originally Posted by mrtrance View Post

            Thanks for the feedback. I will be calling this client in like 45 minutes and will get an idea of where he is, what he wants to achieve, etc. I will try to find the answers to the following questions and then get back to him on a game plan and cost:

            What marketing and advertising methods have you done or are presently doing?
            Of those, which methods worked best & which did not?
            How much was budgeted for each method?
            What is the average value of 1 new customer to your business?
            What are your biggest business concerns?
            Where does you envision your business being in the coming years?

            I don't want to quote him over the phone sine I don't know his particular needs and how much work it will take to get him ranking in Google+ Local and/or his website. Once I get some background information I'd probably want to get your feedback on it and see what sort of pricing would be feasible for this client?
            How did it go?
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            • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
              Originally Posted by Paul Gram View Post

              How did it go?
              Have not heard back from him. I did do a follow up email to thank him for his time and also mentioned that if he wanted to go with my services I would discount my one time by $200. He got back to me and said he still thinking on which way to go and will let me know. I have not heard back from him and I'm not expecting to either.
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              • Profile picture of the author misterme
                Originally Posted by mrtrance View Post

                Have not heard back from him. I did do a follow up email to thank him for his time and also mentioned that if he wanted to go with my services I would discount my one time by $200. He got back to me and said he still thinking on which way to go and will let me know. I have not heard back from him and I'm not expecting to either.
                You're likely not getting this account but here's two things to try:

                1. Instead of offering him a discount of $200, re-structure that offer to make it more appealing. Offer him $200 worth of free trial. To be frank, he's not jumping on your offer because he's not interested, so discounting it won't make him jump harder on something he doesn't want.

                2. Always "advance" the sale. It's a spin selling concept. It works for me. That is, at worst, you don't want to leave any conversation with them saying they'll get back to you. You "advance" by always having a commitment for them to do something. So if it's about getting back to you, someday, the "advance" would be you saying something like, "OK. Let's touch base on Tuesday and see where you're at then, OK? We'll see if you have any questions. What time on Tuesday is best for you to chat?"

                3. So this one may be a lost cause at the moment. Try calling in another two weeks. Give the free trial and if he has to "think it over" use the advance.
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