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Thought of A Great Idea | Took Action | Nothing Happened

by rizy
31 replies
On the WarriorForum, my favorite section is the Offline section, because I want to make my money through offline first, because I think it can be sustained longer and is more recurring then many online methods.

But most importantly I come to this section of the forum to see that many of you think of a unique 'MidasMan' idea and then very shortly you guys start earning, I never tried any of these ideas because most of them are relating to marketing, and I don't really like marketing, I would do 'Bob Ross' but I want to stick to 'brand enhancing' and offer designing to offline businesses first.

So my idea was:
1) Go to Forrent.com and find out which buildings don't have a video.
2) Make an awesome Pan & Zoom Video with beautiful cover and ending design.
3) Create Custom Flyers with the Apartment building's logo.
4) Offer one more product with it, convert 2D Sketch Floorplans into 3D.
5) Go to apartment building and talk to the manager.
6) Prices Cheap As Hell: $87 Video with Professional Voice Over and $59.99 for 3D Floorplan. Plus I was offering free Geo-targeting.

1st Day: I went early in the morning at 8, almost all managers were not available or too busy, or building were not open.
2nd Day: I was able to visit 7 out of the 10 I had planned. Some showed interest in the video, 2 said they don't even have a minute to watch it, almost all said is the pricing monthly? And then I found out one big bad thing, that Forrent charges these apartment buildings $200 a month just to put a video on their listing, and then I said you can still put it on your website, facebook, craigslist ad, and when I search for your apartment I will want to watch your video. Many said: we have ran out of our advertising budget, and I said 'so if I bring you a referral, are you telling me you aren't going to pay me the $200 as your flyer says due to your advertising budget, she said that's different but I'll let my supervisors know. I said trust me this is the best Yes, you will ever make, I mean think about it, you use something like vFlyer instead of just normal Craigslist posting because you care about the outlook and want to speak to your customer, well imagine if you could really speak to a customer with professional voice and your beautiful moving apartment building pictures. I even offered to take some pics of the building for free, cause some of them didn't have good pics. Some said monday or tuesday when our supervisor come we'll elt you know, I called back and they either give me a run around or say no.

I mean WTF? I think its the city, and the whole county in fact, I live in the worst areas of SoCal, Inland Empire.

What am I doing wrong? And can it be fixed? Or should I consider a different a different niche? Maybe Senior Homes? Help me out here warriors...
#action #great #happened #idea #thought
  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Great experience OP. Don't let this one put you down. I'll tell you a secret: Back in the day, before joining WF, I tried at least 4 or 5 different channels until I found the good one. Don't let this small bump take your focus away. If you have to dig deeper to find your gold, do it. DON'T STOP.

    Thats the secret. That and motivation, ideas and pocket money. You have it all OP. Dig deeper.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    Of course I'm partial to 'bob ross' methods so I would advise you do that, but I can tell you this, if you can't deliver something that the business owner can see as something that will have a good shot at making them some money, you'll have a pretty tough time selling.

    Whatever you're selling, make sure they understand what the big benefit to them will be. When you have only a few seconds to pitch them, every second has to count and you need to get them interested immediately so that they'll spend more time with you.

    If you want to get better results faster, work hard on your pitch. Create a pitch that hits on all the strengths of your product/service, and most importantly hits on the giant benefits they'll receive if they take advantage of it right now.
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    • Profile picture of the author rizy
      Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

      Of course I'm partial to 'bob ross' methods so I would advise you do that, but I can tell you this, if you can't deliver something that the business owner can see as something that will have a good shot at making them some money, you'll have a pretty tough time selling.

      Whatever you're selling, make sure they understand what the big benefit to them will be. When you have only a few seconds to pitch them, every second has to count and you need to get them interested immediately so that they'll spend more time with you.

      If you want to get better results faster, work hard on your pitch. Create a pitch that hits on all the strengths of your product/service, and most importantly hits on the giant benefits they'll receive if they take advantage of it right now.

      You mention that you want to stick with offering design services and brand awareness. I'm not sure if you know but that's one of my main services too.
      I get you but that's the problem, I get you. Thing is I am awesome at sales, I last december I was hired as a Sprint Sales Rep for a company that has over 200 Sprint locations nationwide, I worked only 6 months their, but 5 out of the 6 months I was in top 5 in nation for that company. If I tell you my real name you could literally go to any Sprint store near you and ask about me. In May I left the company and started DesignMamba which I launched only 2 weeks ago.

      I want to offer complete large packages to places like Malls, Auto, and others. I am offering the services at a very cheap price first, because frankly its enough for me right now and helps me build my portfolio.

      And you say you gotta capture them, I make the video first and then go, I mean what else could I do? And I have good counter answers....huh selling phones was so much more easier lol
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    The $200 a month from Forrent killed this. You didn't have a way to know that before hand. Unless they have loads for rent every month the $200 plus what you would charge simply isn't worth it. A video is unlikely to be the deciding factor for someone on where to rent. Though it might help. Had you landed them all it likely would have had no effect as only one doing it would have been the only way to make it work.

    Good plan but once tested was proven to not work. Rinse and repeat with the next.

    EDIT:

    Selling phones is not really comparable to most selling. Being a top seller is about speed and being there when customers are. You are not convincing them to buy. They came to you to buy. Unless you were upselling and that was why you were a top seller but the way I understand it from friends who have done it the money is merely in the contract and that is why they came in the store. You didn't convince them to buy sprint. In fact not making the sale once they talked to you was rare. 100% closing isn't possible in most sales.

    I don't want to call Phone Sales "Clerking" as that is not really true. But it is closer to Clerking than it is to B2B sales. The customers who come in are for the most part planning to buy and buy from you that day. you don't get that in most sales. You normally only get that in "Clerking" environments.

    One of the best sales people I know does it. But she could make a lot more IMO by getting into a game with more risk. But $60k+ a year for selling phones is hard to leave. It's way more than most people make here in the midwest.

    How much does top 5 in sprint make? She's with Verizon and not in the top nationally (at least she never mentioned it). So I am wondering how much more she would make if she reached that kind of performance. I'd guess $100k or so based on the numbers I've heard over the years.

    Fast, good, and high volume at the store is how you got to the top 5. Unless you had loads of people always waiting for you due to referrals you should know that is true. And if you always had people asking for you that is good but it was still not the same as most selling. But if you can get refferals well it will make getting to the top of your game in any selling much easier and a skill you should be proud of.

    And inside sales is not really compared to cold call sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author rizy
    @Aaron

    I am not charging 200 a month, I am just charging $87 One Time Fee. Even if they don't put it on Forrent, its still a good deal. Obviously they think not.

    Is it possible for me to create these videos and put my phone # instead and then sell these Apartment buildings leads? How much would they pay for these leads? They pay forrent 349 if the deal is closed.

    Also I worked in a Mall Kiosk, trust me they never came to buy, except on Black Friday. We almost always pulled them through greeting. Since you wrote so much as if you know it, let me give you another reason, in February I was no.1 in nation, but in the bottom 10 in accessories, they sat down with me and the next month I was no.1 in nation in accessories. And as far as money I made 50k a year, if I stayed the whole year lol, and was offered a job through a reputable local Credit Union Company and ATT Corporate, which can easily be 60-80K jobs, but I want to create much much more, and the only way to do that is business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Check into the rules for referrals to apartment buildings in some states you need to be a realtor to do it in that way. But if you can deliver it could be worth it. Might even be worth getting your license but focusing on rentals. There was someone here a while back who said they did that if I remember correctly.

    $89 isn't bad for the video. But if they don't need or have a use for the video it isn't worth $89 to them. The $200 means they can't really use it on forrent. Thus the model you pitched wouldn't work. You could redo the model mixing in some of Claude's model and pitch that to them. But $89 is too low to charge for that.

    Overall the reactions you got would tell me to abandon this idea for this niche and likely the niche in general.

    As for phones sales.

    1. Sprint pays like crap if that is true.. $50k is what a slightly above average guy will make at Verizon or ATT and maybe other Sprint stores. Was your store corporate? I would guess it wasn't based on the low pay. The owners keep more of the money vs. a corp store so commissions are way lower. Last I knew commissions were like $40 or $50 per activation plus certain phones get bonuses. Easy to make a few hundred an hour when busy. Most good people jump to a corp store when they find out the difference. So if you liked selling phones consider it again.

    2. No offense but I can't imagine that too many people were truly talked into phones for the following reasons.
    • Contracts: People can't just change companies unless they are at an upgrade point. And most companies let them upgrade slightly before the contract is up. So people switching companies are planning for it for a while. A phone by the nature of the US model with contracts can not really be an impulse purchase. Not saying you can't convince someone who is ready to jump from ATT but they were already considering it and likely considering Sprint.
    • People do go to malls for specific stores: In fact I have gone to the mall to a kiosk multiple times to specifically buy a phone. I've known loads of people who worked those kiosks over the years. The vast majority of people come to you for a phone. The difference between a mall kiosk and most other phone store locations is that they may come to the mall for another reason and hit the kiosk when they see it. But in these cases they normally have been planning to do it, the kiosk just makes it now vs. later.
    • People are trained to walk past kiosk sales people: Some of those guys are damn good but there is so many of them selling so much stuff that by nature we are trained to not listen. It's the similar to how when a sales persons asks if they can help you that you reply "just looking". It is a natural reaction and why sales people are trained never to use that line.
    3. No one goes from Coaching (bottom 10 in your case) to #1 in any company of any real size. Not often do you even see last(bottom ten in the company should be last in the store) go to first even in a single store of say 15 people. I wonder if maybe you were number 1 within the company (franchise) you worked for vs. Sprint in general. And if that is the case I misunderstood what you meant. And if that is the case how many total employees was that?

    I understand what it takes to be at the top and the larger the number the harder it is. At Blockbuster my store was number 105 out of like 6k stores. It was also top in the region which was like 120 stores if I remember right. Both my assistants from that store actually work for Verizon now and the one is a district manager in northern IL for the company. So I know a bit about phones sales too from them and other friends.

    I'm glad you see that even a good paying job limits you. Puts you ahead of a lot of people in life if you can deliver results. But on the same token if your skill is selling sometimes selling for someone else is a better way to make money. After all you can make millions as a sales person if you are in the right company with he right product. And even selling cars (as basic as selling gets) I know a guy personally who makes $400k. So don't chase money with your own business while missing better opportunities to sell for others. Honestly you sound like a good fit for Grant Cardone and he was advertising those jobs at like $300k if I remember right.

    But I still think you are over estimating how good you are. And there is nothing in and of itself wrong with that. A sales person needs a good bit of ego to succeed.

    Bravado is fine but I don't want you to get smacked down by reality and give up. Seen that happen to sales people before. They believe their own hype so much that when failure happens they crack. They would rather give up than admit their internal vision of greatness was flawed. I can teach a guy why he is failing now after succeeding elsewhere but only if he can handle the hit to the ego that not being the best brings. A lot of those guys can't. They would rather be a legend in their own mind vs. learn and grow as a sales person.

    Turned and burned a few people at American that way. Simply had to let them go if they didn't quit but most left us. Only thing worse in my time as a Sales Manager was when the vets stopped caring and forced you to fire them vs. just quitting.
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  • Profile picture of the author rizy
    @Aaron lol you have killed this thread by talking about my past rather then what I am doing and needing advice for. And now your even assuming that I am lying, very well then. You think I didn't go from bottom 10 in accessories to top 1 in accessories for the company. No problem. Send me your email through PM or shall I contact you through your Facebook which has only 29 likes (consider changing your sig?) and I would gladly send you my MIS Report (A Stats Inforgraphic the company made for us) for February and March and you can compare what I have written. I don't have to give you an explanation, but I cannot believe your extreme skepticism.

    Company has nearly 200 Stores Nationwide
    539 EMployees

    After seeing it maybe you can get me a regional director job for Verizon (since you seem to have many contacts) in your area, considering you think 'Nobody has done it' and clearly proof shows I have.

    And I am not overestimating how good I am, otherwise I wouldn't be posting a failure of mine on WF and asking for help now would I?
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    • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
      Originally Posted by rizy View Post

      @Aaron lol you have killed this thread by talking about my past rather then what I am doing and needing advice for. And now your even assuming that I am lying, very well then. You think I didn't go from bottom 10 in accessories to top 1 in accessories for the company. No problem. Send me your email through PM or shall I contact you through your Facebook which has only 29 likes (consider changing your sig?) and I would gladly send you my MIS Report (A Stats Inforgraphic the company made for us) for February and March and you can compare what I have written. I don't have to give you an explanation, but I cannot believe your extreme skepticism.

      Company has nearly 200 Stores Nationwide
      539 EMployees

      After seeing it maybe you can get me a regional director job for Verizon (since you seem to have many contacts) in your area, considering you think 'Nobody has done it' and clearly proof shows I have.

      And I am not overestimating how good I am, otherwise I wouldn't be posting a failure of mine on WF and asking for help now would I?
      I have a habit of calling out weird claims. And the reason I thought it was truly nationwide aka Sprint corp is you told us you were some kind of Sprint god even though you only worked there 6 months. The quote you used was, "If I tell you my real name you could literally go to any Sprint store near you and ask about me." Sorry if I found that a little hard to believe.

      I could walk into the Davenport, IA American TV, which has 11 stores, and ask the sales staff who the top sales person in the company is for their department. This is literally hanging up in the back room. Everyone can read it. And I would be suprised if even 10% of them got the answer right. I was a sales manager and I never remembered it unless it was my own staff member.

      So I am sorry if that quote caught my attention and BS meter. If I posted something like that I would expect someone to ask me questions on it.

      And while I had doubts rather you went from #530 (literally 10th from the bottom) in one month to #1 the next I really don't care personally. I have never seen or heard about that kind of change till you. But since you are willing to provide proof I would just say let's say it happened. Anyone willing to provide proof can't be lying.

      You were #1 for 5 out of 6 months in phone sales. And #1 in accessories for one month. That means you can sell. It also means you you like leaving on top. But you leave jobs a bit fast.

      If you lived in IL I would put you in touch with that District Manager. If you have the stats to back up the claims they would be a fool not to hire you. I don't know if he could help in CA since that wouldn't even be the same region but if you want help getting in I would be willing to ask him. But honestly just walk in and show the stats and you should get hired at any phone store.

      As for you not overestimating yourself I don't know if you are or you are not. But....

      I mean WTF? I think its the city, and the whole county in fact, I live in the worst areas of SoCal, Inland Empire.
      I think that quote says you want to make excuses about why you didn't make a sale. I'm not trying to be mean here and I don't mean to troll you. We can talk till we are blue in the face about why you failed. But your own over confidense may hurt you in the future. Which was really the point of this whole tangent I started into the phone thing. It was meant to help you see that for yourself.

      As for this particular sale I gave you my opinion on why it failed.
      • Value did not exceed price They simply had no use for the video. Even free they likely would not have taken you up on it based on what you said
      • $200 fee per month to use video on Forrent. Forrent was part of your pitch as I understood it so I can see why this would be extremely hard to overcome. You suggested using it on Forrent and their $200 fee made it cost prohibitive.
      Now if you want I am happy to go into more details.


      1. Never cold walk at 8am. Most people start their day at 8am. They will be busy. You learned this the hard way on day 1. This is easy to fix and a good lesson going forwards.


      2. Forrent charges $200 to list a video. You didn't mention what just listing the apartment costs but it is most likely higher. This is good and bad. The good is that you know they are willing to pay good money to market. The bad is as you found out their marketing is ate up. In most business the marketing budget objection can be overcome by explaining ROI and how you will help them track it. But in this case all the best marketing would do is cause them to fill all the apartments.



      The niche only has a finite amount available. And that budget is likely based on the average number of units that on average are open each month. They can't spend more to sell more. If they spend more they make less. So adding something to the budget especially if the manager gets paid a bonus on keeping costs down is not going to happen.


      So could you convince them to move money from one marketing channel to what you do? Yes you could but it's harder. You need to show results and really show them why your media would do better than what it is replacing.


      3. Of course that is assuming all the managers you spoke to had control over when the money in the marketing budget was spent. I doubt they did. But to save face they likely would never admit that is one of the reasons they couldn't even consider it. The classic case of not talking to the decision maker.


      4. 7 out of 10 on the 2nd day was great. Even if this turns out to be the wrong niche (my opinion) that is a great start to cold walking.


      5. I'm not sure based on what you said rather the two who said they didn't have time to watch it were BSing or telling the truth. I would assume it was BS to get rid of you. I am sure they had an hour or two later that day to surf Facebook. I don't know what you said to them. But you should think back and replay if you said anything different to them vs. the 5 who were willing to watch.


      6. "is that pricing monthly?" = that seems too low what's the catch? You low pricing may in fact be why they blew you off. If your price is too low businesses will assume it sucks. In the business world cheap is the most expensive word there is. I wonder if you had quoted $299 or more what they would have said. Consider a higher price next time to see how people react.



      7. Were you going to handle uploading the video to the various places? If so the $89 was low and they thought you'd leave them high and dry.



      If not that may have been an objection. They likely didn't want the video because they would have no idea how to put it up on their listings. Most businesses need a done for them product. The DIY guys will just google the cheapest vendor or do it themselves. So going forward I would suggest you offer done for them services maybe $299 for the video plus $99 a month to handle the posting of it to various places. Low priced but not too cheap.


      8. "so if I bring you a referral, are you telling me you aren't going to pay me the $200 as your flyer says due to your advertising budget" That is an adversarial statement. You also said it to a woman. Two lessons here. Number always agree with the prospect. Never get into a adversarial situation.



      Example: "I understand your budget is tight on advertising. These days businesses have to be careful where their dollars are spent. Might I make a suggestion. I noticed you offer a $200 referral fee. I suspect that most of the rentals that don't come from your marketing efforts come from referrals. Since my video is only $89 that is less than one referral. So if it only provides one rental it will have paid for itself. Do you believe that one more person in the next year will see one of your ads and because of this video rent one of your apartments? If you think even one would that is one less apartment that have to be filled via referrals. So you would save $100 at least."


      As for saying this to a woman we had a thread about a week ago talking about how to market and sell to women vs. men. The main takeaway IMO is that you can't be macho. And that statement was pure macho ego. You were going to destroy her objection. Even if she saw the point in what you said at that point you had likely lost her due to the way you said it.


      9. "I'll let my supervisor's know" We talked about this in #3 above. But it doesn't sound like you talked to the right people. Did you ask for the manager or did you ask to speak to the person who handles marketing. When people said things like this did you ask who is in charge of marketing decision and find out how to talk to them? Talking to a single right person is worth more than talking to 100 wrong people. If you talked to 7 people who had nothing to do with this decision it is possible that nothing here is valid one way or the other. We might not know if this is a success or failure since it was never pitched to the right people


      So don't assume you know who to talk to (my point on over confidence again) and ask. Assume you don't know who to talk to and that someone working there will help you find out who to talk to.


      10. "I said trust me this is the best Yes, you will ever make" You do have bravado I will give you that. Personally I don't like closes like that. I find they turn people off. Reminds them of "used car salesman". Plays into the stereotype of why people hate sales people. Also there is no way what you are selling will be the best "yes" they will ever make. It rings false. The second you or your pitch rings false the prospect is checking out.


      11. The appeal to caring about their listing because they used vFlyer I liked. Of course that only works if the person you were talking to knows what vFlyer is and that they use it. I doubt they did. So lose the technical jargon. "I noticed that your Craigslist ads were very professional. Pass my compliments on to the person who handles that. A warm and professional listing really makes the experience personal. Wouldn't you love a way to make it even more personal? ......"


      What am I doing wrong? And can it be fixed? Or should I consider a different a different niche? Maybe Senior Homes? Help me out here warriors...
      Personally as I have said previously I would change niches based on what little we know here. Unless there are a load more apartment buildings. It appears this offering to this niche does not work. You may want to take some of what I and others have said and tweak it and try one more time. If you raised the price and created more value it might be worth it. But for $89 I think you spent way too much time already on this.



      Is it possible for me to create these videos and put my phone # instead and then sell these Apartment buildings leads? How much would they pay for these leads? They pay forrent 349 if the deal is closed.
      As I said previous: "Check into the rules for referrals to apartment buildings in some states you need to be a realtor to do it in that way. But if you can deliver it could be worth it. Might even be worth getting your license but focusing on rentals. There was someone here a while back who said they did that if I remember correctly."


      I think I have touched on everything I could possible touch on here. Not even sure how long this post took me to type. It's almost 2am here so almost midnight there. I doubt you will see this till the morning but I hope it helped you. Sorry I didn't format it to it read better.



      And finally..

      shall I contact you through your Facebook which has only 29 likes (consider changing your sig?)
      First I've dealt with the cesspools of the internet (though 4chan's format kept me away). If you think that dig at me will hurt me you are wrong. About the only thing on the internet that still bothers me is blue waffle and that Russian video where the guy is beheaded with a knife. The words on a forum will never give me pause.



      Second for the longest time my sig was blank but I made that page and put the link in it. If people want to see some of the things I post there they are free to like it. If not no biggie.

      Third I have never tried to get likes for that page. In fact I have never even shared it with my actual facebook friends.


      Fourth if I wanted the number to look bigger it is quite even to buy likes. And one facebook no one can see who is liking the page. Sure a smart person would notice the low interaction level vs. likes but for the most part it works if you want to look big. Basically I clearly don't care enough at this point to spend $20 (less than two lunches) on buying likes. I didn't even know how many likes I had honestly.


      Fifth at this point in time I literally sell nothing nor have I in the past sold anything to anyone on this forum. I'm not here to make money off of people. I provide the advice I give freely. So I have nothing to change my sig to. No WSO to sell. No book to promote. Not even a website that needs the SEO power of a WF sig. That all said I would wager that multiple people in the offline forum would say they get more value from my posts than from most WSOs they have bought. Personally I would not know the value of a WSO because I have never bought one.



      Finally in closing:
      I try to provide value to this forum since it provides value for me.. And if you look at my first post I provided feedback than read your reply and added the part about phone sales. The point of which was not to "call you out" but to point out that phone sales is a very different animal from B2B and that being overly confident in your sales abilities transferring over might be unfounded. Aka more selling advice on the situation and in general.


      I have provided some value here to you I hope. I'm sorry if the fact I didn't believe your claims bothered you. But honest, and please don't take offense to this, if that bothered you might want to reconsider selling as a career. In sales you will likely make claims that your prospects do not believe. It will be up to you to do that. And in fact you should learn to do it before they have a chance to object.


      Exaggerated statements will not help you make sales in this B2B environment. It will turn prospects off. And tonight you said two that I picked up on.
      If I tell you my real name you could literally go to any Sprint store near you and ask about me.
      and
      I said trust me this is the best Yes, you will ever make
      People who care will call you on it. The vast majority will simple mentally discredit you and you will not be able to build that trust back. So be aware that you do this and hopefully you can stop yourself from it.

      Every salesperson has things they do that they know hurt their sales. The best learn to become aware of them and attempt to eliminate them. You clearly think you are one of the best and now I've made you aware of it if you were not already. The rest if up to you.

      Good night and godspeed. Hopefully your next thread will be about your success.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
    I applaud you for the "took action" part, but the "nothing happened" part is suggesting that you in fact do NOT have a "great idea".

    I don't know if it'll work any better for you, but you could try this...

    Approach the apartment manager with the offer of producing a video that they can put up on their website. Also include a service where you establish an "affiliate" type program. People can send traffic to the video and get credit for referrals when a unit is rented. You could also offer to make up a simple insert that goes into the rental invoice of current residents. Explain the referral program and give them each their own unique referral url (www[dot]apartmentcomplexname[dot]com/ReferrerName). Make it as seamless and hands off as possible for the property manager and the referrer.

    Pitch it as an alternative to using forrent.com. You could even do a couple of deals for free just to gain experience and iron out any wrinkles that pop up. That'll also give you a couple of case studies to use in future presentations.
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  • Profile picture of the author rizy
    Lol I am not gonna read all of that....that is one long post....but I sent you a pm with proof of my numbers...so u can rest in peace, weird guy.
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    • Profile picture of the author Talltom1
      Originally Posted by rizy View Post

      Lol I am not gonna read all of that....that is one long post....but I sent you a pm with proof of my numbers...so u can rest in peace, weird guy.
      That comment right there speaks volumes about your 'success' or the lack thereof. I've been around this forum enough to know who Aaron Doud is, and as far as I'm concerned, he's got success oozing out of him. Successful people don't need to prove they're successful, in the way that you have earlier in this thread. And smart people don't blow off the helpful advice in this thread the way you have.

      Good luck in your own future success, obviously luck is something you'll be needing.

      Tom
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      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
        Originally Posted by Talltom1 View Post

        That comment right there speaks volumes about your 'success' or the lack thereof. I've been around this forum enough to know who Aaron Doud is, and as far as I'm concerned, he's got success oozing out of him. Successful people don't need to prove they're successful, in the way that you have earlier in this thread. And smart people don't blow off the helpful advice in this thread the way you have.

        Good luck in your own future success, obviously luck is something you'll be needing.

        Tom
        Thanks Tom.

        And to the OP I will check out the PM later. Thank you for sending it but I didn't need the proof. The fact you were willing to send was enough for me to admit you were being honest. Fakers don't back up their claims.

        As for not reading it I hope you do. I was half asleep but I went through point by point on the things you told us. I tried to offer notes and advice on each highlighting where something you mentioned may have caused the sale to go south.

        Not sure how readable that was. I wrote that while very tired but having a bout of insomnia. Hopefully it's not too bad but I suspect my grammar and spelling were worse than normal. And I know due to being tired I left some typos uncorrected and I did not format it.

        BTW running on 3 hrs of sleep isn't that bad. Good morning WF. And to the OP I'm sorry if being tired (still am honestly) made me be a bit more blunt than I normally would and offended you.
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    • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
      Originally Posted by rizy View Post

      Lol I am not gonna read all of that....that is one long post....but I sent you a pm with proof of my numbers...so u can rest in peace, weird guy.
      Aaron explained his skepticism. It's very rational.

      AND, he offers a lot of valuable information which will benefit you and many others trying the same kind of business.

      You should read it and not be insulting and disrespectful to someone who spends that much time on YOUR post asking for help.

      Dan
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  • Profile picture of the author TheBigBee
    OP.

    It seems there's is a lack of depth and breadth of knowledge on your end regarding the apartment business. Apartment managers are paid based on the total gross rent they collect - minus THEIR expenses. Building owners don't allow janitorial supplies etc on to their P&L - it's on the manager. Hard costs (repairs, upgrades, etc) all come from the owners' P&L.

    So to that end, it seems like you have a couple of options.

    1. I would stop selling and start interviewing. Find out if their vacancy rates are an issue? Generally speaking on a new building anything over 5% is a no no.

    2. If you find someone with a problem, talk to them about positioning their video in places where folks are likely to see it.

    3. I struggled MIGHTILY selling video myself until I stumbled upon the fact that Google ranks video in Search pages. Therefore by putting video there - you can attract customers where they are looking.

    Forget this "cheap" stuff. Too many Warriors are obsessed with "cheap."

    Find a struggling manager of many buildings and rank a video featuring all their buildings for $2,000 a month.

    In other words - find someone who could benefit MOST from having a video pop up on page 1 for "their city apartment."
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    • Profile picture of the author rizy
      Originally Posted by TheBigBee View Post

      OP.

      It seems there's is a lack of depth and breadth of knowledge on your end regarding the apartment business. Apartment managers are paid based on the total gross rent they collect - minus THEIR expenses. Building owners don't allow janitorial supplies etc on to their P&L - it's on the manager. Hard costs (repairs, upgrades, etc) all come from the owners' P&L.

      So to that end, it seems like you have a couple of options.

      1. I would stop selling and start interviewing. Find out if their vacancy rates are an issue? Generally speaking on a new building anything over 5% is a no no.

      2. If you find someone with a problem, talk to them about positioning their video in places where folks are likely to see it.

      3. I struggled MIGHTILY selling video myself until I stumbled upon the fact that Google ranks video in Search pages. Therefore by putting video there - you can attract customers where they are looking.

      Forget this "cheap" stuff. Too many Warriors are obsessed with "cheap."

      Find a struggling manager of many buildings and rank a video featuring all their buildings for $2,000 a month.

      In other words - find someone who could benefit MOST from having a video pop up on page 1 for "their city apartment."
      1,000 a month to 2,000 a month clients are the plan, that is why I spent nearly 2 months collecting outsourcers and want to offer total packages. But a guy has to make a living too you know, so I want to get to a $100 a day easy, if I can visit 10 businesses and offer video, close maybe 3, but obviously its much tougher then said. I thought I could do it, cause lots of similar success stories here.

      Most of these apartment buildings I am visiting have a very high occupancy rate...nothing below 95%. So they do say that, and I said once that 'Apple has iPhone 5, your telling me they shouldn't make an iPhone 6.' Just because your at 95% occupancy, this is the perfect to time to act smarter and not harder to make sure we either stay this way or go up to a 100.

      I donno, let/s say I don't visit Apartment Building which businesses would you guys recommend I visit?

      Restaurants, Dentists, Mechanics, Salons? Which ones do you think are good to visit or call and close a video over the phone?
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      • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
        Originally Posted by rizy View Post


        Most of these apartment buildings I am visiting have a very high occupancy rate...nothing below 95%.
        Hi there,

        The apartment building managers are telling you right there that they don't see a value in what you are providing - no matter whether it's a video or whatever YOU think is a good idea.

        Obviously, rental rates are not a pain point for them, or a fear point. They're happy to coast along at 95%+.

        In order to sell them something, that something has to solve a problem they are experiencing, or help prevent a problem or solve an issue they have.

        YOUR thinking the extra 3-5% is the issue does not align with their thinking and so you don't make any sales.

        Originally Posted by rizy View Post

        Restaurants, Dentists, Mechanics, Salons? Which ones do you think are good to visit or call and close a video over the phone?
        The same applies to any of these businesses. When your video provides value to them they will buy it. Otherwise, you're just another salesman crossing the transom.

        You have the right idea - "never give up".

        All the best,

        Sasha.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    Please tell us your total:

    -Cold calls you have made.
    -How many presentations you made.
    -How many you closed.

    If your post indicates total activity, it's clear to me you don't have enough data to draw any conclusions, meaning...

    More prospecting!
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    At first glance of this, I think what you're offering just doesn't add much value. When people need a place to live, they are going to find a place. If they are lower end apartments, then a 360 tour or video isn't as beneficial. Just my opinion.

    I think in order to be successful with this you have to understand who you're after.. and who their target market is. If they have high occupancy rates then it seems like finding people isn't exactly a problem. I hate dealing with property management companies and even real estate agents. You picked a tough nut to crack.

    Not all action is measurable action and some action is the right action with the wrong people.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Targeting is off. Rental agencies don't make a ton of money off of each rental. Eat that up with marketing costs and there's nothing left.

    Video works best in a "one to many" relationship: do the work once and have it work for you over and over. Look at the OP's idea: do the work once and it only works once (for one rental). Not a good payback, is it.

    Make videos for car dealerships, for example. Make a video for this year's Mustang, and it works over and over again to get interest for the whole year until the next model comes out (and then you've got the opportunity to go in again and get another order). Bakeries. They're going to keep producing the same core of products.

    The video idea wasn't a bad one. The target was. Find niches where a) the repeatability factor for reusing the video content is high, and/or b) the revenue from selling the product or service dwarfs the investment. In the rental niche, they might be making only $150/month off a $1000 rental. So you just ate up 2 months of their year's profits on that unit. Why bother? But sell a house that gets a $20000 commission and now the realtor will talk to you about a $300 video. Or, on the repeatability side, maybe the dealership makes $1500 flat off new sales...not much compared to your investment--but when they can make 10 sales a week or more, that $300 fades into the distance pretty fast, doesn't it.

    If you're going to keep your prices this low, you're also going to have to find ways to make the videos quickly and inexpensively. There's nothing wrong with increasing what you do and your prices, of course.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Originally Posted by rizy View Post

    and then I said you can still put it on your website, facebook, craigslist ad, and when I search for your apartment I will want to watch your video. Many said: we have ran out of our advertising budget, and I said 'so if I bring you a referral, are you telling me you aren't going to pay me the $200 as your flyer says due to your advertising budget, she said that's different but I'll let my supervisors know. I said trust me this is the best Yes, you will ever make
    Am I losing this in translation because it comes off as if you're arguing with the Buyer. Not selling them.

    And because so many are using that "we used up our advertising budget already" line after you pitch them, I have to think you're not selling this item correctly and/or they're not interested, and you don't seem to be able to analyze what you're doing wrong or where it's going wrong so that you can try to fix it.

    I even offered to take some pics of the building for free, cause some of them didn't have good pics. Some said monday or tuesday when our supervisor come we'll elt you know, I called back and they either give me a run around or say no.
    And that offer comes off a little desperate even though I completely understand it. But again, the mere fact they're then stalling you to come back another day, so that they can refuse to talk with you then, means they're not interested.

    I mean WTF?... What am I doing wrong?
    OK. Here's where you're going wrong: Whenever you personally have a WTF experience, that's a big heads up that you are thinking and reasoning incorrectly about what's happening. This is why it doesn't make any sense to you. Because according to the way you think and the way you reason, it should work. But it doesn't. And it doesn't because other people think and reason differently than you do.

    And so, of course what they're doing doesn't make sense to you.

    You need to put aside what you think makes sense. You need to put aside what you think people would logically do. And then you need to open your mind and make it into a blank canvas and accept ideas from experienced people even if it doesn't make any sense to you. Because only after you follow their directions exactly will you begin to see how this works.

    Anybody ever teach you how to swim? They tell you to just let your body go and float into the water. Your mind may tell you "I'll sink if I do that. I have to put up a struggle to not drown." But then when you put up a struggle, you don't float.

    It's like that.
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    • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      Am I losing this in translation because it comes off as if you're arguing with the Buyer. Not selling them.

      And because so many are using that "we used up our advertising budget already" line after you pitch them, I have to think you're not selling this item correctly and/or they're not interested, and you don't seem to be able to analyze what you're doing wrong or where it's going wrong so that you can try to fix it.
      This is how I perceived it as well. You came off like a salesperson on their first day on the job with no preparation. Maybe that's not so bad as you were essentially working out the idea on the fly.

      I would revise the approach based on what you know now, and then go to some smaller places first. This helps work out the kinks before going to the big hitters.
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  • Profile picture of the author digichik
    Hey Rizy-

    If you take what you know, then add that to suggestions some of the most experience offline warriors have generously shared with you, you'll have yourself a 'magic get paid potion'.

    1) Your biggest mistake(imo) is you are pricing your service way way way too low. With experience you will learn it is far easier to sell a valuable service at a high price, than it is to sell it at a low price. You know, perceived value and all. Why should they take your $87 dollar service seriously, when the $87 price seems like a joke.

    2) Your are targeting the lowest men/women on the totem pole, the onsite property managers. They usually aren't the brightest either, they just think they are. You should be targeting the Property Management companies corporate offices. You know, where the real decision makers are. Even in doing this it is an uphill battle, as has been previously stated this is a niche that sucks.

    3) Now that you have found the warrior forum, learn how to transition your B2C sales experience into B2B experience. B2B sales is different. You will have to expand the way you think and be willing to constantly learn.
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    • Profile picture of the author rizy
      Originally Posted by digichik View Post

      Hey Rizy-

      If you take what you know, then add that to suggestions some of the most experience offline warriors have generously shared with you, you'll have yourself a 'magic get paid potion'.

      1) Your biggest mistake(imo) is you are pricing your service way way way too low. With experience you will learn it is far easier to sell a valuable service at a high price, than it is to sell it at a low price. You know, perceived value and all. Why should they take your $87 dollar service seriously, when the $87 price seems like a joke.

      2) Your are targeting the lowest men/women on the totem pole, the onsite property managers. They usually aren't the brightest either, they just think they are. You should be targeting the Property Management companies corporate offices. You know, where the real decision makers are. Even in doing this it is an uphill battle, as has been previously stated this is a niche that sucks.

      3) Now that you have found the warrior forum, learn how to transition your B2C sales experience into B2B experience. B2B sales is different. You will have to expand the way you think and be willing to constantly learn.
      You suggest I should visit the property management companies....hmmm... But they probably already have these things or offer them on their own right? I mean this doesn't bother me, but it bothers them, they are always like we already have a marketing staff that handles such things, and I just wanna say that if you don't have s video then you don't have s very good marketing department now do you? Obviously in b2c u this language is very effective but not so much in b2b. It's weird though b2b should be even more easier considering these people actually have money. But yes I have to work on a few things see what works
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      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
        Originally Posted by rizy View Post

        You suggest I should visit the property management companies....hmmm... But they probably already have these things or offer them on their own right? I mean this doesn't bother me, but it bothers them, they are always like we already have a marketing staff that handles such things, and I just wanna say that if you don't have s video then you don't have s very good marketing department now do you? Obviously in b2c u this language is very effective but not so much in b2b. It's weird though b2b should be even more easier considering these people actually have money. But yes I have to work on a few things see what works
        1. She means that the onsite people don't handle the marketing. The corporate offices do. They likely handle marketing for all of their various properties. Both local and national.

        Rather it is done locally or at a national office you need the person who handles the marketing. No one else can say "yes".

        2. So if someone doesn't have videos they are not good at marketing? That is a bold and unfounded statement. Depending on who they are targeting video may be worthless. At work when surfing the net I won't watch videos. So if you are selling something that people will search for at work a video would likely be worthless. Unless they have a private office with the door shut they will not have volume to hear it.

        Also for apartments (the niche here) I can't imagine myself watching a video. Especially one that is merely a slide show of pictures. Just show me the pictures. They will be bigger and higher quality and I can choose how fast to go through them.

        Now videos with real content that walk me around the pool and such I could see value in. But a slide show video? I don't need lower quality pics set to music. Just show me the pics.

        3. It's not just B2C vs. B2B. You also have inbound selling vs. outbound selling.

        You did B2C in on of the most inbound versions there is. The people were coming in to buy a phone. They wouldn't even have stopped at the kiosk if they were not at least mentally considering a new phone. Let me give you a quick rundown of the B2C scale from Inbound to Outbound. That way you can see how it works.
        • Gasoline: Literally they pull in and buy. Almost never will they leave once there without buying.
        • Big Box Retail: They come in to buy but you can upsell. They will almost always buy soemthing once in the door.
        • Destination Specialty Retail (comic book stores for example): They come in and may be sold on buying more. Seldom will anyone leave without buying
        • Cell Phone Stores: They come in to buy but can be upsold. There are very few people truly "just looking". A few may leave without buying but it is rare unless you don't have what they want.
        • Clothing Stores: They come in to buy but are not sure what to buy. Sales people can control the sale. People will come in and not buy especially if the sales person sucks.
        • Furniture/Appliance Stores: Most come in to "shop" not buy. Salespeople are even more important now. People start price shopping a lot here.
        • Car Sales: Price shopping now becomes a huge thing. They might not even bother to come in anymore. You have to get you message in front of them. But they still come to you vs. you coming to them.
        • Appointment Based Sales (Insurance for example): Marketing and cold calls help set up appointments with prospects. A sales person either meets them at the business or their home to sell.
        • Telemarketing: Sales done 100% on the phone (not appointment setting ones)
        • Door to Door Sales: You literally go door to door to sell. By this point the salesman needs to be a master or he will go hungry.
        You don't like us telling you this but you had one of the best entry level sales jobs you can get. That isn't saying you can't sell but the skill set you have now will not directly convert over. You are used to selling most people you spoke to. Now you need to get used to the opposite. Unless your offer is golden most people you talk to will not buy.

        As you move up the scale you start learning how much of a sales person you truly are. I've seen people even in Insurance Sales that are still a Clerk basically. But they normally don't last. Car sales is full of clerks. They simply close the lay downs and wonder why no one is a buyer.

        Down on the pure retail end they don't even have sales people. Just stockers and clerks. Once you get past Car Sales very few clerks will have enough laydowns to make money. Clerks becomes a rarity.

        And what I mean by "clerk" is someone regardless of title that answers basic questions and writes up the sale.

        Now B2B has a bid of inbound (think Office Depot) but most will be outbound. They are also harder to sell as the dollar amounts are higher. Normally somewhere between car sales and door to door the best guys make the leap to B2B as the rewards are higher.

        Of course some of them get sent back to B2C because they find it easier. But those who stick it out can have incomes of several million per year when they truly reach the top.

        It's weird though b2b should be even more easier considering these people actually have money.
        This statement shows why you are not yet ready for this. More money does not mean more sales. People with money know how to not spend it.

        In phone sales you were used to losing sales because people could not afford it. Seldom will that happen now. Unless your service is very expensive assume every business you speak to can afford it. Rather they see the value in spending the money on it will be the question.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Originally Posted by rizy View Post

    they are always like we already have a marketing staff that handles such things
    So then you're being told that the people you're speaking to are not the decision makers?

    Originally Posted by rizy View Post

    I just wanna say that if you don't have s video then you don't have s very good marketing department now do you? Obviously in b2c u this language is very effective
    I don't know the culture your statement would apply to, but in English speaking countries it's never a good idea to insult the prospective client whether its B2B or B2C. Telling them their team is ineffective is an insult. Even if it's true.

    It looks like you're only thinking that and not actually saying it. But even thinking it can influence your tone, body language and facial expressions so the prospective client can get what they call "a bad vibe" from you.
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    • Profile picture of the author midasman09
      Banned
      HEY RIZY!....YOU STILL HERE?

      I just rambled thru a whole bunch of Hog-Stuff...granted, these folks are sincerely trying to help you....BUT.....it takes a "TRUE-WARRIOR" who's been where YOU are and....WON!

      I have created MANY MANY programs to make money. I get an idea and WHAM....I gotta do this. So, I put together the "pieces" and...GO OUT AND TRY IT!

      WHAM! The first 3 prospects I make a presentation to "Hit me with stuff I wasn't expecting"!
      (What? You're ALREADY covered by this BIG Firm? or...WHAT? Someone else is doing THIS for you?)

      So...I learned LONG AGO that....no matter how excited you are about a project....you put your presentation together (as best you can) and....go out and SEE....THREE potential buyers.

      NOTE: Congrats on having the "stuff" to go for "Face-To-Face" meetings! That is the ONLY WAY I've found to find out whether I have "something WORTH PURSUING".....or...Dropping! (I've dropped more projects I thought were GREAT money-makers only to discover that "Real Life" will not let me in. Too many "Hoops to Jump Thru"! NOT worth trying to overcome the many obstacles)

      Thus.....I'm NOT here to "knock" you....I'm hoping to relay stuff from MY vast experience of "Real World Marketing and Sales"...so YOU don't have to "walk on the hot coals" until you reach the Other Side!

      So....Experience Tip #1; You go out and give your Idea a try and 3 potential buyers shrug you off....STOP! Regroup and try 3 more! If you still can't find the HOT BUTTON....either try a different batch of prospects in the same Niche or....try a different Niche!

      In MY experience with the people you are trying to sell to....FORGET IT!

      You gave it a good try, NOW....find a different Niche!

      So....what I'm about to tell you has WORKED for MANY of my "buddies" who were down on their "dauber" BUT....were still ready to "Give it ONE MORE TRY!"

      Ok....Niche Market; Restaurateurs. These people have LOTS invested and are CONSTANTLY looking for ways to....FILL THEIR SEATS!

      One of my most successful projects was; "RESTAURANT MENU GUIDES"!

      These were "Scrapbook-Sized" Post-Bound books of Menus of local restaurants. Each restaurant got 2, 11x 17 pages. Each page had 3 or 4 PHOTOS of the outside, inside, plates of food, staff and owner photos.

      Each "Menu Guide" had 20 restaurants and....were placed in TEN Hotels, either at the front desk or concierge stand or on coffee tables in the lobby.

      So....I was able to operate this program in FIVE towns....20 restaurants in each town....for a total of 100 restaurants....ALL paying little ol' ME a handsome fee every 3 mos to keep my "Menu-Guides" looking good.

      Note: This was B4 Google....B4 the internet....B4 the electronic age!

      So....when I finished this project I realized I had GREAT PHOTOS of ONE HUNDRED RESTAURANTS!

      So....like the ol' saying; "Money Burning a HOLE in yer pocket!"....(I finished this project about the time the internet was taking off) and, one day I was looking thru one of my Menu-Guides and I got one of my "HOT Flashes";

      "SELF....why don't I find a way to USE these great Photos of ALL these restaurants? Heck....my MAIN pitch to restaurant owners to participate in my Menu-Guides was...."HEY! You've spent all this Time and Money decorating the INSIDE of your place BUT.....the ONLY TIME potential diners SEE it is.....WHEN THEY'RE INSIDE!

      "What I do is....let HUNGRY Tourists & Travelers SEE what's INSIDE.... when they're at their local Hotel LOOKING for a Place to eat!"

      WOW! The restaurant owners bought....and bought FAST! I usually could finish a town in a week!

      So.....the internet is coming alive and YouTube is getting BIG. So...one day I get a notice from Microsoft that they are offering a FREE ....Video Creation Tool called "Photo-Story". I could upload photos to the program, add some background music and....WHALA!....a Video I could sell to my restaurants...for them to put on their websites!

      And....just so happens that about this time Wally-World (Wal-Mart) has in their electronic section, an electronic device called a "Portable DVD Player"....selling for $80 (by Phillips)

      When the clerk told me what this thing did....I whipped out my cash!

      I raced back to my home office (my wifee calls it my "Man-Cave")

      I quickly uploaded 10 photos for one of the best restaurants in town.... burned a DVD and dashed over to the owner of another restaurant and (now....Mr Rizy, pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to what I'm about to say!)... found the owner sitting at the bar eating lunch....sat the Portable DVD Player on the bar in front of him and said, "Watch This!"

      The video was only 90 secs long BUT.....it was of one of his competitor's!

      The DVD finished and he asked, "How much to do one of those for ME?"

      I told him, I don't know, YET! I'd like to take some digital shots of your place....go back to my office and see if I can make a "decent Video"....at NO obligation. I'll stop back tomorrow at about the same time and show you what I've come up with....OK?

      He agreed. I went home...made a DVD with music that goes with his type of cuisine....went back the next day and....when I showed the DVD of HIS place....his eyes almost glazed over. He LOVED IT!

      So.....my FIRST sale was made!

      And....after that I used the first 2 restaurant dvds as Demos as I went from restaurant to restaurant....finding the owner....showing him my DVD Demos.....asking permission to take some digitals....at NO obligation.... making a video....burning it to a DVD....going back and showing the DVD and.....WHAMMO! One after the other BOUGHT!

      However....If I had gone into the 1st restaurant and told the owner, "Hi..I'd like to take some digital shots of your place and make a video!" He'd have said, "See me after you've got some customers!"

      The KEY here is....NO ONE WANT TO BE FIRST!

      So....I've always made up "Dummy Samples" to show what I can do.

      Anyway....best of success to you young man. You WILL succeed. I hope my spiel here has helped give you some insight.

      Don Alm

      Yikes! The reaction was OVERWHELMING!
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      • Profile picture of the author rizy
        Originally Posted by midasman09 View Post

        HEY RIZY!....YOU STILL HERE?

        I just rambled thru a whole bunch of Hog-Stuff...granted, these folks are sincerely trying to help you....BUT.....it takes a "TRUE-WARRIOR" who's been where YOU are and....WON!

        I have created MANY MANY programs to make money. I get an idea and WHAM....I gotta do this. So, I put together the "pieces" and...GO OUT AND TRY IT!

        WHAM! The first 3 prospects I make a presentation to "Hit me with stuff I wasn't expecting"!
        (What? You're ALREADY covered by this BIG Firm? or...WHAT? Someone else is doing THIS for you?)

        So...I learned LONG AGO that....no matter how excited you are about a project....you put your presentation together (as best you can) and....go out and SEE....THREE potential buyers.

        NOTE: Congrats on having the "stuff" to go for "Face-To-Face" meetings! That is the ONLY WAY I've found to find out whether I have "something WORTH PURSUING".....or...Dropping! (I've dropped more projects I thought were GREAT money-makers only to discover that "Real Life" will not let me in. Too many "Hoops to Jump Thru"! NOT worth trying to overcome the many obstacles)

        Thus.....I'm NOT here to "knock" you....I'm hoping to relay stuff from MY vast experience of "Real World Marketing and Sales"...so YOU don't have to "walk on the hot coals" until you reach the Other Side!

        So....Experience Tip #1; You go out and give your Idea a try and 3 potential buyers shrug you off....STOP! Regroup and try 3 more! If you still can't find the HOT BUTTON....either try a different batch of prospects in the same Niche or....try a different Niche!

        In MY experience with the people you are trying to sell to....FORGET IT!

        You gave it a good try, NOW....find a different Niche!

        So....what I'm about to tell you has WORKED for MANY of my "buddies" who were down on their "dauber" BUT....were still ready to "Give it ONE MORE TRY!"

        Ok....Niche Market; Restaurateurs. These people have LOTS invested and are CONSTANTLY looking for ways to....FILL THEIR SEATS!

        One of my most successful projects was; "RESTAURANT MENU GUIDES"!

        These were "Scrapbook-Sized" Post-Bound books of Menus of local restaurants. Each restaurant got 2, 11x 17 pages. Each page had 3 or 4 PHOTOS of the outside, inside, plates of food, staff and owner photos.

        Each "Menu Guide" had 20 restaurants and....were placed in TEN Hotels, either at the front desk or concierge stand or on coffee tables in the lobby.

        So....I was able to operate this program in FIVE towns....20 restaurants in each town....for a total of 100 restaurants....ALL paying little ol' ME a handsome fee every 3 mos to keep my "Menu-Guides" looking good.

        Note: This was B4 Google....B4 the internet....B4 the electronic age!

        So....when I finished this project I realized I had GREAT PHOTOS of ONE HUNDRED RESTAURANTS!

        So....like the ol' saying; "Money Burning a HOLE in yer pocket!"....(I finished this project about the time the internet was taking off) and, one day I was looking thru one of my Menu-Guides and I got one of my "HOT Flashes";

        "SELF....why don't I find a way to USE these great Photos of ALL these restaurants? Heck....my MAIN pitch to restaurant owners to participate in my Menu-Guides was...."HEY! You've spent all this Time and Money decorating the INSIDE of your place BUT.....the ONLY TIME potential diners SEE it is.....WHEN THEY'RE INSIDE!

        "What I do is....let HUNGRY Tourists & Travelers SEE what's INSIDE.... when they're at their local Hotel LOOKING for a Place to eat!"

        WOW! The restaurant owners bought....and bought FAST! I usually could finish a town in a week!

        So.....the internet is coming alive and YouTube is getting BIG. So...one day I get a notice from Microsoft that they are offering a FREE ....Video Creation Tool called "Photo-Story". I could upload photos to the program, add some background music and....WHALA!....a Video I could sell to my restaurants...for them to put on their websites!

        And....just so happens that about this time Wally-World (Wal-Mart) has in their electronic section, an electronic device called a "Portable DVD Player"....selling for $80 (by Phillips)

        When the clerk told me what this thing did....I whipped out my cash!

        I raced back to my home office (my wifee calls it my "Man-Cave")

        I quickly uploaded 10 photos for one of the best restaurants in town.... burned a DVD and dashed over to the owner of another restaurant and (now....Mr Rizy, pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to what I'm about to say!)... found the owner sitting at the bar eating lunch....sat the Portable DVD Player on the bar in front of him and said, "Watch This!"

        The video was only 90 secs long BUT.....it was of one of his competitor's!

        The DVD finished and he asked, "How much to do one of those for ME?"

        I told him, I don't know, YET! I'd like to take some digital shots of your place....go back to my office and see if I can make a "decent Video"....at NO obligation. I'll stop back tomorrow at about the same time and show you what I've come up with....OK?

        He agreed. I went home...made a DVD with music that goes with his type of cuisine....went back the next day and....when I showed the DVD of HIS place....his eyes almost glazed over. He LOVED IT!

        So.....my FIRST sale was made!

        And....after that I used the first 2 restaurant dvds as Demos as I went from restaurant to restaurant....finding the owner....showing him my DVD Demos.....asking permission to take some digitals....at NO obligation.... making a video....burning it to a DVD....going back and showing the DVD and.....WHAMMO! One after the other BOUGHT!

        However....If I had gone into the 1st restaurant and told the owner, "Hi..I'd like to take some digital shots of your place and make a video!" He'd have said, "See me after you've got some customers!"

        The KEY here is....NO ONE WANT TO BE FIRST!

        So....I've always made up "Dummy Samples" to show what I can do.

        Anyway....best of success to you young man. You WILL succeed. I hope my spiel here has helped give you some insight.

        Don Alm

        Yikes! The reaction was OVERWHELMING!
        OMG Thank god for my favorite offliner MidasMan on rescuing this thread. Real advice and real experience based directions, nothing oh well it depends on this or that crap.

        I was really considering Restaurants, and I am not lazy, I can literally visit 30 restaurants per day. But obviously the 3 Example approach you mention is what I gotta do and not to get over-exited.

        Before I re-phrase some of your directions in my perception and what I have understood, I will like to tell you that I actually made the video for these people first and then I went to show it to them, but even that wasn't good enough for Apartment Mangers, do you think this is a no-brainer approach in restaurant niche?

        So I beleive this is what you are suggesting:

        1) Make A Video For The Competitor (Do I have to? Or Can I just show some previous work? I mean does it have to be a competitor?)

        2) Have 2-3 Portfolio Videos of your previous work and go show it around to restaurant owners. (This would speed up a lot of my process, because I won't have to make their video first and then go sell it, instead I can show my previous work, not like I didn't know this before, but I just thought making it for them before would have been great, obviously it didn't work and it requires too much of my time. I honestly thought all Apartment building managers would say yes, because its a no brainer, because I know when I was searching for an apartment, I searched only the ones that had a video)

        3) Since its restaurant, should I offer voice-over or no!

        4) Pitch: You can post this video on your website, facebook, google + page, and even Yelp. (Warriors please tell me, does Yelp require an additional fee to put a video?) I know they have it in their plans, but which plan, I just don't wanna run into a Forrent similar situation where they charge 200 a month more just for the video.

        Process:
        1) Ask for the owner.
        2) Introduce myself and say that we create videos for Restaurants. (Should I immediately hand the flyer here, so they don't panic and think that the video is going to be expensive, or the flyer should come after step 3.
        3) Now let me show you an example of what kind of high quality branded videos I am talking about. (What if the owner here says, I am very busy right now, I don't even have a minute to watch your video.) (Does this mean I have to create more excitement in step 2, and maybe go over the features in the Flyer? (btw flyer will look flatout gorgeous)
        4) Pull out my iPad and show them a previous example of our work.
        5) Tell them that if they are even slightly interested I can have the same kind of video done for their restaurant with inspiration, brand, and their colors incorporated in the video, done for them tomorrow and I can come show them the video. (I really like this idea of no obligation, this means that deal doesn't have to be closed, and even if I had made the video prior to my visit, people in general are inclined to say I need minimum one day to think about it, and that is what I am giving them, a day, and then the next day when I can come back with a beautiful video for them well then they feel obligated to say yes.

        Price: I am still thinking small, maybe $57. ( I know I am wrong here, but ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Virtualghost
    I'm not sure if mentioned but the manager isn't the decision maker the owners/corporation is.Every nickel it costs extra is a nickel less a manager gets.I use to manage was not a live in for 2 large highrise building and received a base salary plus so much per rental commision $200.00 but was given budget what I was allowed to spend to acquire tenants.No more no less.If I were to pay you what you mention I would be making less money.
    Key thing is the manager is not the decision maker go to the owners and pitch it to them.As manager I wouldn't even consider to hire you not because of any persona reason just following what I can or cannot do a dictated by owner/corporation.They will pay but they pay after results are seen not on speculation.
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    • Profile picture of the author rizy
      Originally Posted by Virtualghost View Post

      I'm not sure if mentioned but the manager isn't the decision maker the owners/corporation is.Every nickel it costs extra is a nickel less a manager gets.I use to manage was not a live in for 2 large highrise building and received a base salary plus so much per rental commision $200.00 but was given budget what I was allowed to spend to acquire tenants.No more no less.If I were to pay you what you mention I would be making less money.
      Key thing is the manager is not the decision maker go to the owners and pitch it to them.As manager I wouldn't even consider to hire you not because of any persona reason just following what I can or cannot do a dictated by owner/corporation.They will pay but they pay after results are seen not on speculation.
      Now where can I find the owners? Many owners of the apartment buildings here live in another state.....
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      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
        Originally Posted by rizy View Post

        Now where can I find the owners? Many owners of the apartment buildings here live in another state.....
        Ask. But ask for the person in charge of marketing not the owner. If they own multiple properties they are relatively hands off. Managers are hired for that.

        The management office we spoke about before would likely have the right person once you figure it out though the basic structure likely carries over to others in this niche.
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        Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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  • Profile picture of the author Bayo
    There have been lots of helpful responses and what I would have mentioned for the most part has been stated, but I'd like to first say congrats on actually taking action. You've no idea where this puts you in terms of people most likely o succeed because you took action.

    The other thing I'd like to say is that the issue is somewhere in the implementation and going back and working through the steps, expected results and actual results will highlight where what was expected wasn't what ended up happening.

    I know it sounds obvious but you'll quickly identify what made things not work (and then the cascading effect) that way. This is also an approach that I take when working with my clients or prospective clients when it seems like they're doing everything right but the results show a different story.

    Bayo
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