very strange ending to a potential offline relationship

15 replies
hey all...
Someone messaged me from WF actually - asking if I would be able to help them with their offline company. This was after they were seeing the success I'm having with my own campaigns...

So, my partner and I spoke with the manager at length, and he really seems to understand his company metrics as they are now which is great.

So we brainstormed, researched and put together a basic proposal that he asked for...

However today when my partner went to speak with him, he became really hostile. I followed up just now with him over skype....

The whole thing doesn't make sense. He says he is still looking for the "Right fit". Clearly thats just him saying he wants more for less, or at least the same for less... Ok fine..

But what is really bizarre, is that our initial proposal was basically an offer to directly work with his metric system lower the numbers. We looked at the metrics he told us, we looked at market activity, a bunch of variables in PPC, etc... We saw some very positive calculations that we wanted to set as our target.

The end result though, is that this guy for one reason or another doesn't think its good for him.

I think he doesn't like it that we would actually charge him money?

And my partner said he wanted to pay $50/lead? I think suddenly from our discussions he decided he just wants to pay a company $50/lead and nothing else no matter what.

Anyone else have a similar experience? This is really strange.

It is clear that this guy just decided to say NO to some great revenue growth for pretty much no reason.

My partner and I are very seasoned in what we do... This campaign for us is the ideal one for many reasons. REALLY Strange!!!

It would appear to me that people do not want to pay for something
#ending #offline #potential #relationship #strange
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Difficult to say without actually being there.

    But YOU are looking for the right fit, too. People will ask for and allow you to give your expertise away for free if you will do so. Watch for that.

    You don't really know what's going in your prospect's head. They may be playing games to get the most for the least (and if they are a game player, why would you want them as a client?) or they may not understand the value of what you're offering. Did you straight-out ask the question?
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    Yes, many clients and even business partners will do whatever they can to scam others and get as much as they can for as little as possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Originally Posted by ttrance View Post

    And my partner said he wanted to pay $50/lead? I think suddenly from our discussions he decided he just wants to pay a company $50/lead and nothing else no matter what.
    What did the prospect want?
    Leads at a fair price

    What did you want to sell him?
    All I got from that was metrics and blah blah.

    Sell a prospect what they want even if you have to convince them that what you have is what they want.

    So the question is would you want to work on a per lead basis? If no this was not a good match and the lesson here is to qualify people out sooner.

    If the answer is yes the lesson here is stop trying to sell them what you want to sell and start selling them what they want.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Originally Posted by ttrance View Post

    So, my partner and I spoke with the manager at length, and he really seems to understand his company metrics as they are now which is great.

    So we brainstormed, researched and put together a basic proposal that he asked for...

    However today when my partner went to speak with him, he became really hostile. I followed up just now with him over skype....

    The whole thing doesn't make sense...

    This is really strange...

    pretty much no reason...

    REALLY Strange!!!
    I'll explain.

    It's not strange at all.

    What it is, is, that it doesn't make sense to you because you're seeing it differently than that manager guy. Believe me, it makes perfect sense if you understand what he's up to.

    You may not agree with what he's up to, or think he doesn't need to act it out like that, but that's the way he is.

    He's acting angry for the reason people act mean. To intimidate you and get you to back off.

    Is it immature?. Sure enough.

    Why does he want you to back off? Because he doesn't want to do business with you.

    So he acts angry and gives you excuses like "not the right fit"

    Which are excuses but not the reasons.

    Nothing to wrap your mind around and use your time and energy to figure out because it's a smokescreen.

    They're not going to tell you they're cheap, or broke, or were picking your brain and hiring their brother-in-law to do the work.

    He got what he wanted from you, whether it was info or a price or both.

    Do we sit here and analyze this and try to decode and figure out why he acts like this?

    Nah. Don't need to. Probably's been this way since he was six years old. Maybe his mommy didn't love him and so he learned to reject people by acting mean like mama did.

    Does it matter if we know why he acts that way? Nah.

    His actions are all we need to know for us to base what the next move is

    Which I think would be, to move on.
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    "His actions are all we need to know for us to base what the next move is"

    Exactly. You don't need to spend all that time thinking why it didn't work out. He was basically trying to just toy around with you until he got you to stump down and do whatever he says for whatever the small cut you get.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
    Great topic, yes I have seen a lot of odd situations in the past, being in consulting for 20 plus years I have seen situations where the client paid for the service, decided to Not take the advice and did something different that (more than often resulted in a loss)

    I have seen them try to pick your brains and when they "think" they have it, they will try to go it on their own, (again often with questionable results,) the main reason why this happens is that I never reveal all the details of a plan until a contract is in place.

    For some reason people thinkt that advice and expertise should be free, that is sort of funny, but you might be suprised at how many people feel that way.

    Over all its about performance and client mangement and it is true that it is not always as easy as you might think it is, in fact it is often a pain in the back side.

    You just have to learn as much as you can about what went wrong, (I would have been very curious about the hostility myself,)
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    The deals already toast or you wouldn't have bothered starting a forum thread rant.

    Your upset, he's hostile, move on...
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  • Profile picture of the author ttrance
    Thanks for the opinions guys. It really is a tricky balance between making a prospect feel confident in what you will do for them, and not making them feel so confident that they can go and do whatever they want...

    We just launched a new campaign and the sales pipe is filling up, but the problem is really maximizing the time spent with clients that are going to be doing well long term.

    I am thinking at least 30% of the companies we will be negotiating with will just be trying to fish out freebies.

    I think that would be a great advanced tutorial... How to properly screen potential new clients.

    Gotta remember the 80/20 rule at this point... Could spend 80% of our time trying to close a deal, while only 20% will actually ever do the thing best for their business.... Thats a huge inefficiency.

    In other news.... We just hit 1 million appointments set in another department of our company!
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    • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
      Originally Posted by ttrance View Post

      In other news.... We just hit 1 million appointments set in another department of our company!
      ??????????

      Care to explain?

      Dan
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      • Profile picture of the author ttrance
        Well we have a a strategy in certain industries that we use both telemarketing and IM to generate leads/appointments... That effort combined over the last few years has hit over 1 million tracked leads/appointments...

        I say appointments because the main factor was to get someone to schedule a time for the 'advisor' to come to them...

        Pretty awesome!

        I think instead of a this-or-that approach to marketing, we should look at how we can blend various methods together for a kind of 'chicken soup' that works well. Of course it matters very much so which industry you choose to focus on.
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        • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
          That is an impressive number. Hope you are well paid.

          Dan
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            I have read over this thread a few times. each time the same thought has struck me. The meet and greet went well. You then sat and discussed details. then you provided the prospect with a plan. and then SNAP.

            I am going to liken this to basic advertising principles. You grab their attention with an image of a red widget. The contact or page is details of the red widget. They go to buy and its really a blue widget.

            I would say from what I have seen here and specifically the first post that there seems to be a disconnect in what is communicated and what is delivered. To get a prospect that far in the process and then SNAP, screams miscommunication.

            The Prospect wanted to pay $50 a lead.. you offered something other than that. THAT is a disconnect.

            To those of you that suggested brushing it off or forgetting about it.. that's just nonsense. Growth does NOT come from forgetting. Growth and added skill comes from looking at each and every fail to see when and where in the process it failed.
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            • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
              Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

              I have read over this thread a few times. each time the same thought has struck me. The meet and greet went well. You then sat and discussed details. then you provided the prospect with a plan. and then SNAP.

              I am going to liken this to basic advertising principles. You grab their attention with an image of a red widget. The contact or page is details of the red widget. They go to buy and its really a blue widget.

              I would say from what I have seen here and specifically the first post that there seems to be a disconnect in what is communicated and what is delivered. To get a prospect that far in the process and then SNAP, screams miscommunication.

              The Prospect wanted to pay $50 a lead.. you offered something other than that. THAT is a disconnect.

              To those of you that suggested brushing it off or forgetting about it.. that's just nonsense. Growth does NOT come from forgetting. Growth and added skill comes from looking at each and every fail to see when and where in the process it failed.
              Very true. Fact is, we only got half the story here. As I said above, we really have no idea what actually happened.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gladiator
    He's a big Stroker, move on! Also could be some research for himself or other companies! But I would not spend time with people like that they will always be a problem! Go to next lead!
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