Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees?

RainDrop · 23rd Jan 2010, 02:36 PM

WoW!
This is an Amazing, Informative & Inspiring Thread!
Thank you to all who have contributed

I'm going to print it out and put it in a binder.
I need to find the time to really dig into it and absorb the information contained in it and study the techniques mentioned.

I was recently helping to set up a CRM system for a small biz owner. After looking into Sugar CRM and vTiger (and a few others) I started thinking that this would be a great service to offer to clients for a premium.
For example:

Help them choose which CRM system would fit their business needs,
Install it for them,
Help them work it into their business model,
Train the staff members how to use it,
Keep it updated and running,
Offer limited tech support, (still debating this one! LOL)
Of course, you can also charge for tech support,
Offer ongoing training
etc.

There are so many options and ways to go about implementing and maintaining just ONE service for your clients. By becoming an expert at just one thing, you can build a nice reputation to be the go-to person for it, which of course means that you will have people calling YOU and you can charge them hefty fees for your knowledge and services.

Dexx · 23rd Jan 2010, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Zach

I'm posting this because I want you guys, especially Dexx, AP and some others, to know how much this thread is worth. And, that I'm actually IMPLEMENTING the ideas posted here! Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute to this forum myself with some valuable input.

Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time!

Q: How do you make a million dollars?
A: Find a way to make $1...and then repeat it a million times!

First step is action, then improving on mistakes, rinse and repeat until successful goal is achieved =)

Keep us posted!

~Dexx

MADULALI · 23rd Jan 2010, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by Zach

WOW, what a great thread!

I'm new to the offline world and just landed my first small project. My client owns a local florist and his business is way down like so many others. I've already done some basic SEO, added his site to all of the local map portals (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and optimized his listings. Also, just finished his first video and will be using TubeMogul for distribution.

One of his competitors just closed so I told him to buy his domain and I'll forward it to his domain. I also told him to buy his phone number and have it forwarded to his. And, of course, I told him to buy his competitors customer list. He was amazed at my suggestion and told me that this alone was worth the cost of my services. Seems like common sense to me but taught me a valuable lesson!

My fee was only $500 (remember, this is my FIRST client) and I haven't talked with him yet about monthly service which I know from reading this thread will be required. I know now that I charged way too little but hope I can make it up on the monthly service.
Now I'm trying to figure out what I'll offer for monthly services (this thread will help) and other marketing ideas I can propose.

I'm posting this because I want you guys, especially Dexx, AP and some others, to know how much this thread is worth. And, that I'm actually IMPLEMENTING the ideas posted here! Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute to this forum myself with some valuable input.

Zach,

Information is very powerful if used properly.

The suggestions that you gave the business owner are priceless and would increase his business and allow him to grow while other local florist are shrinking.

One suggestion I would make to you would be to offer to do the items that you suggested he do, in exchange for a fee. (An additional $1,000, $1,500, $2,500 etc.)

Most businesses owners are struggling just trying to keep their heads above water. And the last thing that they need on their plate is another task. (Even though the task that needs to be completed is crucial to their survival.)

If he does not have a lot of money....offer the above services for a smaller fee and free flowers for a year. (Just work out the terms of how many flowers you will get.)

I have provided services for a client that was cash strapped and my payment was a very nice car. Now, if I needed the cash, I could turn around and sell the car.

Bottom line, don't let the opportunity to make some extra cash from your client slip through your fingers.

Just by telling him what to do and understanding that more then likely he won't do anything with the information, you and he would be better served if you offer to do it for him.

And of course, he will luv ya for it.

My 2 cents worth.

Michael

Jim Cockrum · 23rd Jan 2010, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by Zach

WOW, what a great thread!

My client owns a local florist and his business is way down like so many others. I've already done some basic SEO, added his site to all of the local map portals (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and optimized his listings. Also, just finished his first video and will be using TubeMogul for distribution.

Check out these two articles on aweber.com for some great ideas on how to help your florist friend use email reminders to ramp up his business:

Restaurant and Retail Marketing: Send Birthday Emails

How Do I Send Birthday Messages? :: AWeber Knowledge Base

For example: Send reminders of upcoming birthdays based on past orders and encourage early flower orders. You could also send an additional reminder as a "last minute gift idea" with an affiliate link to a site like giftcertificates.com. Teach him the power of having a mailing list. Everyone that orders a recurring date flower order should be sent to a discount page where they can join this list and get a discount next time as well as reminders.

Riz · 23rd Jan 2010, 05:22 PM

Jim that is fantastic advice.

The power of email marketing for local business is huge. Some of my restaurant clients have turned their businesses around as a result.

The birthday messages work great for them (florists also benefit greatly with this).

Imagine: A restaurant on average will have up to 1000 (conservative figure) people walking through their doors on a weekly basis. Capture 20% of these customers and funnel them into your clients email list by offering an incentive.

After 12 months you should have 10,000 to 12,000 on the list.

Imagine if the Restaurant then offers a Free meal to the birthday boy/girl. They will certainly not come alone will they? Oh, and the most profitable merchandise (drink) is not free for anyone.

With 10k to 12k on the email list can you see how many birthday gifts you can give out every month?

Florists can work the same angle.

Email marketing is extremely under utilised by local businesses.

Riz

Originally Posted by Jim Cockrum

Check out these two articles on aweber.com for some great ideas on how to help your florist friend use email reminders to ramp up his business:

Restaurant and Retail Marketing: Send Birthday Emails

How Do I Send Birthday Messages? :: AWeber Knowledge Base

For example: Send reminders of upcoming birthdays based on past orders and encourage early flower orders. You could also send an additional reminder as a "last minute gift idea" with an affiliate link to a site like giftcertificates.com. Teach him the power of having a mailing list. Everyone that orders a recurring date flower order should be sent to a discount page where they can join this list and get a discount next time as well as reminders.

onpurpose · 23rd Jan 2010, 05:27 PM

This is a fantastic thread.

I picked up on a comment about not migrating an existing site (that's been indexed on google for awhile) to another platform.

However, if a client wants to upgrade their site, and the existing platform is old fashioned and difficult to work with, isn't it a good idea to upgrade?

If ALL web pages' URLs are kept exactly the same, wouldn't google still keep them indexed?

sb · 23rd Jan 2010, 07:38 PM

In response to AP's homework assignment:

I’d reduce the size of the Yellow Pages ad by 75% ASAP and increase its effectiveness by offering a Special Report with a big, bold headline something like this:

“The 7 Most Important Things You Must Know Before You Hire Any (Business Trade)!”

Then editorial looking body copy like this:

Los Angeles, CA- A FREE Report has just been released that reveals the 7 most important things you need to know before hiring any (business trade). To get your Free copy of this eye-popping Report, go to: Yellow Pages to get your Special Report now. You’ll save money and headaches! Savings: $30,000 – Increase in sales: Estimated at 10% - 15%

NO spray & pray marketing. Savings $10,000

Discover lifetime value of each customer and use that number as the basis for their marketing budget.

Use on and off page SEO to get website to #1 in the SERP’s for local area. Includes things such as Google Maps, keyword research and title tag for website. Backlinking. Entry to the most important directories and data providers. Send out Press Releases offline and online
Increase in new business: Minimum of 25%.

Set up an autoresponder database system with monthly newsletter, Special Reports and bi-weekly tips.

Create a direct response video and put it on his website as well as upload it to the major video sharing sites.

Create a direct mail campaign to reactivate past customers: Offer incentives for them to join the email list. Client to cover the costs.

Create a direct mail campaign to mail to current customers: Same, get them to join email list. Client covers costs.

Set up customer retention management system: The email marketing system would be part of this but I’d also have them send out Birthday and Christmas cards. Client covers costs.

Increase pricing by 10 - 15%.

Increase conversions by analyzing their process and implementing new strategies.

That’s about as far as I’d go for the $4,997 set-up fee plus $1,497 per month. Increase the set-up fee to $10,000 and $1,997 monthly and I’d add the following services as I see fit:

JV’s – Endorsed Mailings, Article Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Adwords management, WordPress blog, create up-sells, continued video marketing campaign, customer appreciation days.

Chris Ramsey · 23rd Jan 2010, 07:39 PM

By far, the most I make monthly is from email marketing. My clients pay $100 a week (or more) to have me write their emails that go to their list.

This price is small because each and every week they pull more and more customers into their stores and put dollars into their pockets - much more than I charge them.

Derek Allen · 23rd Jan 2010, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by Deezy

I want to start out by saying what an incredible thread this has turned out to be! With that said I figured there are enough pros in here that could hopefully give me some great advice... Please?

I am just getting started in my offline adventure and I have put together a package and a price to offer the package at. If you all would be so kind to let me know what you think of it, what I could add/takeaway, if the price is to high or to low, etc.. I am open to all suggestions and could use all the help I can get.

I will be offering video marketing services to local businesses in my area. I have a college kid that will be my videographer and he is really good. Also, he is only going to charge me $130.00 a shoot with editing. Anyway, here is the package I want to offer as well as the price:

-Keyword research for 5-10 local keywords.
-1 commercial style video.
-5 small slideshow type videos to funnel traffic to the main video and website.
-I will use tubemogul paid edition to blast all of their videos which will have keyword rich titles, descriptions, and tags.
-5 articles submitted to the top article directories linked to main video and website and to try to get some great rankings for the keyword.
-1 press release to be written and submitted to some free press release sites.
-I will also submit their business to the google local search if they are not already on it.
-Add the video to their site if they have one.
PRICE- $800 one time fee.

So, if you minus the $130 for the video that would leave me with $670.00 profit.

What do you guys think? Too expensive, too much? I would also like to have some sort of a package B where I can charge a monthly fee. Maybe host the video for them using viddler, make them some social network sites (facebook, twitter) and charge them to maintain this stuff for them.

I feel like I could charge more but I am not sure. I haven't tested it at all because I am still trying to get my cards in place but, I sure would love your comments, suggestion, and tips.

I want to thank you all in advance for your kindness!

Thanks for all the replies so far! I could still use some more, though..

DogScout · 23rd Jan 2010, 08:54 PM

You know, not just great advice, not just good info, not just three times as many thanks as posts and not just you're average nice guy... But perhaps more than any of that is your are a a good man with a good heart and you don't just talk the talk, you don't even just walk the walk,! You take life to a whole new level when you give away thousands of dollars of information just to help, not just those you give it to, but the people that will benefit most from so many having a plan that is proven put into play for them, namely the business owners.

AND those who are the recipients of AP's generosity and time, God, I hope you take the time and pass it on amongst your circle of IMers that you know without charging them. IT IS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY! You can charge high, because you now are able to deliver 20 times the value of that high charge. THAT is right minded thinking.

YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.

Take a lesson and pass it on. we CAN change this world... at least our little corner of it and when enough corners change, that my friends is a movement (to borrow a line from Arlo Guthrie

) lol. Let's not get selfish with this info, the man most deserving of any income from selling an info product has given to you freely, do NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT. JUST DON'T.

Mark

WarrenIndLLC · 23rd Jan 2010, 09:08 PM

This thread has really opened my eyes. I'm making a killing online but I really haven't thought of doing any offline activity. This thread has really motivated me so thanks!

Fernando Veloso · 24th Jan 2010, 06:03 AM

Threads like this one and the one from Vagabond 007 are changing lives here.

I work the offline crowd since 2004 - but lately I've been changing gears: testing new approaches (what works for you, might not work for me), testing new systems, and testing a new positioning. This is by far my biggest challenge - I clearly understand this is where the difference lives between ME and my expensive competitors: positioning.

That's why I don't want to talk/discuss/elaborate, what services I'm selling - cause that's I've made for 5 years. I just want to focus on positioning. On better positioning, stronger and above my competition.

A positioning so strong, that my customers don't need to ask me what is VideoMarketing or SEO and how can they do it at home.

Lance K · 24th Jan 2010, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by sb

In response to AP's homework assignment:

I’d reduce the size of the Yellow Pages ad by 75% ASAP and increase its effectiveness by offering a Special Report with a big, bold headline something like this:

“The 7 Most Important Things You Must Know Before You Hire Any (Business Trade)!”

Then editorial looking body copy like this:

Los Angeles, CA- A FREE Report has just been released that reveals the 7 most important things you need to know before hiring any (business trade). To get your Free copy of this eye-popping Report, go to: Yellow Pages to get your Special Report now. You’ll save money and headaches!

That will depend on the industry. If someone has a pipe burst, they're probably not interested in getting your "7 Most Important Things You Must Know Before You Hire Any Plumber" guide.

And if you cut the ad size by 75% it may not stick out enough to get those emergency calls.

So whether or not to cut the YP budget and by how much would depend on the industry. But I'd definitely get some sort of tracking mechanism into their ad before the next edition went out (regardless of size).

Brian Alaway · 24th Jan 2010, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by onpurpose

This is a fantastic thread.

I picked up on a comment about not migrating an existing site (that's been indexed on google for awhile) to another platform.

However, if a client wants to upgrade their site, and the existing platform is old fashioned and difficult to work with, isn't it a good idea to upgrade?

If ALL web pages' URLs are kept exactly the same, wouldn't google still keep them indexed?

I'm no SEO expert but I would think that if the urls don't change any downside affect should be minimal if any. You can use a 301 redirect to handle urls that do change. If you go to WordPress you can use a plugin like Redirection to handle the redirects.
I would think the more critical question would be where they are currently ranking for their most profitable keywords. If they are nowhere to be found then an upgrade may be in order. On the other hand if they are currently ranking high then rather than messing with their existing site I would think more along the lines of expanding their virtual real estate.

Brian

sb · 24th Jan 2010, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by Lance K

That will depend on the industry. If someone has a pipe burst, they're probably not interested in getting your "7 Most Important Things You Must Know Before You Hire Any Plumber" guide.

And if you cut the ad size by 75% it may not stick out enough to get those emergency calls.

So whether or not to cut the YP budget and by how much would depend on the industry. But I'd definitely get some sort of tracking mechanism into their ad before the next edition went out (regardless of size).

Thank you, I know that. I'm just working with what we've got here. In some cities $40,000 might get you a full page ad, in others a quarter page. This was a very generic YP ad for example only. I'd most likely have an emergency number on there too, especially if it were a plumber. It may also have a Free Recorded Message number to call and have the Report send by mail. Depending on other factors not known here, I might suggest eliminating the ad completely. And of course there would be tracking mechanisms for EVERYTHING as well as lots of split testing.

Let's see your plan of action. This is a great exercise for all of us to learn from.

Lance K · 24th Jan 2010, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by sb

Thank you, I know that. I'm just working with what we've got here. In some cities $40,000 might get you a full page ad, in others a quarter page. This was a very generic YP ad for example only. I'd most likely have an emergency number on there too, especially if it were a plumber. It may also have a Free Recorded Message number to call and have the Report send by mail. Depending on other factors not known here, I might suggest eliminating the ad completely. And of course there would be tracking mechanisms for EVERYTHING as well as lots of split testing.

Let's see your plan of action. This is a great exercise for all of us to learn from.

I'm working on it.

Curleyjohn · 24th Jan 2010, 01:53 PM

As a previous business owner (2 actually) who, up to a couple of years ago, had no clue as to what this was all about I think we need to keep it simple.

Market the results and not the TOOLS.

Lets not for get the main goals: 30% sales increase and trim the fatty ad budget

1. Increase prices by 15% would equate to $15 per $100 spent. I don't feel that in any of these types of business categories that it will have a negative effect on current business.

2. Create an up sale and/or continuity program that will generate another 10% (I would tell the customer 5%) in sales from current customers.

3. Use current Spray and Pray to aggressively direct market current customer base. Use a discounted offer to claim at least a 20% (400 repeat customers)(again I would lower my quote to the customer to 10%) increase in sales from that 2000 person database. I personally feel this is a conservative figure, especially if the client provides good service.

"Mr. Customer, these 3 simple improvements to your business, will increase your business 30% (I'm thinking 45%) right now with out even looking for new customers but by using what you have in hand right now. This doesn't even include the $20 grand you can save with your YP in the future. So now I have shown you how to add an additional 300 thousand to your bottom line and drastically reduce your ad budget, will that be cash or check?" (w/wink and smile)

THEN SHUT THE HELL UP

*Use any tools you deem necessary to build and increase current data base/sales. i.e. autoresponders, seo, articles, blah, blah, blah......but leave these out of the conversation.

As a previous business owner, I want to see where I can get more out of my current efforts without spending any more money or at least what I preceive as spending more money. i.e. advertising etc.

We are business marketing consultants not internet marketing worker bees.

sb · 24th Jan 2010, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Lance K

I'm working on it.

I KNOW this is going to sound snotty but I think we should do this exercise WITHOUT reading what others posted, for obvious reasons. I ignored this thread after AP's assignment post until after I posted my plan. You can bet I'm going to read all of them now.

Now I'm pulling my Dan Kennedy, Jeff Paul, Jay Abraham, Maxwell Sackheim, Robert Collier, Lester Wunderman, Ben Suarez and more, books, newsletters etc., off the shelf and seeing what I've forgotten.

Here's what I've come up with so far:
• Cable TV ads
• Set up referral system
• Make concern calls
• Client of the Month
• New client welcome kit

Almost everyone of these things are strategies I should have been implementing with my clients but never have, except for referral systems. I forgot to include that in my original plan.

I'll add more as I get through the mounds of reading. Crap! My happy little mole hill has become a mountain.

Lance K · 24th Jan 2010, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by sb

I KNOW this is going to sound snotty but I think we should do this exercise WITHOUT reading what others posted, for obvious reasons.

Not snotty at all.

But you can rest assured I have no intention of using the replies of others for inspiration.

vitto · 24th Jan 2010, 04:58 PM

I probably should have ate, but AP here is my proposal to Mr. Business Owner..
Mr. Business owner, my plan is to assist you in increasing exposure to your expert status, starting today. You offer a wonderful service that people out there want and need. In order to do this we will be creating a variety of videos, podcast and articles on topics that your prospects want to know and should want to know about. We will then distribute the media over a wide variety of networks, reaching your local target market where they search for information i.e. mobile phones, computers and other web enabled devices.

Mr. Business Owner we are talking about a reach of over a 100 networks, including the online YP directory. See the difference between in this method Mr. Business Owner is that YP only gives access to customers that look into YP. On top of that, in the YP customers will only see your ads. Using the other methods that I am suggesting Mr. Business Owner, prospects will get to know you and the services that you provide. Let me ask you a question Mr. customer, would you go to a heart surgeon that you plucked out of the YP and that has the biggest ad, or would you go to the surgeon that you have gotten to know via video, articles, podcast etc. I don’t know about you Mr. Business Owner, but I would rather go to the surgeon that has practically let me into his office without even meeting him. Because I have made a virtual connection with that surgeon, he’s on your facebook, MySpace page etc, you see all of the updates about his surgical break throughs via twitter. Mr. Business Owner, I’m not going to sit here and talk to you about SEO just yet, which is only a small part of the equation. Why is SEO a small part of the equation, well because SEO truly only benefits your website, what I am here to offer you Mr. Business Owner, is value based. When your prospects see the amount of value that you have provided them for free, they will most definitely stop by your website, or even better, walk right into our office.

Now let’s say that a customer goes your website, you currently wouldn’t know whether they came or left. With the system you have in place you wouldn’t know their names or email address, you wouldn’t know what drove them to your website and how long they stayed on your site. Would you? Wouldn’t this be valuable information to have? If you just knew the names of the people that visited your website and had away to contact them, wouldn’t it be great to follow-up with these leads? I’m sure it would. Well we can set a system in place that would capture leads of your prospects; we’ll offer them a report on ways they can better their life using “XYZ” in exchange for contact information. We will also create a new sign in sheet at your office that will include a space for an email address. Why would we do that, well you just ran a special last week didn’t you? You also have 2000 names and addresses of past clients correct? Well I will assume that if you wanted those 2000 clients to know about that special, you would have to use direct mail, costing in paper, ink and postage. But if you had their email address you can send out a campaign while sitting on your back porch having your coffee, from your laptop, saving you thousands of dollars, plus its faster and you even track what messages had a higher open rate and response rate.

Still want to hear about SEO, well Mr. Business Owner, part of that will be down through the submissions of the videos, articles, podcast and bookmarking. It a method called link building. When we submit the media that we create for you, we will attach your website to the media as well. We will also do some competition spying for you so that we can see why your competitors are ranking higher that you are and we’ll compare the data against your webpage. We will then make the necessary changes to your website so that we can increase your websites exposure as well as your exposure as they expert in XYZ.

Mr. Business Owner ultimately you can learn how to do this yourself if you purchase my Online Marketing Mastery Course for Business Owners for $3,999. But I am sure that you would rather save yourself the time by having a well qualified and experienced team of experts that have the time to learn, study and test different methods for you. You've proven that you are successful. You know as much as I do, that the best way to get things done is to hire people that can execute certain task, better and faster and more effectively than yourself so that you can focus more on creating new products and doing what you love.

Mr. Business owner I know your time is valuable so I will leave you with this. Times are changing, they way of marketing in the past is not the same as it is today. I have meetings set-up with your competitors throughout the week and I will only work with one of you. Call me when you’re ready to make substantial change in the way you market while improving your bottom line.

Here is an over view of services
Multi-Media Marketing
Sets you up as the local expert and authority on a topic
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Build relationships with prospect and update them on news and discounts
Search Engine Optimization
Keeps your website on the good side of search engines, and tracks visitor behavior
Lead Capture Set-Up
Capture prospects information
Email Marketing
The money is in your list. Allows you to save thousands of dollars by simply typing out an ad and pushing a button

onpurpose · 24th Jan 2010, 06:06 PM

Thanks for your response Balaway, I appreciate it!

fab · 24th Jan 2010, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by AP

Advertising/Marketing budget per year is roughly 5% of sales $50,000
Spends 80% of his advertising budget ($40,000 year) on Yellow Pages
The balance of 20% ($10,000) is spent on Spray & Pray type marketing
Gross Profit margins are 25%

I would like to see all thoughts. There shouldn't be any criticism from anyone, we are all here to learn.

I think my response would be:

"Mr.Businessowner thank you for your time and interest but at this time I don't think your marketing budget will allow my full suite of services. However, I would be glad to sit down with you and help create a full marketing strategy for your business for a one time charge of $997."

The reason I'd turn him down is because he doesn't appear to be my ideal target.

He is in a vertical market but his profit margin is too low and his overall ad spend isn't enough(remember, I never increase a client's budget) and he's on the low end of my total sales range, 1-5m/yr.

My ideal target has a higher profit margin and is using TV, billboards, radio and YP, a real big spender who really understands the importance of advertising.

There's definitely room to help this prospect, just maybe not for ME to help him.

Show me how you could justify ME giving YOU a $4,997 set-up fee plus $1,497 per month (starting in 30 days) 12 month agreement. Total price is $23,000.

My prospects won't be asking things like that, they've been through my funnel and have already decided they want my services! Price is no longer a real factor, the WANT me bad and price is really just a formality by the time we meet in person. They understand the ROI will far out weight the investment because I told them so every step of the way through my funnel.

I could be way off here! I'm just going by what I've read from AP's posts

Tanner · 24th Jan 2010, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by AP

This will be the scenario: I get a lot of these.

Service type (repeat biz) business: Dentist, Carpet cleaner, Pest Control, Plumber, HVAC, etc... Mom & Pop type biz

Gross Sales: 1.2 Million in 2008, decreased to 1.1 Million in 2009, sales have Flat-lined. Incorporated for over 5+ years. Has 4 employees, spouse works part-time helping out.

Client has a nice website, ranked page 3 Google. His domain listed Page 3 Google is his entire Internet presence.

Advertising/Marketing budget per year is roughly 5% of sales $50,000

Spends 80% of his advertising budget ($40,000 year) on Yellow Pages

The balance of 20% ($10,000) is spent on Spray & Pray type marketing

Has a database (Names & Addresses only) of 2,000 past & current customers

Gross Profit margins are 25%

Now you make this statement:

Mr Business owner, "If I could show you a way to cut the Fat & Waste from your marketing budget and at the same time Increase your sales by 30%, would you be interested?"

Show me how you could justify ME giving YOU a $4,997 set-up fee plus $1,497 per month (starting in 30 days) 12 month agreement. Total price is $23,000.

I want YOU to show me what you could do to "Cut the Fat & Waste in my Advertising budget and Increase my sales.

In addition, I want to see ALL the Benefits to your plan even if I just Break even with your fees vs my increased profits and the end of 12 months.

End
************************************************** ***

AP, here is my proposed method for this scenario:

Ok, to narrow it down a bit for me and make it easier to design a plan of attack, I am going to assume that the business in question is a home services business (HVAC, carpet cleaner, Plumber, Pest control).

Immediate implementation (all taken care of within the first month):

Stop all Spray and Pray spending – Benefit is money can now be saved and used only in trackable ROI marketing campaigns.
Sit down with owner and figure out a reasonable LTV for his customers – Benefit, allows us to forecast and better plan future marketing campaigns
Find out when YP contract expires – Benefit so we know when to address the various issues associated with his YP Ad
Go through financials with owner to see where he is spending his money in addition to his marketing budget. His GPM is fairly low for a home services business and I want to see what could be attributing to that. – Benefit is that we will both have a better understanding of where money is going and it will help me in making further calculations and adjustments.
Sit down with owner and work out his company’s Breakeven numbers I need to know what his breakeven is per day, per hour and per minute. – Benefit is that I can use information to find out where money is being wasted in relation to time and I can also use these numbers to build an effective price point for his products and services.
Find out when the last time he raised his prices to account for inflation. – benefit is that it will let me know if he has ever raised his prices to keep profits up.
Look at their current service/product prices and see what they charge compared to what they offer and see if there is room to bump the prices up a bit (10 - 15%). – Benefit is instant increase in profits for no additional work.
Find out what their current close rate is for prospects to customers and see if we can enhance that through better training, scripts or product/service offerings – Benefit is better utilization of existing incoming prospect, which means more customers and more money.
Sit down with owner and develop several different service options and packages to allow for quick and easy upsells. – Benefit is more money earned from each customer
Train estimator, service technician and phone operator/scheduler on how to sell the newly created packages and how to push the service options as upsells. – Benefit increased profits from each job.
Train the people who answer the phones to ask how the prospect heard about their company. Implement immediately – benefit instant ongoing customer tracking.
If they give estimates in person – train the person giving the estimate to ask how the customer heard about them and then write that down on our copy of the estimate sheet. – Benefit instant and ongoing customer tracking.
Find out how they currently schedule jobs and how they distribute the work to the various work trucks/crews. The purpose is to look for any inefficiencies in scheduling, job assignment, to see where money is being wasted – The benefit is that we can make their service calls more efficient and maximize revenues on a day by day basis.
Train the people who answer the phones to ask how the prospect heard about their company. Implement immediately – benefit instant ongoing customer tracking.
If they give estimates in person – train the person giving the estimate to ask how the customer heard about them and then write that down on our copy of the estimate sheet. – Benefit instant and ongoing customer tracking.
Implement a Thank You card campaign that sends out a thank you note after completion of service. Thank you note will also contain referral coupons. – Benefit satisfied customer who will stay customers and potential of additional referrals.
Go through and have them sort customer list into the following groups: current customers, customers who haven’t had service performed in 1 year, customers who haven’t had service performed in 2 years or more – Benefit is that it lets us know who our sales are coming from, and shows us who to try an reactivate into a paying customer first. We work newest to oldest.
Isolate a list of the company’s golden 20% - the 20% of his customers who spend the most money with his company. – Benefit – we can now give these people special treatment and turn them into devoted referral machines for us.
Set up an ongoing Criss Cross new customer campaign with 3 part direct mail series – The benefit is a steady flow of new business from areas you already provide service in with a very low investment.
Install analytics tracking code on his website. – benefit is that it lets me know how many site visitors he’s getting and what they are looking at.
Look at customer list and determine what the percentage breakdown of commercial clients to residential clients. – Benefit is that it shows me what market the company is stronger in and what area may have been neglected. This is helpful for deciding on what market our direct mail campaigns should focus on.

That’s all for now, as we first have to enhance and modify the foundation to ensure that it will be able to capitalize on the growth that will occur later. If you don’t fix things first there is no reason to spend more money on extra or improved marketing.

Secondary Implementation will include new direct mail campaigns, customer retention programs, customer reactivation programs, YP redesign, website, internet marketing, email capture, excreta … All of this will come later on after all of the above items have been taken care of as I cannot effectively plan out new marketing campaigns, strategies or budgets without a lot of the above information.

Looking forward to seeing what you think.

Willie Crawford · 24th Jan 2010, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by AP

It's a lot easier than most people think it is.

I agree. I basically line up the SEO job, develop a plan
with the client, and then outsource all of the work to
very well-trained workers.

Willie

dremora · 24th Jan 2010, 08:58 PM

Great posts guys.

There's is a great inexpensive CRM software called SugarCRM, it costs only $300 for small business. You can make a list of VIP customers with it and track a lot of metrics. Its not too hard to set up and learn. I'd suggest adding that to the package deal.

AndrewCavanagh · 24th Jan 2010, 09:45 PM

Here are a few more things you might want to think about:

# The two keys to what you charge are that...

1. You're happy doing the work and/or outsourcing it for the fee you charge upfront before you do anything. In other words be sure that if all you ever get paid is your upfront fee you're still happy doing the work or getting it done for that upfront fee.

2. The extra profits you make for a business with the work you do are more than what you charge that business.

This should be a personal commitment on your part before you even take on a client...that you will help them make more profits than what they pay you.

# If you're making more profits for a business than what they pay you they will hire you over and over again for project after project or happily pay your ongoing fees.

The key is to make them profits.

# What service you provide is irrelevant. Whether you outsource or not is irrelevant (although it is a better business model long term in most cases).

You can provide nearly any kind of marketing or internet marketing service for a business including pay per click, SEO, online video, web design, copywriting, lead generating report writing, press releases online and offline, information product creation, joint venture brokering, creating affiliate sales systems...it makes no difference.

If you make more profits for a business than what you charge then you're doing the business a service.

On the other hand if you're not making a business real profits beyond what you charge then you're effectively ripping them off.

Don't get so focused on "what service can I charge a business for?" that you forget that the fundamental goal is to make them profits.

Do that and everything else becomes quite simple.

# Always remember that when you're providing services to a brick and mortar business it's not about you or whatever whizzbang service you think you can give them.

In fact having a preconceived idea of what you'll provide a business makes it far more difficult to get hired because you're now trying to sell a specific service instead of going through the process of finding out what the business owner wants and needs and customizing a solution for him that he'll get excited about.

Effective marketing and getting hired requires that you think about what the business owner wants, what he needs...what motivates him.

Take your eyes off yourself, put them on the business owner, learn to ask questions and really listen and you're going to get hired more often and at much higher fees.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

DogScout · 24th Jan 2010, 09:52 PM

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

Here are a few more things you might want to think about:

# The two keys to what you charge are that...

1. You're happy doing the work and/or outsourcing it for the fee you charge upfront before you do anything. In other words be sure that if all you ever get paid is your upfront fee you're still happy doing the work or getting it done for that upfront fee.

2. The extra profits you make for a business with the work you do are more than what you charge that business.

This should be a personal commitment on your part before you even take on a client...that you will help them make more profits than what they pay you.

# If you're making more profits for a business than what they pay you they will hire you over and over again for project after project or happily pay your ongoing fees.

The key is to make them profits.

# What service you provide is irrelevant. Whether you outsource or not is irrelevant (although it is a better business model long term in most cases).

You can provide nearly any kind of marketing or internet marketing service for a business including pay per click, SEO, online video, web design, copywriting, lead generating report writing, press releases online and offline, information product creation, joint venture brokering, creating affiliate sales systems...it makes no difference.

If you make more profits for a business than what you charge then you're doing the business a service.

On the other hand if you're not making a business real profits beyond what you charge then you're effectively ripping them off.

Don't get so focused on "what service can I charge a business for?" that you forget that the fundamental goal is to make them profits.

Do that and everything else becomes quite simple.

# Always remember that when you're providing services to a brick and mortar business it's not about you or whatever whizzbang service you think you can give them.

In fact having a preconceived idea of what you'll provide a business makes it far more difficult to get hired because you're now trying to sell a specific service instead of going through the process of finding out what the business owner wants and needs and customizing a solution for him that he'll get excited about.

Effective marketing and getting hired requires that you think about what the business owner wants, what he needs...what motivates him.

Take your eyes off yourself, put them on the business owner, learn to ask questions and really listen and you're going to get hired more often and at much higher fees.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Exactly and bears repeating, so read it again

It is about ROI and marketing. Sometimes the on-line positioning actually becomes incidental to the entire process, (But of course is essential and beneficial to the business in the long term.)

slvrsrfr · 24th Jan 2010, 11:29 PM

First seek to understand rather than to be understood.

I'm glad you made your post Andrew. The focus should always be front and center, what can I do to add value to my client's business? How can I help her make more money and cement her customer's loyalty?

I reckon that if we do that, our fees will be commensurate with our clients' successes.

Not only that, our ROI we offer will be better because our mindset is more in line with creating greater opportunities for the client which will create more income for them and conversely us.

I'm lovin' this thread.

reilly3000 · 25th Jan 2010, 11:05 AM

My homework.

AP – What a great exercise. I’m loving everybody’s ideas so far, this stuff is gold.

1.I would have my assistant (or myself) secret shop them and take lots of notes.

2.Work with business owner to establish goals and metrics. Such as:
a.Weekly revenue targets to hit 30% sales increase (seasonally adjusted)
b.Current and goal customer lifetime value
c.Target customer acquisition cost (to keep marketing accountable and maintain or improve gross margins)

3.Look for opportunities to improve packages, create upsell/crosssell opportunities, and/or increase price. I won’t get too lost in the weeds here- just looking for obvious ways to get 10-15% more out of 10-15% of their clients.

4.Do a quick study of the competitive landscape and size of market. Again, not some major study, just enough data to establish positioning.

5.Work with business owner to create or refine their unique selling proposition. Get it printed on a big sign for them to hang in their back room. Every employee needs to memorize it (and be able to recite it falling backwards off a barstool).

6.Marketing budget for the next FY:
a.$35K yellowpages (depending on their vertical cutting YP can be a huge mistake and could get you in trouble – see below for details)
b.$7K online
c. $7K Direct Mail
d.$1K Tracking, marketing automation, email

7.Yellowpages plan
a.If they are doing a full page or double truck- cut it. The goal should be to be 1 or 2 ad sizes down from their biggest competitor. YP reducers for years have been showing the efficacy of smaller ads. People don’t want to buy from the guy who spent the most on marketing.
b.Rewrite copy with direct response offer
c.Include call tracking number and special URL
d.Take the money from shrinking their one big ad and move it to the following:
i.Try to find multiple headings
ii.YP black hat: create another business and get it listed in the same heading – 2 or 3 of these is really powerful =all depends on the rep.
iii.Move some of the money to online ads. Yellowpages.com and superpages are very high converting sites, I guarantee.
iv.Open up accounts with smaller directories and offer them pennies on the dollar for a good ad. You’ll be surprised what they’ll agree to.

8.Online: some PPC, facebook ads, vertical directories, and online display ads (I have gotten almost as good of CTRs and CPL with display as search… great stuff)

9.Direct Mail: Hit their current customers with an upsell offer in one zipcode, a referral offer in another zipcode etc. Test, measure, repeat.

10. Put all of this into a nice 10 page marketing plan. This alone is worth the money. I know an agency is my small market here (about 400K in the metro) that charged $13K for a 40 page market research document.

11.SYSTEMS:
a.Depending on size+vertical an autoresonder or marketing automation package
b.Almost never a CRM. CRM implementations are long, painful, and highly prone to failure. HIGHLY. You don’t want to be the one to instigate that mess.
c.Web analytics a MUST
d.CALL TRACKING. MUST DO. No money gets spent without a call tracking number. There should be 10-30 numbers active depending on how many things you’re trying to pull off at once. Budget for it, reap the rewards.
e.Phone system- get some music on hold marketing, speed up the phone tree, and take all steps possible to reduce hold times.

12.Training:
a.Anybody who anwser’s the phone: you are talking to a celebrity/senator every time you pick up the phone. Treat them like gold.
b.Sales/estimator: listen to your customer, sell based on their needs, not your packages. Don’t mention a benefit unless they mention a need.
c.Business owner: create a metrics culture. I want to see big thermometers with sales targets, incentive programs, and every employee having access to data. This moves the needle. Everybody can affect the numbers, everybody should know the numbers. Best buy has creamed the competition (they are the ONLY ones standing) because every 30 minutes each dept head goes to all the sales people and shows the latest sales figures, returns, etc, vs how corporate expects them to perform. This is bigger motivation than commission.

13.SEO:
a.Keyword research
b.Local business directory domination
c.Some onpage seo
d.Create a video and syndicate your method of choice
e.Create 3 articles, syndicate
f.1 press release, syndicate
g.some social bookmarking, maybe

14.Social Media
a.Create lots of facebook, twitter, etc to reserve names
b.Build a twitter account followers with software automation
c.Create company blog if they are ready to run it (or hire my content specialist to do it for them!)

15.Call 2x monthly to discuss metrics, opportunities for improvement, and any new marketing/content ideas. Measure all marketing dollars to web and call tracking data to get them to conform to target acquisition cost (without a crm you'll have to assume all leads convert at the same rate which isn't true, but for many cases this is acceptable).

** 16. How I would get e-mail addresses: 4x6 postcard to database with $5 gift card offer for completing a survey. with 2000 names, assume 500 responses- so $2500 cost for promotion plus about $.49/piece for mailer for a total of ~$3500. Feedback? Invaluable. E-mail addresses? Invaluable. Save $$ on redemptions and mailings by asking customers to pick up their gift cards at the business location. Greet them warmly, thank them for their response, and tell them about the referral program.

In order for me to break even on my fees I have to bring in $23K profit or $92K in revenue with my recommendations. That is a 8% lift in sales, I promised 30%. I think the above plan can bring in 50% easily, depending on their state of affairs. There are probably 101 more things they COULD do, but this WOULD hit their mark and make me their best friend.

AP, Dexx, and all: I have had all this information rattling around in my head for years. I LOVE marketing and sales. I love learning, and I really love helping people. So WHY was I so stuck on being a “web guy” and offering SEO and wordpress sites? You’ve all really opened my eyes to how what I already understand can be put to work to transform people’s businesses and lives.

Spiros · 25th Jan 2010, 01:35 PM

My goal would be to take his initial $5K and turn it into $10K, $15K, $20K or more in immediate sales.

Thus:
-- my services become 'free', which will justify my price (very important)
-- biz owner is excited by what I can do, thus is eager to write monthly checks
-- biz owner is happy to give me referrals immediately

The lowest-hanging fruit is usually past customers. I'd take the $5K and do a 3-step mail campaign to the 500 most recent customers (these being the best-quality names).

I coordinate with the biz owner to create for the mailing a USP, an irresistible offer, and great risk reversal, none of which he probably has in place.

Lumpy mail can be done for $1.50 apiece or less, thus making my cost $2,250. I coordinate the mailing to make everything hands-free for the biz owner, and (more importantly) to make sure it's done right.

That leaves me with $2,750. This pays me for my time to:
-- create & execute the mail campaign
-- add his biz to my aweber account (takes 10 minutes)
-- give his designer the code to add an opt-in lightbox to his site (another 10 minutes)
-- create a blueprint/mindmap/marketing plan with which to 'wow' the biz owner and justify the monthly fees he'll pay me for the next 12 months.

30 days later the biz owner is receiving sales from the 1st and probably 2nd step of the mail campaign. We also have the beginnings of an email list growing (although there are no messages to send to it yet, because he hasn't paid me to create them).

I march in with a complete blueprint for where he needs to go from here. At that point we'll talk about all his opportunities from upsells, cross-sells, monetizing his new email list, JVs, dominating Google, etc.

That's my preferred approach. Rather than giving a long list of things I can do, let's make him some money first and show that every time he gives me $1, he gets $5 or $10 back.

Then it's easy for him to write me more checks.

silho · 25th Jan 2010, 02:17 PM

Is anyone having any success offering mobile advertising services to your local clients?

Are you using the information you learned in Cell Phone Cash?

dremora · 25th Jan 2010, 02:42 PM

Here is my plan, (besides identifying and providing solutions for some in house problems such as phone handling and staff behavior)

1. Create an autoresponder database of their past/existing clients right away and start following up with them using periodical newsletters (preferably monthly)

2. Start a coupon campaign to attract more business and get repeat business from the former/existing customers. Send them a discount deal on their birthday. Give them a free botox/HVAC check/something lucrative if they bring 2 referrals and those referrals purchase service.

3. More coupons, more freebies. Give away small (but attractive enough) gifts to lure them into the store. Then upsell, cross sell, limited time offers.
Discounts, deals, coupons, giveaways are the primary tools for attracting customers and getting repeat business in economic recessions.

4. Create facebook, twitter pages and encourage the employees and customers to sign up - by mentioning there will be coupon/discount/freebie deals that will be announced only on those sites, if you don't follow/friend/become a fan you will miss out! (Sephora does this, Apmex does this, both are making a killing in this economy. I would show their campaigns and revenue stats etc as real life examples to educate the prospective client)

5. Does the client advertise video testimonials from their customers? (Most of the time, the answer is no for mom&pop operations) I'd show them the view stats of youtube vids of their competition or similar businesses in other cities etc, to make a point. Well done video testimonials featuring before-after images and emotional customers get a ton of views and comments.

6. Sweepstakes campaign would be also nice. Give away a Nexus One phone to the customers who buy services between this date and that date. Then of course advertise the winner everywhere using posters at the business, video testimonial and whatnot. Advertising that kind of things on social media can easily create a viral wave in town.

7.Make a VIP customer list for the customers who spend a lot at the shop. Show appreciation by sending them holiday and birthday gifts or even better, the business owner giving a sincere appreciation call on their special days as well (given the fact that the number of such customers is not too huge to make this a big chore) showing appreciation to your top clientele is a good thing and brings more business/helps to keep them with you.

8. Do some SEO to get them more traffic on the internets. Rank them higher on google, etc.

As for offers and campaigns, I think it's best to split test those and stick to the ones that work the best.

Can't really think of anything else at the moment.

kellysharali · 25th Jan 2010, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by silho

Is anyone having any success offering mobile advertising services to your local clients?

Are you using the information you learned in Cell Phone Cash?

I truly believe SMS marketing (mobile advertising) can be a very valuable marketing tool for many local businesses (restaurants, bars, salons, etc). There are lots of platforms available so you should have no trouble choosing who to go with. I would suggest getting a private label program (white label) as you will profit from it a lot more rather than a simple affiliate program.

silho · 25th Jan 2010, 03:22 PM

Thanks Kelly:

I have my own SMS system (that I will be white labeling very soon), mobile app store platform, and mobile marketing course. I've been doing a lot of mobile marketing for small businesses and major corporations for 10 years now so I definitely know how great it can be for local businesses.

I really wish so many people weren't burnt on mobile from another course they bought last year.

miami · 25th Jan 2010, 03:38 PM

I started marketing to offline customers as soon as I realized how hard it was to beat YOU GUYS! LOL

It is easy really. Well as easy as any other business.

Check out the software I use to do this. It has all the tools including autoresponders, contact management, templates for squeeze pages, sales pages, and all kinds of stuff. It even tells you step by step how to use video, articles, press releases etc. Too cool.

And the thing is you use it to market your business - and you sell it to them for their business! (And make a commission of course.)

Contact me for more - or join my weekly webinar (See my signature) and I'll help you!

Dexx · 25th Jan 2010, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by reilly3000

My homework.

AP – What a great exercise. I’m loving everybody’s ideas so far, this stuff is gold.

1.I would have my assistant (or myself) secret shop them and take lots of notes.

2.Work with business owner to establish goals and metrics. Such as:
a.Weekly revenue targets to hit 30% sales increase (seasonally adjusted)
b.Current and goal customer lifetime value
c.Target customer acquisition cost (to keep marketing accountable and maintain or improve gross margins)

3.Look for opportunities to improve packages, create upsell/crosssell opportunities, and/or increase price. I won’t get too lost in the weeds here- just looking for obvious ways to get 10-15% more out of 10-15% of their clients.

4.Do a quick study of the competitive landscape and size of market. Again, not some major study, just enough data to establish positioning.

5.Work with business owner to create or refine their unique selling proposition. Get it printed on a big sign for them to hang in their back room. Every employee needs to memorize it (and be able to recite it falling backwards off a barstool).

6.Marketing budget for the next FY:
a.$35K yellowpages (depending on their vertical cutting YP can be a huge mistake and could get you in trouble – see below for details)
b.$7K online
c. $7K Direct Mail
d.$1K Tracking, marketing automation, email

7.Yellowpages plan
a.If they are doing a full page or double truck- cut it. The goal should be to be 1 or 2 ad sizes down from their biggest competitor. YP reducers for years have been showing the efficacy of smaller ads. People don’t want to buy from the guy who spent the most on marketing.
b.Rewrite copy with direct response offer
c.Include call tracking number and special URL
d.Take the money from shrinking their one big ad and move it to the following:
i.Try to find multiple headings
ii.YP black hat: create another business and get it listed in the same heading – 2 or 3 of these is really powerful =all depends on the rep.
iii.Move some of the money to online ads. Yellowpages.com and superpages are very high converting sites, I guarantee.
iv.Open up accounts with smaller directories and offer them pennies on the dollar for a good ad. You’ll be surprised what they’ll agree to.

8.Online: some PPC, facebook ads, vertical directories, and online display ads (I have gotten almost as good of CTRs and CPL with display as search… great stuff)

9.Direct Mail: Hit their current customers with an upsell offer in one zipcode, a referral offer in another zipcode etc. Test, measure, repeat.

10. Put all of this into a nice 10 page marketing plan. This alone is worth the money. I know an agency is my small market here (about 400K in the metro) that charged $13K for a 40 page market research document.

11.SYSTEMS:
a.Depending on size+vertical an autoresonder or marketing automation package
b.Almost never a CRM. CRM implementations are long, painful, and highly prone to failure. HIGHLY. You don’t want to be the one to instigate that mess.
c.Web analytics a MUST
d.CALL TRACKING. MUST DO. No money gets spent without a call tracking number. There should be 10-30 numbers active depending on how many things you’re trying to pull off at once. Budget for it, reap the rewards.
e.Phone system- get some music on hold marketing, speed up the phone tree, and take all steps possible to reduce hold times.

12.Training:
a.Anybody who anwser’s the phone: you are talking to a celebrity/senator every time you pick up the phone. Treat them like gold.
b.Sales/estimator: listen to your customer, sell based on their needs, not your packages. Don’t mention a benefit unless they mention a need.
c.Business owner: create a metrics culture. I want to see big thermometers with sales targets, incentive programs, and every employee having access to data. This moves the needle. Everybody can affect the numbers, everybody should know the numbers. Best buy has creamed the competition (they are the ONLY ones standing) because every 30 minutes each dept head goes to all the sales people and shows the latest sales figures, returns, etc, vs how corporate expects them to perform. This is bigger motivation than commission.

13.SEO:
a.Keyword research
b.Local business directory domination
c.Some onpage seo
d.Create a video and syndicate your method of choice
e.Create 3 articles, syndicate
f.1 press release, syndicate
g.some social bookmarking, maybe

14.Social Media
a.Create lots of facebook, twitter, etc to reserve names
b.Build a twitter account followers with software automation
c.Create company blog if they are ready to run it (or hire my content specialist to do it for them!)

15.Call 2x monthly to discuss metrics, opportunities for improvement, and any new marketing/content ideas. Measure all marketing dollars to web and call tracking data to get them to conform to target acquisition cost (without a crm you'll have to assume all leads convert at the same rate which isn't true, but for many cases this is acceptable).

** 16. How I would get e-mail addresses: 3x5 postcard to database with $5 gift card offer for completing a survey. with 2000 names, assume 500 responses- so $2500 cost for promotion plus about $.80/piece for mailer for a total of $4100. Feedback? Invaluable. E-mail addresses? Invaluable. Save $$ on redemptions and mailings by asking customers to pick up their gift cards at the business location. Greet them warmly, thank them for their response, and tell them about the referral program.

In order for me to break even on my fees I have to bring in $23K profit or $92K in revenue with my recommendations. That is a 8% lift in sales, I promised 30%. I think the above plan can bring in 50% easily, depending on their state of affairs. There are probably 101 more things they COULD do, but this WOULD hit their mark and make me their best friend.

AP, Dexx, and all: I have had all this information rattling around in my head for years. I LOVE marketing and sales. I love learning, and I really love helping people. So WHY was I so stuck on being a “web guy” and offering SEO and wordpress sites? You’ve all really opened my eyes to how what I already understand can be put to work to transform people’s businesses and lives.

Wow, if this post doesn't open up a world of ideas and opportunities to everyone in this forum I don't know what will!

The first 5 steps alone could be done by anybody WITHOUT needing any technological background or SEO-mastery, this is exactly what we're talking about.

Hell I dont think there is anything in this idea that can't be trained to team members and then outsourced for scalability.

Well done Sir, well done! =)

sb · 25th Jan 2010, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by Dexx

Wow, if this post doesn't open up a world of ideas and opportunities to everyone in this forum I don't know what will!

The first 5 steps alone could be done by anybody WITHOUT needing any technological background or SEO-mastery, this is exactly what we're talking about.

Hell I dont think there is anything in this idea that can't be trained to team members and then outsourced for scalability.

Well done Sir, well done! =)

Agreed. I printed that one out. Thank you reilly3000, good stuff.

Jay Rhome · 25th Jan 2010, 05:40 PM

Just wanted to let you guys know that Maria Gudelis is letting people watch a real case study evolve before our eyes - from how the sales rep closed the deal to evaluation to how the solutions are implemented.

She's charging a mere $5 so I thought it'd interest a few of us in this thread.

I can PM the link if necessary (not an affiliate link)

Maria Gudelis · 25th Jan 2010, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by AP

I know of no faster way to make $10,000 in the next 3 weeks than to Market to Offline Brick & Mortar.

~AP

Love that quote AP and all the other great stuff in this thread...

Also dig the "starting from the inside" - sometimes it is easy to forget that there are soooo many other solutions other then internet marketing, SEO, etc. to offer local / offline businesses.

For instance, when I was doing a survey with dental practices, I was pleasantly suprised to come up with one practice that has all the staff in the office trained on how to 'color code' their customers..

as in the blue,yellow, red, green personalities...now that really rocked me as I know in sales how important that is to help in building a relationship with a prospect and to find a dental practice having files on each and every patient as to what color personality they are..

..now that is one practice who knows their existing customers are their most valuable golden asset!

And that is one more example of a service we can help out with to local businesses.

Credibility - a huge amount has already been offered up in this thread and the only things I can think of to add:

A. Whitepapers and case studies - the term 'Whitepaper' is known be the bigger corps and it basically is a case study on a certain topic...so for instance in addition to offering as a lead gen magnet a 'case study' on social media successes...you could offer a White Paper on "How ________ enter the niche here e.g. doctors____ Are Profiting from Social Media Trends" and include case studies, survey's interviews etc. and your marketing company conclusions

We used to use tons of whitepapers when I was with the big consulting firms.

B. Surveys - yes -

hmmm...this is a bit top secret..whoever capitalizes on this tip - please donate money to Haiti with some of your profits

What I mean by surveys is NOT what we as IM'rs are used to seeing - (which work great too)

What I mean is using a survey to get you INSTANT AUTHORITY IN THAT NICHE!

Here's what you do (this was my first consulting gig for Price waterhouse and they still have the MARKET leader in that industry)

1. You do this yourself or hiring a bright young business / marketing intern to compile this

2. you decide on the industry (niche)

3. You create a very comprehensive survey - seriously - one that takes at least 20 minutes of a questionnaire/survey to fill out

4. why in the world would an executive or biz owner spend the 20 minutes with your marketing firm to complete it (do this via phone or in person by the way - not electronic as this is one of the steps to the relationship building and positioning)

- they do this as the 'carrot' you offer in return is that EVERY one gets access to the results - I mean cutting edge industry specific stuff they benefit from the info - all their competitors are filling it out to...

5. You then tally up the info from the surveys and PUBLISH the results in a Symposium for that niche...KACHING!! You fedex a copy of the results to each and every executive/biz owner you surveyed so they benefit from the results...

this is huge - you can create a million dollar consulting business from the above.

You are recognized as the instant authority in this...

you do this survey every year so it becomes the ANNUAL survey, you get instant leader authority in this niche as the 'go to consulting firm'

Looking for an example? e.g. I sure would want to know out of 100 dental offices, what percentage of their annual revenues is going towards marketing, what percentage towards social media, what percentage is using xyz method etc.

I used to collect financial reports from executives, compile the results and it would all get bundled up into the "Annual Report on ____ the niche"

C. Have a Methodology (heck most of you know why my offline money mindmap/marketing blueprint works - clients DIGG methodology) - every big consulting firm has their own 'proprietary methodology for implementing xyz" and it sells..

in reality - it is similar to the competitions but presented slightly different with a whiz bang name...

what do you do - brand your own methodology!

It makes prospects feel more confident with your firm.

D. Hmmm...darn it - I know I had more to put here but got so excited about B above I forgot it!

E. oh, remembered a doozy - one of my mentors who was Charles Givens' right hand man so to say...always advised this - have corporate locations - meaning get virtual offices...in different countries or cities if you want to go after bigger clients, grow bigger - so you can have a virtual office in London, Toronto, New York...

heck - I remember losing a prospect once a few years back because they said "Well they are on Madison Ave in New York" -

huh - imagine that.... perception does matter and nowadays - you can get virtual offices for under $100 a month and they forward your mail to you...

this is important - don't use your home address as your biz address on your cards!

Hmmm...that's it for now, can't believe how much this thread grows!

Jay Rhome · 25th Jan 2010, 05:46 PM

Also, I strongly suggest you subscribe to the "waiting list" for the Formula Five course that was offered by Stompernet and Paul Lamberg.

The free videos they offered were packed full of goodies - almost but not quite as this amazing thread!

I subscribed to the waiting list a few days ago, and as an undisclosed bonus, they send a 97 page pdf that basically contains the notes they read over the free videos. It really is full of good content, and it fits perfectly with this thread.

The non affiliate link is this:
http://www.stomperf5.com/

ijohnson · 25th Jan 2010, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by reilly3000

There are probably 101 more things they COULD do, but this WOULD hit their mark and make me their best friend.

Reilly3000,

You did a great job outlining the services you would propose to Mr. BusinessOwner. You mentioned being a "tech guy" . . . are you currently working in offline marketing or now considering it?

It appears you have a good solid grasp of what it would take to add value to your client's business and to this thread!

Post some more of your ideas. I like the way you explain why you decided to go one way vs. another.

phil.wheatley · 26th Jan 2010, 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by Jay Rhome

Also, I strongly suggest you subscribe to the "waiting list" for the Formula Five course that was offered by Stompernet and Paul Lamberg.

The free videos they offered were packed full of goodies - almost but not quite as this amazing thread!

I subscribed to the waiting list a few days ago, and as an undisclosed bonus, they send a 97 page pdf that basically contains the notes they read over the free videos. It really is full of good content, and it fits perfectly with this thread.

The non affiliate link is this:
http://www.stomperf5.com/

Hey Jay

Thanks for the tip, as you said, after opting in, I got the 97 page report! Great!

p.s My refreshing finger nearly dropped off yesterday waiting for AP and / or Dogscout's posts? I'm looking forward to the resources they are going to post.

In

phil.wheatley · 26th Jan 2010, 04:40 AM

Originally Posted by Jay Rhome

Also, I strongly suggest you subscribe to the "waiting list" for the Formula Five course that was offered by Stompernet and Paul Lamberg.

The free videos they offered were packed full of goodies - almost but not quite as this amazing thread!

I subscribed to the waiting list a few days ago, and as an undisclosed bonus, they send a 97 page pdf that basically contains the notes they read over the free videos. It really is full of good content, and it fits perfectly with this thread.

The non affiliate link is this:
http://www.stomperf5.com/

Hey Jay

Thanks for the tip, as you said, after opting in, I got the 97 page report! Great!

p.s My refreshing finger nearly dropped off yesterday waiting for AP and / or Dogscout's posts? I'm looking forward to the resources they are going to post.

In the mean time, I've kept myslef busy with a couple of good guides here which I got from Dexx and Vegabond 007, both have great information.

Phil

SageSound · 26th Jan 2010, 06:10 AM

Here's what I'm doing right now with two clients:

Client #1: owner + 2 employees, spending $8k/mo on ads that aren't converting. Has names and addresses of 5,000 customers in his POS system, but very few email addys. He's earning 6-figures in sales per month @ 50% margins, looking to buy a new store in another (larger) city in a few months that can benefit from online promotion far more than this one. If I can show results, there's a LOT more work to follow.

1) I found a package of unbranded videos related to his business and am having them branded.

2) Set up a Wordpress blog on another domain name (hisbusiness.net) that will have a name-capture form

3) Having him set up account with Constant Contact for managing leads

4) Hiring a marketing expert to handle postcard mailings to his list to get them to opt-in to mailing list. The hook: free access to 50+ videos, one more added every other day, plus discount coupons and drawing for free stuff for "members only".

5) Will set up a newsletter next month to begin monetizing his list, by offering discounts on accessories

6) Will post some of the above branded videos to YouTube and other video sites to get backlinks and traffic

7) Will make several "Top 10 List" videos and use them to generate backlinks all over the place to his lead-gen site.

This guy has money to spend. His high season is Oct-April. Our goal is to have traffic from online sources lifting his sales by April so his revenues remain flat. He wants to expand further into an online store selling a wider variety of products than he can stock at his retail location.

He paid some outfit $4,000 last summer to build a website for him. To this day (6 months later), all that's there is a JPG image they made for him to show what the front page will look like. I personally don't put much stock in ever seeing the site getting completed, but he's optimistic.

Once things get rolling, he's a $5k/mo client easy, and he'll be earning at least $15-25k/mo in additional sales each month from my efforts.

Client #2: Family-owned salon where the woman does most of the haircuts, etc.; the husband cleans; the kids (15-23) do odd-jobs. No employees yet, but she wants to add one or two more people. Very little budget for anything yet -- I'm doing this more for a success story than anything else.

1) got a generic domain name and hosting

2) set up a Wordpress blog and 50 plugins and some sample themes; will add a lead capture form shortly

3) got them signed up with Constant Contact

4) I'll be showing them the ropes, how to manage Wordpress, post to it and other social sites

5) Will get them into Google Local Listings, Analytics, etc.

6) Will help them lay out a newsletter and identify a schedule

7) They have developed a CUSTOM PRODUCT LINE of beauty care products that they want to promote thru their newsletter and more broadly online later, so this is something we'll focus on as their revenues increase. (I know, it sounds crazy, investing all that money with no clear marketing plan... never happens, right?)

These guys want to do as much of this stuff as possible themselves. I'm setting things up, holding their hands, and showing them what to do. At some point, they'll probably decide to throw in the towel and hire me to do more. But in the mean time, they're very nice people and will generate a TON of goodwill for me through word-of-mouth publicity, which right now is worth more than money can buy.

This is a brand new business, started last September. They have been profitable, but barely. They paid a guy "a bunch of money" (maybe $500-$1000) to set up a web site, and he hasn't done anything other than register the domain names and put up a scanned image of their promo postcard as their landing page. She told me she's going to write it off as a loss.

TWO MORE CLIENTS IN THE FUNNEL

One is a BBQ restaurant with very little online presence. They're surviving only because of their catering -- the walk-in traffic isn't paying the bills. The short-term goal is to increase walk-in traffic to the point where they're at least breaking even. In a year, I don't want anybody else showing up in the SERPS for any term related to "barbeque" in the area. (I plan to take this on in part as a trade-out for ... BBQ! Nailing it for these guys will lead to a FLOOD of work with other restaurants in the area.)

The other is offering services related to the mortgage industry. Their business is a growth market at the moment. They have ZERO online presence, few competitors, a very favorable political and legal environment, and a HUGE upside. Most of their business is word-of-mouth and through networking. Each new customer is worth about $2500 to them (up front) for their main service; secondary services can yield 2-4x that (over time). Their sales reps close 97% of the qualified leads they get. They're just not getting enough leads. I can EASILY *DOUBLE* or even *TRIPLE* the number of qualified leads they get in 90 days or less. It's a wide-open market.

SUMMARY

These guys all look the same to me. They've got the same "gaps" in their marketing, the same potential up-side in terms of revenue growth (percentages) that these services can bring them, they need it, they want it, and they'll very happily pay for RESULTS. And getting results for them will lead to a flood of referrals. WOO-HOO!

BTW, I didn't mention "SEO" anywhere here. I consider that as part of what's involved with online traffic generation. And what I've got in mind (using videos) will generate a TON of backlinks and traffic, building a virtually impenetrable wall between them and their competitors.

-David

DogScout · 26th Jan 2010, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by phil.wheatley

Hey Jay

Thanks for the tip, as you said, after opting in, I got the 97 page report! Great!

p.s My refreshing finger nearly dropped off yesterday waiting for AP and / or Dogscout's posts? I'm looking forward to the resources they are going to post.

In the mean time, I've kept myslef busy with a couple of good guides here which I got from Dexx and Vegabond 007, both have great information.

Phil

I am learning as much or more than you are from this thread. Everyone has posted great takes on ways to increase the revenue and hence the value and income a small business can get by hiring one of the people following this thread. When it comes to this stuff, AP, Maria and Michael Hiles are (in my mind) the real experts. Vagabond007 and Dexx also have some great sales funnels and services set up. I believe helping small business can be very lucrative as with the knowledge imparted and shared here, you can provide thousands of dollars in value to a small business owner, charge $1500 a month or more, working only a couple hours a month on each account and still deliver a huge ROI and value to the client. Everybody wins.

AP has some resources that blew me away and expotentionally raised what is possible to achieve. He takes this 'off-line gold' to a whole new level. With what he has shared with me so far I suspect he could easily double his prices and his clients would be just as happy. The value he provides his clients looks to more in the 40-50, sometimes 100 times what they pay him. He also focuses on the greatest ROI size of businesses, where I usually do stuff for much smaller businesses, so I am as happy to see what he is willing to share next as you are.

phil.wheatley · 26th Jan 2010, 08:30 AM

DogScout (Mark right?), I can see you're very modest, I think I can speak for everybody here when I say we have learnt A LOT from you too, it is very much appreciated.

It's funny, I don't know if anybody else reading this thread is going through an up and down of emotions, ranging from "Oh man I can do this" and then next minute "Oh man, how the hell am I gonna do this". My problem is probably thinking about it too much.

One thing I'm still slightly confused over, is how some people say it's better to go for lots of smaller clients, which take less maintainence and easier to outsource the work(?) and then others, like AP and Dexx who say that it's better to go for a few, high paying clients. Now personally, the latter sounds a better idea to me, but then it's also be stated that a bigger Client can take up a huge amount of time and resources.

So on that point, I'm slightly stuck. Any thoughts?

Phil

ijohnson · 26th Jan 2010, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by phil.wheatley

It's funny, I don't know if anybody else reading this thread is going through an up and down of emotions, ranging from "Oh man I can do this" and then next minute "Oh man, how the hell am I gonna do this". My problem is probably thinking about it too much.

Phil

Phil,

My hand is raised! :confused:

Iris

Vagabond 007 · 26th Jan 2010, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by phil.wheatley

One thing I'm still slightly confused over, is how some people say it's better to go for lots of smaller clients, which take less maintainence and easier to outsource the work(?) and then others, like AP and Dexx who say that it's better to go for a few, high paying clients. Now personally, the latter sounds a better idea to me, but then it's also be stated that a bigger Client can take up a huge amount of time and resources.

So on that point, I'm slightly stuck. Any thoughts?

Phil

Kind of a personal preference.

To give an example, years ago I used to sell mortgages. Compared to the other guys in the office, I worked with fewer clients but charged more. So say I wanted to gross $30,000 a month in fees. I'd rather have 3 clients at $10,000 than 10 at $3,000. Less work involved for sure. But yet I would make the same money.

You need to position yourself properly. You do that with effective marketing. Let your marketing do the hard work. That your marketing sift through the tire kickers. If done properly, when someone does contact you, they will be on very inclined to doing business with you on your terms.

Let them pursue you. You do not pursue them. Read that new report in my course you just got if you need more help with this.

Bottom line, it all comes down to what you want your life to be like. Hey, if you would rather go after more clients paying less, then by all means go for it. We're not hear to tell you there is only one way to go about this.

So decide what you want your life to look like, decide what kind of income you want, and what kind of time you are willing to invest to get it, and then form a game plan. Then get to work.

Key thing is to take action. You can always adjust course along the way.

Tsarina · 26th Jan 2010, 09:12 AM

So on that point, I'm slightly stuck. Any thoughts?

Yep, I do get overloaded with information sometimes... you wan to do EVERYTHING and as results you do no nothing. I was like that last two weeks.... in process.

So yesterday I [finally] squeezed first offline action. I researched 30 business (same type) in my area with websites and yellow pages budget and send them card telling: yesterday there where 1,100 searches for your business in our area. How many of them called you to schedule an appointment? and claim code for website profitability analysis. I used all the tricks on the mail piece it's hand addressed, "natural" paper A2 envelope, copydoodles inside, real stamps. I'm planning to send another 30 without website a similar mail-piece just with other offer to claim and look at the results.
I'll report on results ... if anyone interested

Now, back to work

JRG · 26th Jan 2010, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by phil.wheatley

DogScout (Mark right?), I can see you're very modest, I think I can speak for everybody here when I say we have learnt A LOT from you too, it is very much appreciated.

It's funny, I don't know if anybody else reading this thread is going through an up and down of emotions, ranging from "Oh man I can do this" and then next minute "Oh man, how the hell am I gonna do this". My problem is probably thinking about it too much.

One thing I'm still slightly confused over, is how some people say it's better to go for lots of smaller clients, which take less maintainence and easier to outsource the work(?) and then others, like AP and Dexx who say that it's better to go for a few, high paying clients. Now personally, the latter sounds a better idea to me, but then it's also be stated that a bigger Client can take up a huge amount of time and resources.

So on that point, I'm slightly stuck. Any thoughts?

Phil

I have worked with the small clients and it is such a headache. They usually barely have the money to pay you. Which means that any ideas you have for them that may cost additional money, will not get done. They also take forever to make any changes you suggest. Which in the end leaves them not seeing any ROI and blaming you.

A bigger business that has more to work with will be much easier. When you tell them they need a facebook acct or a blog, they are hiring someone to do social media the next day or at least paying you to outsource it. When you suggest a change, they have an employee working on it next day. They also have less time to bicker with you.

One of my current clients is a real pain. Many of the stuff I suggest, he doesn't think will work. lol. To give you an idea, the industry is one I have never worked with before and is probably not one you would typically think of (no it's not porn).

So being new to it I did a lot of research and even called some other successful businesses that were outside of the area, to see what they were doing. From all of the successful businesses, there were about 5 things that they all were doing. My client does not believe those things will work.

He also does not have the money to hire the additional employees that I feel he needs to truly be successful. As I said, it has been a pain.

When I sold cars, the guy that I barely made any money on, was going to be the biggest headache even after the sale. The guy I made a ton of money on, I would never hear from again until he or a family member is ready for a new car!

23rd Jan 2010, 02:36 PM	#451
RainDrop Active Warrior Join Date: 2009 Location: Seattle Posts: 61 Thanks: 147 Thanked 10 Times in 9 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: WoW! This is an Amazing, Informative & Inspiring Thread! Thank you to all who have contributed I'm going to print it out and put it in a binder. I need to find the time to really dig into it and absorb the information contained in it and study the techniques mentioned. I was recently helping to set up a CRM system for a small biz owner. After looking into Sugar CRM and vTiger (and a few others) I started thinking that this would be a great service to offer to clients for a premium. For example: Help them choose which CRM system would fit their business needs, Install it for them, Help them work it into their business model, Train the staff members how to use it, Keep it updated and running, Offer limited tech support, (still debating this one! LOL) Of course, you can also charge for tech support, Offer ongoing training etc. There are so many options and ways to go about implementing and maintaining just ONE service for your clients. By becoming an expert at just one thing, you can build a nice reputation to be the go-to person for it, which of course means that you will have people calling YOU and you can charge them hefty fees for your knowledge and services.

23rd Jan 2010, 05:27 PM	#456
onpurpose Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 27 Thanks: 10 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: This is a fantastic thread. I picked up on a comment about not migrating an existing site (that's been indexed on google for awhile) to another platform. However, if a client wants to upgrade their site, and the existing platform is old fashioned and difficult to work with, isn't it a good idea to upgrade? If ALL web pages' URLs are kept exactly the same, wouldn't google still keep them indexed?

23rd Jan 2010, 07:38 PM	#457
sb HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2003 Location: , , USA. Posts: 403 Thanks: 194 Thanked 155 Times in 93 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: In response to AP's homework assignment: I’d reduce the size of the Yellow Pages ad by 75% ASAP and increase its effectiveness by offering a Special Report with a big, bold headline something like this: “The 7 Most Important Things You Must Know Before You Hire Any (Business Trade)!” Then editorial looking body copy like this: Los Angeles, CA- A FREE Report has just been released that reveals the 7 most important things you need to know before hiring any (business trade). To get your Free copy of this eye-popping Report, go to: Yellow Pages to get your Special Report now. You’ll save money and headaches! Savings: $30,000 – Increase in sales: Estimated at 10% - 15% NO spray & pray marketing. Savings $10,000 Discover lifetime value of each customer and use that number as the basis for their marketing budget. Use on and off page SEO to get website to #1 in the SERP’s for local area. Includes things such as Google Maps, keyword research and title tag for website. Backlinking. Entry to the most important directories and data providers. Send out Press Releases offline and online Increase in new business: Minimum of 25%. Set up an autoresponder database system with monthly newsletter, Special Reports and bi-weekly tips. Create a direct response video and put it on his website as well as upload it to the major video sharing sites. Create a direct mail campaign to reactivate past customers: Offer incentives for them to join the email list. Client to cover the costs. Create a direct mail campaign to mail to current customers: Same, get them to join email list. Client covers costs. Set up customer retention management system: The email marketing system would be part of this but I’d also have them send out Birthday and Christmas cards. Client covers costs. Increase pricing by 10 - 15%. Increase conversions by analyzing their process and implementing new strategies. That’s about as far as I’d go for the $4,997 set-up fee plus $1,497 per month. Increase the set-up fee to $10,000 and $1,997 monthly and I’d add the following services as I see fit: JV’s – Endorsed Mailings, Article Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Adwords management, WordPress blog, create up-sells, continued video marketing campaign, customer appreciation days.
	Last edited on 23rd Jan 2010 at 07:39 PM. Reason: To clairfy the reason for this post

23rd Jan 2010, 07:39 PM	#458
Chris Ramsey The Wandering Businessman War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: The Globe Posts: 1,417 Thanks: 161 Thanked 957 Times in 221 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: By far, the most I make monthly is from email marketing. My clients pay $100 a week (or more) to have me write their emails that go to their list. This price is small because each and every week they pull more and more customers into their stores and put dollars into their pockets - much more than I charge them.
	Click Here To Download 14 (Odd) Copywriting Hacks...

23rd Jan 2010, 09:08 PM	#461
WarrenIndLLC Too Many Titles To List War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 502 Thanks: 39 Thanked 63 Times in 57 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: This thread has really opened my eyes. I'm making a killing online but I really haven't thought of doing any offline activity. This thread has really motivated me so thanks!

24th Jan 2010, 06:03 AM	#462
Fernando Veloso Portuguese Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Good Old Europe Posts: 4,035 Thanks: 1,616 Thanked 1,059 Times in 708 Posts Blog Entries: 7	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Threads like this one and the one from Vagabond 007 are changing lives here. I work the offline crowd since 2004 - but lately I've been changing gears: testing new approaches (what works for you, might not work for me), testing new systems, and testing a new positioning. This is by far my biggest challenge - I clearly understand this is where the difference lives between ME and my expensive competitors: positioning. That's why I don't want to talk/discuss/elaborate, what services I'm selling - cause that's I've made for 5 years. I just want to focus on positioning. On better positioning, stronger and above my competition. A positioning so strong, that my customers don't need to ask me what is VideoMarketing or SEO and how can they do it at home.
	People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.

24th Jan 2010, 01:53 PM	#467
Curleyjohn Profit Margin Marketing Join Date: 2009 Location: Glass City Posts: 121 Thanks: 119 Thanked 48 Times in 26 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: As a previous business owner (2 actually) who, up to a couple of years ago, had no clue as to what this was all about I think we need to keep it simple. Market the results and not the TOOLS. Lets not for get the main goals: 30% sales increase and trim the fatty ad budget 1. Increase prices by 15% would equate to $15 per $100 spent. I don't feel that in any of these types of business categories that it will have a negative effect on current business. 2. Create an up sale and/or continuity program that will generate another 10% (I would tell the customer 5%) in sales from current customers. 3. Use current Spray and Pray to aggressively direct market current customer base. Use a discounted offer to claim at least a 20% (400 repeat customers)(again I would lower my quote to the customer to 10%) increase in sales from that 2000 person database. I personally feel this is a conservative figure, especially if the client provides good service. "Mr. Customer, these 3 simple improvements to your business, will increase your business 30% (I'm thinking 45%) right now with out even looking for new customers but by using what you have in hand right now. This doesn't even include the $20 grand you can save with your YP in the future. So now I have shown you how to add an additional 300 thousand to your bottom line and drastically reduce your ad budget, will that be cash or check?" (w/wink and smile) THEN SHUT THE HELL UP *Use any tools you deem necessary to build and increase current data base/sales. i.e. autoresponders, seo, articles, blah, blah, blah......but leave these out of the conversation. As a previous business owner, I want to see where I can get more out of my current efforts without spending any more money or at least what I preceive as spending more money. i.e. advertising etc. We are business marketing consultants not internet marketing worker bees.
	Toledo Business Development Coach- Toledo Internet Marketing

24th Jan 2010, 04:58 PM	#470
vitto Active Warrior Join Date: 2009 Posts: 53 Thanks: 82 Thanked 57 Times in 11 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: I probably should have ate, but AP here is my proposal to Mr. Business Owner.. Mr. Business owner, my plan is to assist you in increasing exposure to your expert status, starting today. You offer a wonderful service that people out there want and need. In order to do this we will be creating a variety of videos, podcast and articles on topics that your prospects want to know and should want to know about. We will then distribute the media over a wide variety of networks, reaching your local target market where they search for information i.e. mobile phones, computers and other web enabled devices. Mr. Business Owner we are talking about a reach of over a 100 networks, including the online YP directory. See the difference between in this method Mr. Business Owner is that YP only gives access to customers that look into YP. On top of that, in the YP customers will only see your ads. Using the other methods that I am suggesting Mr. Business Owner, prospects will get to know you and the services that you provide. Let me ask you a question Mr. customer, would you go to a heart surgeon that you plucked out of the YP and that has the biggest ad, or would you go to the surgeon that you have gotten to know via video, articles, podcast etc. I don’t know about you Mr. Business Owner, but I would rather go to the surgeon that has practically let me into his office without even meeting him. Because I have made a virtual connection with that surgeon, he’s on your facebook, MySpace page etc, you see all of the updates about his surgical break throughs via twitter. Mr. Business Owner, I’m not going to sit here and talk to you about SEO just yet, which is only a small part of the equation. Why is SEO a small part of the equation, well because SEO truly only benefits your website, what I am here to offer you Mr. Business Owner, is value based. When your prospects see the amount of value that you have provided them for free, they will most definitely stop by your website, or even better, walk right into our office. Now let’s say that a customer goes your website, you currently wouldn’t know whether they came or left. With the system you have in place you wouldn’t know their names or email address, you wouldn’t know what drove them to your website and how long they stayed on your site. Would you? Wouldn’t this be valuable information to have? If you just knew the names of the people that visited your website and had away to contact them, wouldn’t it be great to follow-up with these leads? I’m sure it would. Well we can set a system in place that would capture leads of your prospects; we’ll offer them a report on ways they can better their life using “XYZ” in exchange for contact information. We will also create a new sign in sheet at your office that will include a space for an email address. Why would we do that, well you just ran a special last week didn’t you? You also have 2000 names and addresses of past clients correct? Well I will assume that if you wanted those 2000 clients to know about that special, you would have to use direct mail, costing in paper, ink and postage. But if you had their email address you can send out a campaign while sitting on your back porch having your coffee, from your laptop, saving you thousands of dollars, plus its faster and you even track what messages had a higher open rate and response rate. Still want to hear about SEO, well Mr. Business Owner, part of that will be down through the submissions of the videos, articles, podcast and bookmarking. It a method called link building. When we submit the media that we create for you, we will attach your website to the media as well. We will also do some competition spying for you so that we can see why your competitors are ranking higher that you are and we’ll compare the data against your webpage. We will then make the necessary changes to your website so that we can increase your websites exposure as well as your exposure as they expert in XYZ. Mr. Business Owner ultimately you can learn how to do this yourself if you purchase my Online Marketing Mastery Course for Business Owners for $3,999. But I am sure that you would rather save yourself the time by having a well qualified and experienced team of experts that have the time to learn, study and test different methods for you. You've proven that you are successful. You know as much as I do, that the best way to get things done is to hire people that can execute certain task, better and faster and more effectively than yourself so that you can focus more on creating new products and doing what you love. Mr. Business owner I know your time is valuable so I will leave you with this. Times are changing, they way of marketing in the past is not the same as it is today. I have meetings set-up with your competitors throughout the week and I will only work with one of you. Call me when you’re ready to make substantial change in the way you market while improving your bottom line. Here is an over view of services Multi-Media Marketing Sets you up as the local expert and authority on a topic Social Media Marketing (SMM) Build relationships with prospect and update them on news and discounts Search Engine Optimization Keeps your website on the good side of search engines, and tracks visitor behavior Lead Capture Set-Up Capture prospects information Email Marketing The money is in your list. Allows you to save thousands of dollars by simply typing out an ad and pushing a button

24th Jan 2010, 06:06 PM	#471
onpurpose Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 27 Thanks: 10 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Thanks for your response Balaway, I appreciate it!

24th Jan 2010, 08:58 PM	#475
dremora HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 426 Thanks: 278 Thanked 129 Times in 83 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Great posts guys. There's is a great inexpensive CRM software called SugarCRM, it costs only $300 for small business. You can make a list of VIP customers with it and track a lot of metrics. Its not too hard to set up and learn. I'd suggest adding that to the package deal.
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24th Jan 2010, 09:45 PM	#476
AndrewCavanagh VIP Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2006 Location: Cairns, Australia. Posts: 2,444 Thanks: 15 Thanked 1,496 Times in 745 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Here are a few more things you might want to think about: # The two keys to what you charge are that... 1. You're happy doing the work and/or outsourcing it for the fee you charge upfront before you do anything. In other words be sure that if all you ever get paid is your upfront fee you're still happy doing the work or getting it done for that upfront fee. 2. The extra profits you make for a business with the work you do are more than what you charge that business. This should be a personal commitment on your part before you even take on a client...that you will help them make more profits than what they pay you. # If you're making more profits for a business than what they pay you they will hire you over and over again for project after project or happily pay your ongoing fees. The key is to make them profits. # What service you provide is irrelevant. Whether you outsource or not is irrelevant (although it is a better business model long term in most cases). You can provide nearly any kind of marketing or internet marketing service for a business including pay per click, SEO, online video, web design, copywriting, lead generating report writing, press releases online and offline, information product creation, joint venture brokering, creating affiliate sales systems...it makes no difference. If you make more profits for a business than what you charge then you're doing the business a service. On the other hand if you're not making a business real profits beyond what you charge then you're effectively ripping them off. Don't get so focused on "what service can I charge a business for?" that you forget that the fundamental goal is to make them profits. Do that and everything else becomes quite simple. # Always remember that when you're providing services to a brick and mortar business it's not about you or whatever whizzbang service you think you can give them. In fact having a preconceived idea of what you'll provide a business makes it far more difficult to get hired because you're now trying to sell a specific service instead of going through the process of finding out what the business owner wants and needs and customizing a solution for him that he'll get excited about. Effective marketing and getting hired requires that you think about what the business owner wants, what he needs...what motivates him. Take your eyes off yourself, put them on the business owner, learn to ask questions and really listen and you're going to get hired more often and at much higher fees. Kindest regards, Andrew Cavanagh
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24th Jan 2010, 11:29 PM	#478
slvrsrfr Peaceful Jedi Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 108 Thanks: 154 Thanked 31 Times in 18 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: First seek to understand rather than to be understood. I'm glad you made your post Andrew. The focus should always be front and center, what can I do to add value to my client's business? How can I help her make more money and cement her customer's loyalty? I reckon that if we do that, our fees will be commensurate with our clients' successes. Not only that, our ROI we offer will be better because our mindset is more in line with creating greater opportunities for the client which will create more income for them and conversely us. I'm lovin' this thread.
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25th Jan 2010, 11:05 AM	#479
reilly3000 Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 45 Thanks: 46 Thanked 44 Times in 21 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: My homework. AP – What a great exercise. I’m loving everybody’s ideas so far, this stuff is gold. 1.I would have my assistant (or myself) secret shop them and take lots of notes. 2.Work with business owner to establish goals and metrics. Such as: a.Weekly revenue targets to hit 30% sales increase (seasonally adjusted) b.Current and goal customer lifetime value c.Target customer acquisition cost (to keep marketing accountable and maintain or improve gross margins) 3.Look for opportunities to improve packages, create upsell/crosssell opportunities, and/or increase price. I won’t get too lost in the weeds here- just looking for obvious ways to get 10-15% more out of 10-15% of their clients. 4.Do a quick study of the competitive landscape and size of market. Again, not some major study, just enough data to establish positioning. 5.Work with business owner to create or refine their unique selling proposition. Get it printed on a big sign for them to hang in their back room. Every employee needs to memorize it (and be able to recite it falling backwards off a barstool). 6.Marketing budget for the next FY: a.$35K yellowpages (depending on their vertical cutting YP can be a huge mistake and could get you in trouble – see below for details) b.$7K online c. $7K Direct Mail d.$1K Tracking, marketing automation, email 7.Yellowpages plan a.If they are doing a full page or double truck- cut it. The goal should be to be 1 or 2 ad sizes down from their biggest competitor. YP reducers for years have been showing the efficacy of smaller ads. People don’t want to buy from the guy who spent the most on marketing. b.Rewrite copy with direct response offer c.Include call tracking number and special URL d.Take the money from shrinking their one big ad and move it to the following: i.Try to find multiple headings ii.YP black hat: create another business and get it listed in the same heading – 2 or 3 of these is really powerful =all depends on the rep. iii.Move some of the money to online ads. Yellowpages.com and superpages are very high converting sites, I guarantee. iv.Open up accounts with smaller directories and offer them pennies on the dollar for a good ad. You’ll be surprised what they’ll agree to. 8.Online: some PPC, facebook ads, vertical directories, and online display ads (I have gotten almost as good of CTRs and CPL with display as search… great stuff) 9.Direct Mail: Hit their current customers with an upsell offer in one zipcode, a referral offer in another zipcode etc. Test, measure, repeat. 10. Put all of this into a nice 10 page marketing plan. This alone is worth the money. I know an agency is my small market here (about 400K in the metro) that charged $13K for a 40 page market research document. 11.SYSTEMS: a.Depending on size+vertical an autoresonder or marketing automation package b.Almost never a CRM. CRM implementations are long, painful, and highly prone to failure. HIGHLY. You don’t want to be the one to instigate that mess. c.Web analytics a MUST d.CALL TRACKING. MUST DO. No money gets spent without a call tracking number. There should be 10-30 numbers active depending on how many things you’re trying to pull off at once. Budget for it, reap the rewards. e.Phone system- get some music on hold marketing, speed up the phone tree, and take all steps possible to reduce hold times. 12.Training: a.Anybody who anwser’s the phone: you are talking to a celebrity/senator every time you pick up the phone. Treat them like gold. b.Sales/estimator: listen to your customer, sell based on their needs, not your packages. Don’t mention a benefit unless they mention a need. c.Business owner: create a metrics culture. I want to see big thermometers with sales targets, incentive programs, and every employee having access to data. This moves the needle. Everybody can affect the numbers, everybody should know the numbers. Best buy has creamed the competition (they are the ONLY ones standing) because every 30 minutes each dept head goes to all the sales people and shows the latest sales figures, returns, etc, vs how corporate expects them to perform. This is bigger motivation than commission. 13.SEO: a.Keyword research b.Local business directory domination c.Some onpage seo d.Create a video and syndicate your method of choice e.Create 3 articles, syndicate f.1 press release, syndicate g.some social bookmarking, maybe 14.Social Media a.Create lots of facebook, twitter, etc to reserve names b.Build a twitter account followers with software automation c.Create company blog if they are ready to run it (or hire my content specialist to do it for them!) 15.Call 2x monthly to discuss metrics, opportunities for improvement, and any new marketing/content ideas. Measure all marketing dollars to web and call tracking data to get them to conform to target acquisition cost (without a crm you'll have to assume all leads convert at the same rate which isn't true, but for many cases this is acceptable). ** 16. How I would get e-mail addresses: 4x6 postcard to database with $5 gift card offer for completing a survey. with 2000 names, assume 500 responses- so $2500 cost for promotion plus about $.49/piece for mailer for a total of ~$3500. Feedback? Invaluable. E-mail addresses? Invaluable. Save $$ on redemptions and mailings by asking customers to pick up their gift cards at the business location. Greet them warmly, thank them for their response, and tell them about the referral program. In order for me to break even on my fees I have to bring in $23K profit or $92K in revenue with my recommendations. That is a 8% lift in sales, I promised 30%. I think the above plan can bring in 50% easily, depending on their state of affairs. There are probably 101 more things they COULD do, but this WOULD hit their mark and make me their best friend. AP, Dexx, and all: I have had all this information rattling around in my head for years. I LOVE marketing and sales. I love learning, and I really love helping people. So WHY was I so stuck on being a “web guy” and offering SEO and wordpress sites? You’ve all really opened my eyes to how what I already understand can be put to work to transform people’s businesses and lives.
	Last edited on 25th Jan 2010 at 08:34 PM. Reason: fixed direct mail stats

25th Jan 2010, 01:35 PM	#480
Spiros New Warrior Member Join Date: 2005 Location: , , . Posts: 11 Thanks: 3 Thanked 7 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: My goal would be to take his initial $5K and turn it into $10K, $15K, $20K or more in immediate sales. Thus: -- my services become 'free', which will justify my price (very important) -- biz owner is excited by what I can do, thus is eager to write monthly checks -- biz owner is happy to give me referrals immediately The lowest-hanging fruit is usually past customers. I'd take the $5K and do a 3-step mail campaign to the 500 most recent customers (these being the best-quality names). I coordinate with the biz owner to create for the mailing a USP, an irresistible offer, and great risk reversal, none of which he probably has in place. Lumpy mail can be done for $1.50 apiece or less, thus making my cost $2,250. I coordinate the mailing to make everything hands-free for the biz owner, and (more importantly) to make sure it's done right. That leaves me with $2,750. This pays me for my time to: -- create & execute the mail campaign -- add his biz to my aweber account (takes 10 minutes) -- give his designer the code to add an opt-in lightbox to his site (another 10 minutes) -- create a blueprint/mindmap/marketing plan with which to 'wow' the biz owner and justify the monthly fees he'll pay me for the next 12 months. 30 days later the biz owner is receiving sales from the 1st and probably 2nd step of the mail campaign. We also have the beginnings of an email list growing (although there are no messages to send to it yet, because he hasn't paid me to create them). I march in with a complete blueprint for where he needs to go from here. At that point we'll talk about all his opportunities from upsells, cross-sells, monetizing his new email list, JVs, dominating Google, etc. That's my preferred approach. Rather than giving a long list of things I can do, let's make him some money first and show that every time he gives me $1, he gets $5 or $10 back. Then it's easy for him to write me more checks.

25th Jan 2010, 02:17 PM	#481
silho Mobile Marketing Maven War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 375 Thanks: 1 Thanked 29 Times in 21 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Is anyone having any success offering mobile advertising services to your local clients? Are you using the information you learned in Cell Phone Cash?

25th Jan 2010, 02:42 PM	#482
dremora HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 426 Thanks: 278 Thanked 129 Times in 83 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Here is my plan, (besides identifying and providing solutions for some in house problems such as phone handling and staff behavior) 1. Create an autoresponder database of their past/existing clients right away and start following up with them using periodical newsletters (preferably monthly) 2. Start a coupon campaign to attract more business and get repeat business from the former/existing customers. Send them a discount deal on their birthday. Give them a free botox/HVAC check/something lucrative if they bring 2 referrals and those referrals purchase service. 3. More coupons, more freebies. Give away small (but attractive enough) gifts to lure them into the store. Then upsell, cross sell, limited time offers. Discounts, deals, coupons, giveaways are the primary tools for attracting customers and getting repeat business in economic recessions. 4. Create facebook, twitter pages and encourage the employees and customers to sign up - by mentioning there will be coupon/discount/freebie deals that will be announced only on those sites, if you don't follow/friend/become a fan you will miss out! (Sephora does this, Apmex does this, both are making a killing in this economy. I would show their campaigns and revenue stats etc as real life examples to educate the prospective client) 5. Does the client advertise video testimonials from their customers? (Most of the time, the answer is no for mom&pop operations) I'd show them the view stats of youtube vids of their competition or similar businesses in other cities etc, to make a point. Well done video testimonials featuring before-after images and emotional customers get a ton of views and comments. 6. Sweepstakes campaign would be also nice. Give away a Nexus One phone to the customers who buy services between this date and that date. Then of course advertise the winner everywhere using posters at the business, video testimonial and whatnot. Advertising that kind of things on social media can easily create a viral wave in town. 7.Make a VIP customer list for the customers who spend a lot at the shop. Show appreciation by sending them holiday and birthday gifts or even better, the business owner giving a sincere appreciation call on their special days as well (given the fact that the number of such customers is not too huge to make this a big chore) showing appreciation to your top clientele is a good thing and brings more business/helps to keep them with you. 8. Do some SEO to get them more traffic on the internets. Rank them higher on google, etc. As for offers and campaigns, I think it's best to split test those and stick to the ones that work the best. Can't really think of anything else at the moment.
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25th Jan 2010, 03:22 PM	#484
silho Mobile Marketing Maven War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 375 Thanks: 1 Thanked 29 Times in 21 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Thanks Kelly: I have my own SMS system (that I will be white labeling very soon), mobile app store platform, and mobile marketing course. I've been doing a lot of mobile marketing for small businesses and major corporations for 10 years now so I definitely know how great it can be for local businesses. I really wish so many people weren't burnt on mobile from another course they bought last year.

25th Jan 2010, 03:38 PM	#485
miami CoachMiami War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Atlanta, Ga, USA. Posts: 35 Thanks: 2 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: I started marketing to offline customers as soon as I realized how hard it was to beat YOU GUYS! LOL It is easy really. Well as easy as any other business. Check out the software I use to do this. It has all the tools including autoresponders, contact management, templates for squeeze pages, sales pages, and all kinds of stuff. It even tells you step by step how to use video, articles, press releases etc. Too cool. And the thing is you use it to market your business - and you sell it to them for their business! (And make a commission of course.) Contact me for more - or join my weekly webinar (See my signature) and I'll help you!
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25th Jan 2010, 05:40 PM	#488
Jay Rhome Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 751 Thanks: 204 Thanked 218 Times in 158 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Just wanted to let you guys know that Maria Gudelis is letting people watch a real case study evolve before our eyes - from how the sales rep closed the deal to evaluation to how the solutions are implemented. She's charging a mere $5 so I thought it'd interest a few of us in this thread. I can PM the link if necessary (not an affiliate link)

25th Jan 2010, 05:46 PM	#490
Jay Rhome Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 751 Thanks: 204 Thanked 218 Times in 158 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Also, I strongly suggest you subscribe to the "waiting list" for the Formula Five course that was offered by Stompernet and Paul Lamberg. The free videos they offered were packed full of goodies - almost but not quite as this amazing thread! I subscribed to the waiting list a few days ago, and as an undisclosed bonus, they send a 97 page pdf that basically contains the notes they read over the free videos. It really is full of good content, and it fits perfectly with this thread. The non affiliate link is this: http://www.stomperf5.com/

26th Jan 2010, 06:10 AM	#494
SageSound Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 671 Thanks: 77 Thanked 165 Times in 104 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Here's what I'm doing right now with two clients: Client #1: owner + 2 employees, spending $8k/mo on ads that aren't converting. Has names and addresses of 5,000 customers in his POS system, but very few email addys. He's earning 6-figures in sales per month @ 50% margins, looking to buy a new store in another (larger) city in a few months that can benefit from online promotion far more than this one. If I can show results, there's a LOT more work to follow. 1) I found a package of unbranded videos related to his business and am having them branded. 2) Set up a Wordpress blog on another domain name (hisbusiness.net) that will have a name-capture form 3) Having him set up account with Constant Contact for managing leads 4) Hiring a marketing expert to handle postcard mailings to his list to get them to opt-in to mailing list. The hook: free access to 50+ videos, one more added every other day, plus discount coupons and drawing for free stuff for "members only". 5) Will set up a newsletter next month to begin monetizing his list, by offering discounts on accessories 6) Will post some of the above branded videos to YouTube and other video sites to get backlinks and traffic 7) Will make several "Top 10 List" videos and use them to generate backlinks all over the place to his lead-gen site. This guy has money to spend. His high season is Oct-April. Our goal is to have traffic from online sources lifting his sales by April so his revenues remain flat. He wants to expand further into an online store selling a wider variety of products than he can stock at his retail location. He paid some outfit $4,000 last summer to build a website for him. To this day (6 months later), all that's there is a JPG image they made for him to show what the front page will look like. I personally don't put much stock in ever seeing the site getting completed, but he's optimistic. Once things get rolling, he's a $5k/mo client easy, and he'll be earning at least $15-25k/mo in additional sales each month from my efforts. Client #2: Family-owned salon where the woman does most of the haircuts, etc.; the husband cleans; the kids (15-23) do odd-jobs. No employees yet, but she wants to add one or two more people. Very little budget for anything yet -- I'm doing this more for a success story than anything else. 1) got a generic domain name and hosting 2) set up a Wordpress blog and 50 plugins and some sample themes; will add a lead capture form shortly 3) got them signed up with Constant Contact 4) I'll be showing them the ropes, how to manage Wordpress, post to it and other social sites 5) Will get them into Google Local Listings, Analytics, etc. 6) Will help them lay out a newsletter and identify a schedule 7) They have developed a CUSTOM PRODUCT LINE of beauty care products that they want to promote thru their newsletter and more broadly online later, so this is something we'll focus on as their revenues increase. (I know, it sounds crazy, investing all that money with no clear marketing plan... never happens, right?) These guys want to do as much of this stuff as possible themselves. I'm setting things up, holding their hands, and showing them what to do. At some point, they'll probably decide to throw in the towel and hire me to do more. But in the mean time, they're very nice people and will generate a TON of goodwill for me through word-of-mouth publicity, which right now is worth more than money can buy. This is a brand new business, started last September. They have been profitable, but barely. They paid a guy "a bunch of money" (maybe $500-$1000) to set up a web site, and he hasn't done anything other than register the domain names and put up a scanned image of their promo postcard as their landing page. She told me she's going to write it off as a loss. TWO MORE CLIENTS IN THE FUNNEL One is a BBQ restaurant with very little online presence. They're surviving only because of their catering -- the walk-in traffic isn't paying the bills. The short-term goal is to increase walk-in traffic to the point where they're at least breaking even. In a year, I don't want anybody else showing up in the SERPS for any term related to "barbeque" in the area. (I plan to take this on in part as a trade-out for ... BBQ! Nailing it for these guys will lead to a FLOOD of work with other restaurants in the area.) The other is offering services related to the mortgage industry. Their business is a growth market at the moment. They have ZERO online presence, few competitors, a very favorable political and legal environment, and a HUGE upside. Most of their business is word-of-mouth and through networking. Each new customer is worth about $2500 to them (up front) for their main service; secondary services can yield 2-4x that (over time). Their sales reps close 97% of the qualified leads they get. They're just not getting enough leads. I can EASILY DOUBLE or even TRIPLE the number of qualified leads they get in 90 days or less. It's a wide-open market. SUMMARY These guys all look the same to me. They've got the same "gaps" in their marketing, the same potential up-side in terms of revenue growth (percentages) that these services can bring them, they need it, they want it, and they'll very happily pay for RESULTS. And getting results for them will lead to a flood of referrals. WOO-HOO! BTW, I didn't mention "SEO" anywhere here. I consider that as part of what's involved with online traffic generation. And what I've got in mind (using videos) will generate a TON of backlinks and traffic, building a virtually impenetrable wall between them and their competitors. -David

26th Jan 2010, 08:30 AM	#496
phil.wheatley Advanced Tea Maker War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: London, England (Know what I mean mate!) Posts: 1,076 Thanks: 470 Thanked 284 Times in 144 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: DogScout (Mark right?), I can see you're very modest, I think I can speak for everybody here when I say we have learnt A LOT from you too, it is very much appreciated. It's funny, I don't know if anybody else reading this thread is going through an up and down of emotions, ranging from "Oh man I can do this" and then next minute "Oh man, how the hell am I gonna do this". My problem is probably thinking about it too much. One thing I'm still slightly confused over, is how some people say it's better to go for lots of smaller clients, which take less maintainence and easier to outsource the work(?) and then others, like AP and Dexx who say that it's better to go for a few, high paying clients. Now personally, the latter sounds a better idea to me, but then it's also be stated that a bigger Client can take up a huge amount of time and resources. So on that point, I'm slightly stuck. Any thoughts? Phil
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