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Offline Marketing Strategies & Lead Generation Tips?

by Jonathan Beacher
39 replies
I'm looking into offering web presence consulting within my local area, and just want to see what's working for fellow Warriors.

By web presence, I mean everything from SEO to Google Places to basic web design, with what I offer being tailored to the needs & expectations of customers.

I was thinking about generating leads by telemarketing - going through yellow pages, cross checking business names in Google to see if they have websites, and giving them a call if they dont. Do people find this a successful route to go down?

Do you go for the hard sell to begin with or entice them in with a free report? What kinds of customers do you go for - the low hanging fruit (charging a monthly maintenance & hosting fee in the region of $50-$75) or those interested in SEO services?

Lastly, apart from bulk sending postcards, are there any other lead generation tactics people use?

Thanks!
#generation #lead #marketing #offline #strategies #tips
  • Profile picture of the author Carl_C
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    • Profile picture of the author kmckillop
      Originally Posted by Carl_C View Post

      Some people say that leverage is the key.

      Pick a town or region ABCCounty
      Pick an occupation Dentists

      Create a website directory for dentists in ABCCounty and get first in Google.

      ---If you use your imagination you can see how you can make 1,000's of dollars a month by repeating this for different towns and businesses.

      Of course you'll have to name your website abccountydentists.com or something like that.

      Good Luck!
      This is a great way to demonstrate in their eyes your knowledge (also in their market). This may take a little longer but I used a slightly different approach (faster). I simply went after a single keyword term (one of many they would be interested in for eg. www.countyhousesforsale.com). I got it up on the first page of Google in a couple weeks (it wasn't terribly competitive, which makes it very easy. I then use that in my presentation to them). Single page website with some basic content on it (no articles, or blog or graphics really), so it's not a directory or didn't require any time to create. I would then go try and speak with some agents in the area.

      I send out videos to prospective clients (and show them MY ranked site along with theirs in my video). I talk about their site and some issues with it and why they likely don't generate leads with it. I show them their online market and their competitors, how many people are searching for their services, and where they rank (if any place at all). I talk about some of the things that will help them rank better, and I also use my site as an example of doing all the 'right' things to get them onto the first page.

      It works well because I've given them value in the video, it's personalized (all about THEM) and I get a nice response. It makes it much easier to get on the phone with them when they WANT to speak to you.

      So I take the time to make a 10-14 minute video and send it to them. Instead of sending hundreds of direct mail pieces or making countless cold phone calls, I prefer video and the pleasant response they get and giving before receiving. I don't need to send a lot of videos to get a response. I'd say I'm batting around 60% in terms of response back from my initial videos.

      Law of reciprocity (sort of) in play when you send these, they almost feel obligated to respond back!
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    • Profile picture of the author PeterGarety
      Originally Posted by Carl_C View Post

      Some people say that leverage is the key.

      Pick a town or region ABCCounty
      Pick an occupation Dentists

      Create a website directory for dentists in ABCCounty and get first in Google.

      ---If you use your imagination you can see how you can make 1,000's of dollars a month by repeating this for different towns and businesses.

      Of course you'll have to name your website abccountydentists.com or something like that.

      Good Luck!
      I completely agree. This is what Mike Koenigs do with his Mainstreetmarketingmachine. Create a simple squeeze page for local business, get the first spot in Google, get some leads and then get the deal with local business. Once it is done, scale it.
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      • Profile picture of the author angmoore
        It's difficult to get a squeeze page ranked when it goes up against Google Places listings. I did MSM and got pages ranked previously but GP changed the game. That said, if you get a client in one industry and have them ranked then you can go after other cities. Or even same city different industry if you have results.
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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    It always blows me away that people selling offline marketing don't trust what they are selling.

    Carl your absolutely right. Use what your selling to get your customers.

    Quentin
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    • Profile picture of the author James Foster
      Originally Posted by Quentin View Post

      It always blows me away that people selling offline marketing don't trust what they are selling.

      Carl your absolutely right. Use what your selling to get your customers.

      Quentin
      I disagree with this. A business is not their customer. Just because a person might go on google to find a local plumber doesn't mean a plumber is going to go online to find out about setting up a website.

      Until you walk in their door, they might not understand why they need a website (if they don't know they have a need, how can they go to the internet to find out about filling it?). But after talking with you they could see the light and sign up on the spot.

      So no, using SEO to sell SEO services is not always the best route.

      In many areas and occupations they won't trust you if they just saw you online. They need a referral from a fellow business owner, or meet you in person.

      Join your local Chamber of Commerce and/or BNI group... Do something that puts you in the faces of business owners on a consistent basis.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan Beacher
    Thanks for the tips - something along those lines actually crossed my mind when I was brainstorming the other day.

    At the end of the day though, that's a relatively long term solution.

    What do I do now to get clients?
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    • Profile picture of the author schabotte
      A good thing to stress with web work is that there are a variety of ways to track the end results - visitors to the brick and mortar store. This can be done by offering a variety of printable online coupons, gathering emails and sending out email coupons, etc. (Or even a surge of visitors to the store after an email blast.)

      I have some friends who run a pizza delivery shop and they do an email blast with a special every time there is a slow day. Their one complain is they live in an area that is high in rentals - which is great for pizza sales - so folks move a lot and the email get stale pretty quick...

      But it does help fill in those slow days so it is not a very big complaint.
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      • Profile picture of the author John Durham
        The general consensus is that cold calling is still the most effective way to get “offline” sales appointments or even the sales themselves. That could not be true anymore than in the example of the “Offline Cash Cow” Arena.

        This very day, if you pick up a phone and talk to a business owner about your service, starting at this moment . you could very literally make an offline sale for $500 - $1000 by this afternoon, while all of your friends are still pondering how to get their new "lead funneling" site indexed for a better Keywords...

        Tip: You cant reach offline customers online.

        Cold call some people. It's the best trick in the book. Start now , and by 5pm you could have a cash sale in the hand already.


        You want a techniques

        Just say "Im calling to introduce my service, I am a new local web developer in town... just opening my business... I was wondering if you folks had a website, or had maybe given an y thought to doing one in the future..." Let it go from there.

        another tip: Start with service oriented businesses... you may have to wait till afternoon, because they are in court in the mornings...but try "attorney's"... that tip is Golden.

        .

        Do that for an hour.... then come back to this thread and tell what happened...

        I promise you it will be the most effective thing you do (spending that hour) all week long, and the most enlightening.... or you could hang around here all day hoping it's gonna come to you...

        Cold call... say the greeting I just gave you... and watch what happens.

        Thats my 2 cents.
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        • Profile picture of the author TSDMike
          Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

          The general consensus is that cold calling is still the most effective way to get "offline" sales appointments or even the sales themselves. That could not be true anymore than in the example of the "Offline Cash Cow" Arena.

          This very day, if you pick up a phone and talk to a business owner about your service, starting at this moment . you could very literally make an offline sale for $500 - $1000 by this afternoon, while all of your friends are still pondering how to get their new "lead funneling" site indexed for a better Keywords...

          Tip: You cant reach offline customers online.

          Cold call some people. It's the best trick in the book. Start now , and by 5pm you could have a cash sale in the hand already.


          You want a techniques

          Just say "Im calling to introduce my service, I am a new local web developer in town... just opening my business... I was wondering if you folks had a website, or had maybe given an y thought to doing one in the future..." Let it go from there.

          another tip: Start with service oriented businesses... you may have to wait till afternoon, because they are in court in the mornings...but try "attorney's"... that tip is Golden.

          .

          Do that for an hour.... then come back to this thread and tell what happened...

          I promise you it will be the most effective thing you do (spending that hour) all week long, and the most enlightening.... or you could hang around here all day hoping it's gonna come to you...

          Cold call... say the greeting I just gave you... and watch what happens.

          Thats my 2 cents.
          John I disagree.

          Cold calling is tough if you simply grab the phone book and start calling until you find someone interested. The reason is that there's no real 'pitch' in the traditional sense. Think of it this way: if you're selling a static product, like logo-printed coffee mugs for example, you can cold call to your heart's content because the product doesn't really change from client to client. However, with IM consulting (which is exactly what I do), your service is going to greatly be tailored to your client's needs. Some will need a new website with optimization, some will need social media help, others will need help with building their list, etc.

          The point is this: cold calling with a generic spiel will not get you far because yours won't be the first they've heard. Throwing out a bunch of industry buzzwords and acronyms and the like will not win anyone over. Instead, you have to qualify the lead a little bit before you go in.

          Here's an example of how it worked for me:

          I have a client right now for whom I am writing marketing plans for his two B&M businesses; a local restaurant and a local auto repair shop. Before I approached him, I went to both of his sites to look for insights into his businesses. Then I went to Google and performed a few searches for keywords that were obviously related to his businesses... local auto repair, restaurants in (his city), etc. When the search results were less than favorable, I tried to quantify how much traffic he was getting (almost none for both sites) using sites like Alexa.com, Quantcast.com, etc.

          I also looked at his sites for how well they were optimized from a user experience standpoint. They were both static sites with location and contact info and little else. There was no content, no calls to action to get them to contact or provide an email address, etc.

          After all of this, I was armed with the information to identify the pain points of his online endeavors - which leads to me knowing what questions to ask.

          After I felt I had enough to go on to make contact, I went to his restaurant with my laptop for lunch. I actually went there to meet an existing client for a meeting. I called a little before to ask if the owner was there (I asked for him by name) - I didn't ask to speak with him on the phone. I just wanted to make sure he would be there.

          After we finished lunch and our meeting concluded, I pulled some of the information up on my laptop like his site, traffic estimations, etc. After my client left, I asked the server to get the owner for me without giving an explanation.

          Once I got face to face with him, I told him how I found his site and I wanted to check the place out so I schedule a lunch meeting at his place - and complimented him on the food... then I started to talk diplomatically about his site and asked the provocative questions I'd prepared. You'll find with this approach that if people have a crappy site they haven't touched for years, they know it sucks and will acknowledge so - however this is not a green light to bash the site or the previous designer.

          By asking questions you're forcing him to acknowledge the areas that he needs help in - instead of simply telling him what you do and letting him decide if you can help him or not.

          I then started to talk about the benefits that the web offered and the opportunity that he was missing -among other things I showed him analytics of search volumes for keywords he should be ranking for, but isn't. It was at that time I started to make suggestions as to how I could possibly help him improve his web presence.

          Our initial encounter lasted about 45 minutes with him requesting a proposal. Seven days later, I had a deposit.

          Your potential clients have heard the generic spiel and seen the spam emails about SEO and getting to number one on Google and how to use Facebook and Twitter ad nauseum; go in there and explain how you can help him with his business and you'll be a leg up on all of the people who talk the talk but have little bite to their words.

          Good luck
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          • Profile picture of the author Juris
            Originally Posted by TSDMike View Post

            John I disagree.

            Cold calling is tough if you simply grab the phone book and start calling until you find someone interested.

            I was inspired with Johns thread about cold calling and I thought I will give it a try. I have made 6 websites and I am trying to sell them. At first I tried to email people my offer. I made a good(I think) sales letter after reading a lot of Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedys stuff. Nobody answered my emails.

            I was stuck because there were really not much emails to get from directory's etc.

            So I read the cold calling thread and as I have worked as a real estate agent for few months in past and had to do cold calling I thought fck it - that's really the fastest way to get clients.

            My plan was to call them up and tell them who I am and why am I calling. And that I have an offer that will be very interesting to them and if they will give me their email address I will send them the offer.

            As I type this I stare at my list of 100 company's with telephone numbers and I have called 4 of them in the period of last 10 minutes.

            Results: 2 gave me their email address, 1 told me to call back Monday at 10:00 because he did not know his email address and 1 did not answer the phone.

            Cold calling is though? yeah right...

            it's easy as one - two - three...

            The funny thing was when I was preparing to start my cold calling session.
            I was nervous and afraid. Because I did not have a script in my mind, I did not know what the hell will I tell them. I have to read these WF threads about cold calling... books.... Then I said to myself wtf? and I rushed to my PC as fast as I could and dialed up the first number in my phone and remember I had no script no nothing in my mind. But hey what is the worst thing that could happen? They could say no? hang up? WHO CARES. They can't see me and they don't know me.

            And BAM I got the first email address...

            I would say that it is SO though that I will go through that list of 100 company's right now and then I will write a brief proposal and send it out to them...

            "Anyone who tries can get better at ANYTHING" - Jim Rohn
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          • Profile picture of the author moneycometh
            Excellent strategy!
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            • Profile picture of the author John Durham
              Originally Posted by moneycometh View Post

              Excellent strategy!
              Young lady, I am sigless today, and you just won yourself a free report!!!!

              Check your PM
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        • Profile picture of the author moneycometh
          Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

          The general consensus is that cold calling is still the most effective way to get "offline" sales appointments or even the sales themselves. That could not be true anymore than in the example of the "Offline Cash Cow" Arena.

          This very day, if you pick up a phone and talk to a business owner about your service, starting at this moment . you could very literally make an offline sale for $500 - $1000 by this afternoon, while all of your friends are still pondering how to get their new "lead funneling" site indexed for a better Keywords...

          Tip: You cant reach offline customers online.

          Cold call some people. It's the best trick in the book. Start now , and by 5pm you could have a cash sale in the hand already.


          You want a techniques

          Just say "Im calling to introduce my service, I am a new local web developer in town... just opening my business... I was wondering if you folks had a website, or had maybe given an y thought to doing one in the future..." Let it go from there.

          another tip: Start with service oriented businesses... you may have to wait till afternoon, because they are in court in the mornings...but try "attorney's"... that tip is Golden.

          .

          Do that for an hour.... then come back to this thread and tell what happened...

          I promise you it will be the most effective thing you do (spending that hour) all week long, and the most enlightening.... or you could hang around here all day hoping it's gonna come to you...

          Cold call... say the greeting I just gave you... and watch what happens.

          Thats my 2 cents.
          What I great tip! I had been lazy about picking up the phone and calling, Today I actually made some calls. I only spent at 15 mins, but on Wednesday I intent to spend minimally at least 2 hours.
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

          Tip: You cant reach offline customers online.

          Cold call some people. It's the best trick in the book. Start now , and by 5pm you could have a cash sale in the hand already.

          Bolded for importance.

          I generally offer a really inexpensive service or free service on the front end, and I only talk to people who are already advertising in the local marketplace.

          Doing both increases my closing ratio.
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          Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author ileneg
      Originally Posted by Jonathan Beacher View Post

      Thanks for the tips - something along those lines actually crossed my mind when I was brainstorming the other day.

      At the end of the day though, that's a relatively long term solution.

      What do I do now to get clients?
      To get clients "now"...go talk to people who already know, love and trust you (and who also happen to be business owners).

      Your auto mechanic, veterinarian, dentist, doctor, accountant, lawyer, realtor, local restaurants owners, chiropractor, pet sitter, etc. etc. etc. You can start w/those who don't have a website or those who have a site that has zero SEO or those who have a site but no autoresponder...

      ileneg
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Fortunately, the call centers all over America who sell hundreds of new websites daily to business owners with 2 paragraph scripts, and also the 10 dollar per hour unqualified telemarketers who sit and read those scripts to land 3-4 new offline service customers every single day, 52 weeks per year... especially the ones in the telemarketing room I personally managed for one year that sold 19,000 websites to small businesses all over America within 12 months...

    Me and those people... we think you are probably doing it wrong if you think its unrealistic.

    A service provider, a sales/marketing mind does not make.

    I have fired as many telemarketers as I have hired... and all the ones who cant do it, say it was a "Bull**** Job"... still 100 telemarketers meet their quota that day.
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  • Profile picture of the author marketingva
    Hi,

    I just landed a large offline client by putting out flyers in the medical complex nearby. I've gotten a couple of other potential clients I'm hoping to close too.

    Bonnie
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    When I think of a web design agency using local adwords in a medium to small town...

    I think "They just dont get it". What little market they reach is "online"... you are missing the market of people who are "offline"... which is larger than some like to believe. Yes, alot of people are still "That far behind" that they literally are not online, no matter how hard you try to squeeze them into your web page.

    If you sell services you will get more money from people offline than those who order online.

    You can sell 1000 backlinks for $50. online or you can sell them for $450 offline through direct contact with people who dont run with the internet savvy crowd...

    When people say to me... "I get a few sales from local biz from my web page"... I immediately think "Cool"!

    ... then I think to myself "Even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in awhile".
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    I have been marketing to offline clients since April 2008. Awesome way to create income via Internet Marketing. The main things the offline businesses are looking for now is Google Page One, Google Maps and Social Media. Create some kind of lead generation system for the client so they can track results.
    I highly recommend branding yourself as a leader in your community, your clients will check you Social Media accounts and ask for past references.
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  • Profile picture of the author wkathome
    Some great ideas tossed out on this thread. The telemarketing approach sounds like the quickest and most direct way to finding out if there is some interest or not without wasting a lot of time fooling around.
    thanks for all the great post.
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  • Profile picture of the author GoGetta
    Coincidence, my latest WSO launcing tomorrow is about this very subject (Client Generation).

    Now there are many ways to generate clients offline. However, here is a tip for telemarketing that will yield more success than just flicking through the yellow pages!

    Telemarketing works, but you need to do it right before you get discouraged to quick. All marketing is a numbers game and Telemarketing is no different, so to shave the numbers you need to research a little.

    The Yellow Pages is not the best idea in my opinion, I have been selling IM to businesses offline for nearly 5 years, both boiler room when I was employed and more strategically now when running my own consultancy.

    The yellow pages gets battered by lazy salespeople nationally, I know as I have worked in a boiler room sales job and as soon as a new yellow pages came in, it got hammered and then the lazy salespeople just flicked through it because they couldn't be bothered researching! So, unless the yellow pages came out this week, you can pretty much guarantee most of the larger ads have been hammered by similar calls.

    However, I am not saying you will find ZERO businesses interested in there, the fact is if you call 100 businesses in the yellow pages you will no doubt find interested business owners.

    But it can be easier if you venture online.............

    Check out the local business directories and classified sites for business listings just added in your local area (SMOKING HOT, THEY ARE ADVERTISING ONLINE TODAY) SUPER LASER TARGETED!

    When you call up offering online marketing services, they are much more receptive to your offers, because they are online right now trying to generate business!

    "Hi Mr business owner, I have just found you on ................. I presume you are looking to generate more business online at the moment, right?"

    Im sure you get the picture!!!!

    This will yield better results!

    Also, another tip, always ask "WHY?"

    What I mean by this is:

    When you call up a business owner you will find many will automatically say "NOT INTERESTED", just like they are programmed to say it on autopilot. This is because they may be used to sales cales regarding similar services, so think they have heard it all before.

    When this happens don't just say bye, and move on.

    Ask WHY?

    What you will find is that some business owners will tell you why!

    When you are told why, you can overcome the objection!

    If you never ask, you never know!

    Many just move on, but you would be suprised what a simple "why?" can actually generate as far as answers go! You would also be surprised how a why? can also turn into a full blown conversation and your foot in the door! ; )

    GoGetta
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by GoGetta View Post

      Coincidence, my latest WSO launcing tomorrow is about this very subject (Client Generation).

      Now there are many ways to generate clients offline. However, here is a tip for telemarketing that will yield more success than just flicking through the yellow pages!

      Telemarketing works, but you need to do it right before you get discouraged to quick. All marketing is a numbers game and Telemarketing is no different, so to shave the numbers you need to research a little.

      The Yellow Pages is not the best idea in my opinion, I have been selling IM to businesses offline for nearly 5 years, both boiler room when I was employed and more strategically now when running my own consultancy.

      The yellow pages gets battered by lazy salespeople nationally, I know as I have worked in a boiler room sales job and as soon as a new yellow pages came in, it got hammered and then the lazy salespeople just flicked through it because they couldn't be bothered researching! So, unless the yellow pages came out this week, you can pretty much guarantee most of the larger ads have been hammered by similar calls.

      However, I am not saying you will find ZERO businesses interested in there, the fact is if you call 100 businesses in the yellow pages you will no doubt find interested business owners.

      But it can be easier if you venture online.............

      Check out the local business directories and classified sites for business listings just added in your local area (SMOKING HOT, THEY ARE ADVERTISING ONLINE TODAY) SUPER LASER TARGETED!

      When you call up offering online marketing services, they are much more receptive to your offers, because they are online right now trying to generate business!

      "Hi Mr business owner, I have just found you on ................. I presume you are looking to generate more business online at the moment, right?"

      Im sure you get the picture!!!!

      This will yield better results!

      Also, another tip, always ask "WHY?"

      What I mean by this is:

      When you call up a business owner you will find many will automatically say "NOT INTERESTED", just like they are programmed to say it on autopilot. This is because they may be used to sales cales regarding similar services, so think they have heard it all before.

      When this happens don't just say bye, and move on.

      Ask WHY?

      What you will find is that some business owners will tell you why!

      When you are told why, you can overcome the objection!

      If you never ask, you never know!

      Many just move on, but you would be suprised what a simple "why?" can actually generate as far as answers go! You would also be surprised how a why? can also turn into a full blown conversation and your foot in the door! ; )

      GoGetta
      You are right that anyone who calls 100 yellow page listings will get business. Most people dont even need a course on offline marketing... they just need to get their cahones up and start calling on to people. It aint rocket science, its just "Sales".

      The truth is most will never make those hundred calls... but will continue to buy books that were written from experience by people who "Will".

      I really want to share this knowledge for free with people because it astounds me that by now everyone doesnt know this about the subject of "CALL LISTS".

      In fact Im taking my sig link out for a couple of days just to drive the point home that this sharing is ONLY for your benefit.

      Here's the skinny (FOR FREE) from a guy who has trained over 1000 telemarketers and is a 20 year, undefeated record breaking champion:

      If you just google "Telemarketing call lists", like professional call centers do, you can easily get a list that customized to your "Perfect Prospect Profile"...

      If you dont know how to use a call list , you arent experienced enough to teach others to cold call.

      Here's what a decent list can do:

      If you market to only 60 year lady's that live on a walnut street, like to play bingo and own a french poodle... then you can target on those prospects only with a pro list.

      If you design websites, you can target business owners only WITH NO WEB SITE...

      If your perfect business prospect has 10 employees, falls into the 1-2mil revenue category,is independently owned, and has been in business an average of 1-5 years... then you can target those with a list.

      Finally,

      *If you are so traumatized old school sales training, that now you can only pitch 40 year old guys named "Bob"... then you can target "40 year old Bobs".

      You get the picture.

      No it doesn't make sales effortless but it makes sales 90% more effortless than a list that potentially contains ninety percent people who dont even fit your prospect profile, because the only thing you're targeting is an sic code, or industry...

      You can get alot more specific than that.

      Even for the old school door to door walking guys, you can get the haines criss cross directory and target your prospect by the street number even... and set up all of your appointments with customers who fit your profile and all live on the same street... that'll save alot of gas.

      So here's the deal.

      Yeah. If you call yellow pages, and make 100 dials you will get business. Its a fact, you could be chewing on a piece of steak while you're talking, and if you make 100 calls you'll still get a sale whether you bought my report or not!

      However,

      It's a new day and age, anyone who knows anything significant about telemarketing knows that, to make it work optimally, it starts with identifying your a customer profile, and generate a targeted call list. Thats called "starting off on the right foot".

      I have found that generally when people stumble out of the gate, they rarely ever catch their footing"... so it's important to start with an advantage not stumble out of the gate.

      You want to make cold calling easy... ?

      Im not only offering my own personal experience.... I am offering the collective experience and general consensus of a 90 billion dollar industry...

      As a first hand, hands on 10 year telemarketing manager with a track record of a being #1 both manager, and telemarketer, in any call center atmosphere I have ever walked into...I can tell you from THOUSANDS OF DAYS EXPERIENCE day in day out for ten years...that the NUMBER 1 most important factor is the call list... a winner can barely get a sale off a beat up list, but a loser can get several from a targeted one...

      A loser can get a sale from making 100 yellow page calls... but he can get 3 of them with a list.

      In my room it was the difference between 20k per day and 9k...

      Even today... A few weeks ago I did preliminary 10 lead order for aflac insurance at 50 bucks per lead...they paid me $500 for 10 leads as a test drive...On a regular basis I will charge them $80 bucks per leads once all is said and done...and hire others to do the calling.

      Instead of hiring a telemarketer I did the test run myself... with their leads... and I could hardly beat two leads out of their list.

      Well the next day, instead of getting beat up again,I ordered some custom targeted lead from sales genie... and quickly wrote 7 leads in less time than it took me the day before to get two. Certainly much easier going.

      Let's get this straight:

      I dont sell lists, I dont make money off anyone using them... this is just free advice. You can get alot of things wrong cold calling... but if you get the "List" wrong, then you will be working 10 times harder than you have to.

      Other than the fact that you will believe me next time, once you've tried this, I dont get anything out of telling you this.

      I just have a passion for correcting misinformation about telemarketing, and I am the best. I am not afraid to tell you that... there's has never been an experienced old pro, or a new young buck...who has ever beat me.

      I know what Im talking about, and you can count on what Im saying, and Im saying this:

      Get a list.

      Now,

      Do you have to have a list to succeed?

      Can you make sales from a phone book?

      Yes, but the law of averages isnt working in your favor and its not smart to work with the odds stacked against you, when you can easily stack them in your favor.

      Im done.

      Now that I have been spreading the word about lists... Im gonna sit back and watch somebody create a wso about call lists... and try to beat me to the punch...

      Guess what? There's no punch. Im just sharing thats all.

      You will never see me affiliate with a list company and try to profit from that. It's not my gig.

      But if you take this advice it will be golden. It wont make sales come to you, you still have to pick up the phone, but it will reduce the 500 lb guerrilla down to about 50lbs.

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      • Profile picture of the author TomHa
        Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

        You are right that anyone who calls 100 yellow page listings will get business. Most people dont even need a course on offline marketing... they just need to get their cahones up and start calling on to people. It aint rocket science, its just "Sales".

        The truth is most will never make those hundred calls... but will continue to buy books that were written from experience by people who "Will".

        I really want to share this knowledge for free with people because it astounds me that by now everyone doesnt know this about the subject of "CALL LISTS".

        In fact Im taking my sig link out for a couple of days just to drive the point home that this sharing is ONLY for your benefit.

        Here's the skinny (FOR FREE) from a guy who has trained over 1000 telemarketers and is a 20 year, undefeated record breaking champion:

        If you just google "Telemarketing call lists", like professional call centers do, you can easily get a list that customized to your "Perfect Prospect Profile"...

        If you dont know how to use a call list , you arent experienced enough to teach others to cold call.

        Here's what a decent list can do:

        If you market to only 60 year lady's that live on a walnut street, like to play bingo and own a french poodle... then you can target on those prospects only with a pro list.

        If you design websites, you can target business owners only WITH NO WEB SITE...

        If your perfect business prospect has 10 employees, falls into the 1-2mil revenue category,is independently owned, and has been in business an average of 1-5 years... then you can target those with a list.

        Finally,

        *If you are so traumatized old school sales training, that now you can only pitch 40 year old guys named "Bob"... then you can target "40 year old Bobs".

        You get the picture.

        No it doesn't make sales effortless but it makes sales 90% more effortless than a list that potentially contains ninety percent people who dont even fit your prospect profile, because the only thing you're targeting is an sic code, or industry...

        You can get alot more specific than that.

        Even for the old school door to door walking guys, you can get the haines criss cross directory and target your prospect by the street number even... and set up all of your appointments with customers who fit your profile and all live on the same street... that'll save alot of gas.

        So here's the deal.

        Yeah. If you call yellow pages, and make 100 dials you will get business. Its a fact, you could be chewing on a piece of steak while you're talking, and if you make 100 calls you'll still get a sale whether you bought my report or not!

        However,

        It's a new day and age, anyone who knows anything significant about telemarketing knows that, to make it work optimally, it starts with identifying your a customer profile, and generate a targeted call list. Thats called "starting off on the right foot".

        I have found that generally when people stumble out of the gate, they rarely ever catch their footing"... so it's important to start with an advantage not stumble out of the gate.

        You want to make cold calling easy... ?

        Im not only offering my own personal experience.... I am offering the collective experience and general consensus of a 90 billion dollar industry...

        As a first hand, hands on 10 year telemarketing manager with a track record of a being #1 both manager, and telemarketer, in any call center atmosphere I have ever walked into...I can tell you from THOUSANDS OF DAYS EXPERIENCE day in day out for ten years...that the NUMBER 1 most important factor is the call list... a winner can barely get a sale off a beat up list, but a loser can get several from a targeted one...

        A loser can get a sale from making 100 yellow page calls... but he can get 3 of them with a list.

        In my room it was the difference between 20k per day and 9k...

        Even today... A few weeks ago I did preliminary 10 lead order for aflac insurance at 50 bucks per lead...they paid me $500 for 10 leads as a test drive...On a regular basis I will charge them $80 bucks per leads once all is said and done...and hire others to do the calling.

        Instead of hiring a telemarketer I did the test run myself... with their leads... and I could hardly beat two leads out of their list.

        Well the next day, instead of getting beat up again,I ordered some custom targeted lead from sales genie... and quickly wrote 7 leads in less time than it took me the day before to get two. Certainly much easier going.

        Let's get this straight:

        I dont sell lists, I dont make money off anyone using them... this is just free advice. You can get alot of things wrong cold calling... but if you get the "List" wrong, then you will be working 10 times harder than you have to.

        Other than the fact that you will believe me next time, once you've tried this, I dont get anything out of telling you this.

        I just have a passion for correcting misinformation about telemarketing, and I am the best. I am not afraid to tell you that... there's has never been an experienced old pro, or a new young buck...who has ever beat me.

        I know what Im talking about, and you can count on what Im saying, and Im saying this:

        Get a list.

        Now that I have been spreading the word about lists... Im gonna sit back and watch somebody create a wso about call lists... and try to beat me to the punch...

        Guess what? There's no punch. Im just sharing thats all.
        John, thank you for this post. Specifically, I got a trial account (free) with SalesGenie and it is really interesting what you can do there. I filtered it for a single city, businesses with $500-$2million sales, and with less than 100 employees and got around 200 results. I wonder where they get sales data for private companies (since this is generally not public information - maybe these are simply estimates?) but it is nonetheless a great resource to start with.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Peters Benn
    Originally Posted by Jonathan Beacher View Post

    I'm looking into offering web presence consulting within my local area, and just want to see what's working for fellow Warriors.

    By web presence, I mean everything from SEO to Google Places to basic web design, with what I offer being tailored to the needs & expectations of customers.

    I was thinking about generating leads by telemarketing - going through yellow pages, cross checking business names in Google to see if they have websites, and giving them a call if they dont. Do people find this a successful route to go down?

    Do you go for the hard sell to begin with or entice them in with a free report? What kinds of customers do you go for - the low hanging fruit (charging a monthly maintenance & hosting fee in the region of $50-$75) or those interested in SEO services?

    Lastly, apart from bulk sending postcards, are there any other lead generation tactics people use?

    Thanks!
    Are you trying to be unfocussed and offer everything under the sun?

    Seriously dude! Pick one and go with that - why do people always thing offering everything is going to make them a success when they are starting out.

    Simplify!
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  • Profile picture of the author findtoys
    offline marketing is more difficult if we dont have communications skill

    So the best to do is use online marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Peter Victore is probably the best I've seen/heard on the phone. If you know him, it is probably under an alias as he does not sell under his real name.

    You can call for $500-$2500 or so, but if you want to close a 20K-60K deal or more, your 1st contact has to be them coming to you. Since that size deal is usually to businesses in business for 5 years or more, have a web site on page 1 of Google, Bing and Yahoo already, yes you can position yourself on-line. It does take longer, but the close is more money and easier. If you are starting out, call away.

    John & I already have agreed to disagree and respect each other's opinion. (& yes, I am rude to cold callers. Lol. -but tip well in restaurants. )
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by DogScout View Post

      Peter Victore is probably the best I've seen/heard on the phone. If you know him, it is probably under an alias as he does not sell under his real name.

      You can call for $500-$2500 or so, but if you want to close a 20K-60K deal or more, your 1st contact has to be them coming to you. Since that size deal is usually to businesses in business for 5 years or more, have a web site on page 1 of Google, Bing and Yahoo already, yes you can position yourself on-line. It does take longer, but the close is more money and easier. If you are starting out, call away.

      John & I already have agreed to disagree and respect each other's opinion. (& yes, I am rude to cold callers. Lol. -but tip well in restaurants. )
      Lol. Dog scout is the man. I wish I could tip that big without ever having to cold call! Dog, have you ever thought about the export brokering industry? I have made some money there too, it's pretty amazing.

      Originally Posted by sdentrepreneur View Post

      Outsource cold calls to India....yikes !!!! Not sure if I am that desperate. Does it work?
      I once had a small room with more work than they could handle, and so outsourced a insurance lead generation contract to a BPO in the Phillipines. Result: Allstate returned well over 50% of their leads, and my room had to replace them. Have never done it again.
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    Originally Posted by wpiercy View Post

    Outsource it to india, save your self time, and energy. Have them set appointments and you can close them. callcentersindia .com
    Outsource cold calls to India....yikes !!!! Not sure if I am that desperate. Does it work?
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  • Profile picture of the author Juris
    Thank you John for your free tips. I appreciate it.
    The other day I made 30 calls, got 19 emails, sent them my offer, but nobody was interested. So I am changing my approach now. I am packaging my services as Dan Kennedy suggests it + I am coming up with initial offer that they would have to be brainless not to accept and I am searching for a list(I came up with my own by the industry only from local directories). I will have to look harder for some lists because where Im from it's not like in usa I'm from Latvia - europe

    Have a great day John!
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin_Hutto
    I didn't read all the tips, so if this is a duplicate then sorry... But here is a simple way to find prospects - search for all of the local businesses - like plumbers, roofers, etc... Then contact the ones who are in the PAID spots in the serps... Find the guys who are already spending money on adwords or yahoo search marketing and then show them how you can save them money (or get them more leads for the same money)... Works every time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jimian
    I use both unique personalized postcards and cold-call.

    I prefer to enter the conversation with some LEVERAGE though.

    Example: I bought providencemassageri dot com and massageprovidenceri dot com and started calling all massage therapists in the area.

    Bingo! That opened the conversation to more online marketing strategies & tactics and now I'm taking over her AdWords account and put her on Google maps. (no, she didn't need the domain name right now, BUT I url forwarded the domain to her site just so she could see I wasn't BS'ing her.)

    My point is, have SOMETHING of value to call with... it's easier.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
    Originally Posted by Jonathan Beacher View Post

    I'm looking into offering web presence consulting within my local area, and just want to see what's working for fellow Warriors.

    By web presence, I mean everything from SEO to Google Places to basic web design, with what I offer being tailored to the needs & expectations of customers.

    I was thinking about generating leads by telemarketing - going through yellow pages, cross checking business names in Google to see if they have websites, and giving them a call if they dont. Do people find this a successful route to go down?

    Do you go for the hard sell to begin with or entice them in with a free report? What kinds of customers do you go for - the low hanging fruit (charging a monthly maintenance & hosting fee in the region of $50-$75) or those interested in SEO services?

    Lastly, apart from bulk sending postcards, are there any other lead generation tactics people use?

    Thanks!

    # Talk to the business owners you know.

    # Talk to the business owners your friends know.

    # Talk to the owners of businesses where you're spending your money.

    # Yes calling them on the phone can work. You don't have to limit yourself to business owners who don't have websites. You can help any business with the skills you have.

    # Go to business networking meetings.

    # Email businesses (it's kind of obvious but it can work quite well if you have an email that peaks their curiosity).

    # Send snail mail to businesses (also very effective if you have the right kind of snail mail. Offlinebiz.com members are getting over 20% of the business owners they send the Amazing 4 Line Letter to to call them back wanting more information).

    # Physically walk into businesses and talk to the owner (or whoever is working there).

    # Ask every business owner you talk to who they know (a referral from one business owner to another is very powerful).


    More important than the initial contact is learning how to speak to business owners.

    To make the process easier and more pleasant for everyone involved you should learn to ask questions and listen.

    Also don't be so eager to try to sell your services.

    If you show genuine interest in a business owner and his business and you come across as a fellow business owner (which you are) it's inevitable that he's going to want to know what you do and how you can help him.

    The reason most people don't get hired is because they're in too much of a hurry to sell something instead of just getting to know the people they're talking to....taking some time to build some trust and rapport and gather information.

    Kindest regards,
    Andrew Cavanagh
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin_Hutto
    Read "Never Eat Alone" by Ferazzi... He has a great section on specifically targeting key relationships... Basically how he decided in advance that he wanted to be friends with Mr X and how he went about achieving it... You can do the same in your area - figure out who would be a strong strategic relationship for you - someone who owns a large CPA firm would be an example - my buddy here owns a CPA firm and has about 2000 small business clients - if I were to ever get back into the SEO/PPC/SocialMedia COnsulting Biz, I could get as many clients as I would ever want in probably a couple months, just by getting my buddy to hook me up with his customers... So, find a person like that - and become their friend - a real friend - golfing, drinking whatever... And then you can write your own ticket.
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