LESSON: Don't Judge a Book by its cover! Client paid me $600 upfront with $350 recurring payments

9 replies
So today I learnt a very important lesson

Don't judge a book by its cover. Last year I sold a small business photographer a mobile website. At the time he hustled his way down to a $200 mobile website which is half of what I normally charged but at the time I was just starting out and needed the cash.

So the time rolls around again this year and I go to approach him for the yearly hosting cost of the mobile site. He says its too expensive and doesn't want to continue as doesn't see the need.

Of course I am thinking cheap skate forget him! I don't want him as a client anyway.

This morning the phone rings and its him. I sigh and consider ignoring the call but answer it anyway. He asks if I can meet with him to tell him what SEO is and how he can improve his rankings. I do a little research and put together a keyword plan for him before our meeting but feel like its a bit of a waste of time as if he doens't want to pay $100 for a mobile site why would he pay $250 for my lowest price SEO package.

Anyway he meets me at my home office and the first thing he says is
"I need a new website as mine is terrible! I know its bad for Google what can you do to help me fix it?"

I immediatly tell him about the benefits of using worpress and plugins and also the ability to use CMS and have complete control himself. I showed him some of my other clients sites and he was impressed.

He then went on to look at the apps of one of my clients and was drawn in by that. I told him we are now offering a monthly do it yourself option to which he immediatly said

" I know I won't be able to do it myself how much can you do done for me?"

I told him it would be $600 upfront and I could offer him a package with a website, app, and 1 month free SEO to see if he liked it.

He paid me cash $600 upfront and signed up for the monthly payments online.

I completely miss judged him and learnt a lesson today. Never judge a client and always find out exactly what their needs are

Hope this experience can help other Warriors with their own ventures.
#$350 #$600 #book #client #cover #judge #lesson #paid #payments #recurring #upfront
  • Profile picture of the author IvoryPulse
    Yeah, clients sometimes really know how to surprise us. I'm really glad you found the right approach and that everything worked out better than expected.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    Originally Posted by FitMarketer View Post

    I completely miss judged him and learnt a lesson today. Never judge a client and always find out exactly what their needs are

    Hope this experience can help other Warriors with their own ventures.
    If a client is not convinced that the value you are offering is worth the money
    he is paying then any price would seem too much for him. When a client barks
    at a price it is because we have done a poor job selling the value. If he wants
    a lower price then always offer a smaller package.

    At least your patience paid off.

    -Ray Edwards
    Signature
    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
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  • Profile picture of the author The Copy Warriors
    In general, you should always keep an open mind about prospective clients. This is true in all types of sales. Anybody who has ever done phone sales will tell you, it's fairly often that the argumentative people who bicker about everything will actually buy, while the chipper sounding folks you build a great rapport with won't buy. You can never tell until you ask. Even on freelancing sites, sometimes the job postings with really low budgets are open to negotiate, if you can convince them you're bringing something really potent, really next-level.
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    • Profile picture of the author welldone
      Thanks for sharing the details. One take away from this story is that we should first Listen then decide. Past experience need not clutter our thoughts with the present because things change. We can analyze and decide later.

      Good Job. Happy for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author zuberr
    We should not aggressively try to market anything to anyone, but instead, we should listen and figure out what the client really needs. And it's very likely that the client will pay big bucks for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author FitMarketer
    Yes we should always try to listen to the client.

    In fact a year ago he had a new website that was flash so he needed a mobile site. This year he had forgotten the reason for this and decided to go for a whole new non flash responsive site with us!

    Never judge the client as they may turn around and surprise you!
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
    As Ray said if you want to charge more it's really not about
    your fees...it's about how effectively you establish the potential
    dollar value of your service to him and his business.

    In other words a business owner will hire you because you
    explain to him how your service can make him real sales and
    profits.

    The easiest way to get paid more is to get better at establishing
    value...explaining how much money your suggested services
    are likely to make your prospect.

    Kindest regards,
    Andrew Cavanagh
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  • Profile picture of the author Jemtrum
    Banned
    What every one else is over looking is the amount of work you put in. You did do some home work before he came in for a meeting at your home office.

    Also when you showed him your clients sites samples and he saw the keywords, that was the also a contributing factor. Not just showing value.

    Sometimes people need "Social Proof". It's that herd mentality. If everyone else likes it, I think I will too!
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  • Profile picture of the author ods
    That's a good life lesson you learned, I had a similar scenario with my affiliate program. Nice.
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